Art of Illusion: A Juried Invitational Exhibition
March 4 - extended through May 20, 2012
This juried exhibition features over 60 artworks in a variety of media that explore the links between perception, appearance and reality. Both two and three-dimensional works are featured, incorporating a variety of styles including trompe l'oeil, photorealism, surrealism, and optical illusion. Click here for a list of selected artists and artworks. Artist Call For Entries prospectus here.
New Jersey Emerging Artists Series
Ann Marie Fitzsimmons: Paintings
April 27 - May 27, 2012
This exhibition features paintings in acrylic and oil of images of chairs within a variety of settings and environments, creating compositions that invite the viewer into seemingly impossible spaces. This series was inspired by the artist's fascination with chair designs, their functional purposes, and how a chair affects someone's personality as they sit in it. She states, "By carefully selecting the types of chairs rendered, the environments they are placed within, and emphasizing shading to create an illusion of space and depth, I encourage the viewer to linger and reflect upon their own personal life experiences. I perceive my artwork as quiet glimpses into someone else?s world, where texture and light kindle one?s senses and memories."
Gallery Talk
Wednesday May 16th, 2012, from 7 - 8 pm
Ann Marie Fitzsimmons will share insights on her work in a discussion at the Museum. Gallery Talk is free and open to the public.
Stars of the Jersey Shore: From the Victorian Gilded Age to the Roaring Twenties!
May 22, 2012, 11 am - 3:30 pm
Presented by the Friends of the Monmouth Museum at the Spring Lake Bath and Tennis Club, Spring Lake, NJ.
Discover the famous celebrities, silver screen stars and musicians from the Victorian Guilded Age to the Roaring Twenties who summered at the Jersey Shore. Our special guest speaker, historian Karen Schnitzspahn, will take us on a unique journey back in time with period photographs and memorabilia in her presentation. Enjoy a gourmet lunch and special gift auction. Tickets: $60 per person for Museum Members and $65 for non-members. Please call 732-747-2266 ext. 5 for reservations.
Monmouth Museum Bus Trips, Spring 2012
Intimate and deluxe bus trips especially tailored for you! Monmouth Museum bus trips have exciting itineraries, excellent tours and tour guides, delicious dining options, handicapped accessibility, comfortable transportation and refreshments on the return ride home. Sign up early as groups are limited to 24 people!
The Frick Collection and The Asia Society Museum, NYC
Friday, April 27th, 2012 RSVP date: April 6th, 2012
Leave: 8:00 a.m. Return: 4:00 p.m.
Members: $105 Non-members: $115
Dining: Sit down lunch at the Garden Court Café at The Asia Society Museum. At the Frick enjoy: A superb permanent art collection that Henry Clay Frick amassed in his Fifth Avenue mansion. A special exhibition entitled, “Renoir, Impressionism and Full-Length Painting”. A private tour guide, whose specialty is 18th and 19th century French art, to educate us on the bus trip up. Enjoy the Portico Gallery with all of its exquisite Meissen porcelain collection and Houdon sculptures! Savor an elegant gourmet luncheon at The Garden Court Café at The Asia Society Museum. Visit the Asia Society Museum’s very special spring exhibit, "Princes and Painters in the Mughal Delhi". Finally slip into Laduree for one of their dainty, delicious macaroons before your trip home!
Montclair Art Museum, Presby Iris Gardens and VanVleck Estate and Gardens
Date: Thursday, May 10th, 2012 RSVP date: April 26th, 2012
Leave: 9:00 a.m. Return: 4:00 p.m. Members: $75 Non-members: $85
Dining: Catered box lunch The Montclair Art Museum is dedicated to painting and sculpture with a permanent collection of 15,000 works consisting entirely of American art with names like Eakins, Copley, Currier & Ives and Sargent, along with George Inness, the Hudson River School painter. We will have the pleasure of a private tour to cover the highlights of the museum’s permanent collection as well as their special exhibit. Our box lunch, catered by our favorite chef, Chris Doxey, will be enjoyed in the splendor of Presby Memorial Iris Gardens, where every color in the rainbow is reflected in the beds containing over 75,000 irises in bloom. To round out this perfect day, we will view the VanVleck Estate and Gardens, renowned for their spectacular rhododendron and azalea collection. You deserve this lovely day as your Mother’s Day treat!
Grounds for Sculpture and Rats Restaurant
Date: Wednesday, June 13th, 2012 RSVP date: May 30th, 2012
Leave: 8:45 a.m. Return: 4:45 p.m. Members: $105 Non-members: $115
Maximum number: 24. Dining: Elegant three-course lunch at Rat’s. When you enter this exquisite 35-acre sculpture park conceived of by renowned sculptor, Seward Johnson, you will feel as if you have stepped into a landscape painting reminiscent of French impressionist, Claude Monet’s! Throughout the grounds are Johnson’s sculptures interpreting well-known Impressionist paintings, as well as many other artists’ works in all manner of media. We will have two docents to guide our small groups through their indoor exhibitions and their ethereal gardens, which should be at their peak at this time of year! We will have a relaxed dining experience at Rat’s, where the ambiance is magical and the French country food is to-die-for! Lunch will be a scrumptious and gourmet three-course meal. The rest of the day is on your own to explore the new highly-anticipated gallery in the Domestic Arts Building, which will have opened mere weeks before or to see three new exhibits or to sit on a park bench and soak in the views. You will treasure this fabulous day! Call Helen Brown at the Monmouth Museum at 732-747-2266 for reservations and additional information.
CALL FOR ENTRIES Submission deadline: April 23, 2012.
More Art From Found Objects: A Juried Exhibition at the Monmouth Museum
June 1 - September 2, 2012
This juried exhibition follows the popular "Art From Found Objects" exhibition presented at the Monmouth Museum in the Fall of 2010. The exhibition will feature artwork created from the undisguised, but often modified, use of common found objects that are not normally considered art, often because they already have a non-art function. Found art derives its identity as "Art" from the designation placed upon it by the artist. Seventy-five percent of the media used to create works for this exhibition must be from either discarded, reusable or found objects. Submission deadline: April 23, 2012. Click here for a prospectus/submission form.
New Jersey Emerging Artists Series
Aliza Augustine: Photographic Constructions
June 1- July 1, 2012
Opening Reception June 1, 2012, from 6 - 8 pm This exhibition features photographic constructions with a narrative format from two bodies of work, titled "Playing Grown Up" and "Is It Safe." Miniature dolls are photographed against backdrops to create these series of stories. Drawing on memories and family history, the artist's works provide autobiographical and sociopolitical commentary. Augustine states, "Playing Grown Up" refers to memories and stories of my childhood and adolescent experiences. These photographs were set on backdrops of the fairytales that I loved as a child. The apparent playfulness inherent in the use of dolls contrasts with the reality of the narrative. The second series, "Is It Safe", evolved as I moved deeper into exploring a narrative format, and began to address the story of the paternal side of my family. My grandparents, my father and my uncle are all survivors and refugees from the Holocaust. The backdrops for "Is it Safe" are photographs of members of my family who were murdered or survived the Holocaust. This series is my exploration of the effects this catastrophic event had on children of Holocaust survivors, who are now known as second or third generation survivors."
Gallery Talk - June 13, 2012, from 7 - 8 pm
Aliza Augustine will share insights on her work in a discussion at the Museum. Opening Reception & Gallery Talk are free and open to the public.
Juried Photography Invitational Exhibition
September 14 - October 28, 2012
Opening Reception, September 28, 6-8pm
Ancients to Astronauts: How We Communicate
Opening Fall 2012 in the Becker Children's Wing
A Golden Holiday Celebration
November 18 - December 30, 2012
This annual holiday exhibition celebrates the Museum's Golden Anniversary (1963-2013) in 2013 with trees, trains and trimmings decorated with a gold theme by local garden clubs and the Friends of the Monmouth Museum. Stories, activities and arts and crafts associated with the exhibition are scheduled on weekends during the holidays.
Holiday Gift Gallery
December 7, 2012 - January 13, 2013
Opening Reception, December 7, 6-8pm
The Museum's Nilson Gallery will feature unique hand-crafted gifts created by local artists including jewelry, ceramics, books, toys, decorative home and garden itesm fashions and more!
O N G O I N G - E X H I B I T I O N S
Changing Climate : Changing Weather
In the Becker Children's Wing through 2012
"Changing Climate: Changing Weather" will explore the related, but unique sciences of climate and weather. This hands-on exhibition will demonstrate how changes in our climate cause changes in our weather. Interactive elements will guide visitors through the history of weather and climate change studies through an in depth-look at the greenhouse effect and our earth's current challenge of global warming. The exhibition will also provide visitors with a greater understanding of what they personally can do to reduce their own carbon footprint by saving energy, using alternative energy sources and learning to "Reduce, Reuse & Recycle!" Come explore, be inspired and have fun!
- Learn about the history of climate and weather.
- Explore a virtual Weather Television Station.
- Experience different weather conditions through multi-sensory interactive displays.
- Learn about different types of clouds and the weather they produce.
- Understand climate change around the globe in our weather planetarium program.
- Visit our “Green Arts Studio” and create a work of art with recycled materials.
New! Becker Children's Wing After School Activities Tuesday - Friday, 3:30 to 4:30 pm, Free with paid admission.
Tuesdays: Traveling Trunk Program Explore a variety of topics in science, history and art with a Museum docent. Listen to stories, see artifacts, play a game and enjoy hands-on learning!
Wednesdays: Make A Craft with Recycled Materials Join us in the Green Arts Studio to make a fun craft with a variety of recycled materials.
Thursdays: Go on a Scavenger Hunt Explore our current exhibition "Changing Climate: Changing Weather" through a fun scavenger hunt.
Fridays: See a Movie in the Atmosphere Ampitheater Relax in our Atmosphere Ampitheater and enjoy one of our climate and weather related films, including animated and documentary features.
SPECIAL PROGRAMS
Twinkle Tots Planetarium Program Returns!
Fridays at 2 pm in the Becker Children’s Wing StarLab Planetarium
Children ages 4 - 6 years and their parents will enjoy a special program on stars with songs and stories.
Cost : $1 per person with price of admission.
School Group Tours School group tours will be scheduled on weekday mornings. Reservations are REQUIRED for all groups. Group rates are available. Download a promotional flyer here, a full teacher's activity guide will be available in October. Special Offer - Tour this exhibition with your group between October 2010 and February 2011 and save $1.00 per person. For reservations and additional information, please contact Marion Kanaga, Monmouth Museum Education Coordinator, at 732-747-2266 or mkanaga@monmouthmuseum.org.
DORN’S PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION
Ongoing in the Hall Gallery
This exhibition in the Museum's Hallway Gallery features a selection of historical photographs from the Dorn’s Classic Images collection including studies of people as well as panoramic views of towns, river and ocean fronts, sporting events, parades, fairs and antique transoportations. Kathy Dorn Severini is the curator of the collection, which includes nearly 5,000 images of every aspect of past eras in Monmouth County. During the exhibition, photographs will be available for purchase (perfect for gifts!), with a percentage of sales donated to the Museum.
The Dorothy V. Morehouse WonderWing -
Permanent exhibition
Visit the Dorothy V. Morehouse WonderWing and discover exciting new features! This popular destination for children ages 2-6 is an educational space offering a permanent exhibition on the sea and the creatures that make it  their home. Children can explore a pirate ship, perform in a Tiki theater, climb a tree house and slide through a whale. New features include a lighthouse with lovely undersea murals at the base, created by local artist Jim Fitzmaurice. Climb the steps inside and discover a lookout and periscope with views of the sea. Play hide-and-seek in a flashy kelp forest, and find sea creatures in a splashy new water table. Children will have a magical undersea learning experience with elements that are attractive and age appropriate, and draw young visitors to experiment, imagine, explore and discover! Schoool groups and private birthday parties may be booked in advance, so please call to confirm hours.
VISIT STELLA THE STEGOSAURUS!
Permanent exhibition
The Monmouth Museum recently installed a large Stegosaurus dinosaur sculpture on permanent display in the Museum’s patio garden. Artist Jim Gary (March 17, 1939 – January 14, 2006) was a self-taught metal sculptor best known for his large whimsical creations of dinosaurs assembled from discarded automobile parts. Welded by hand and painted in vivid colors, Gary's sculptures are almost life-size, and each is  comprised of hundreds of car parts – he used as many as eight to ten automobiles to build a single dinosaur. A local artist, raised in Colts Neck, and a resident of Farmingdale, Gary established a gallery, Iron Butterfly, in Red Bank, featuring other artists he selected as well as his own work. Gary's art has been exhibited at museums throughout the country, including the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History, the Boston Children's Museum and the Liberty Science Center in Jersey City. A traveling exhibition of his work, Jim Gary's Twentieth Century Dinosaurs has toured worldwide since the late 1970's. Pictured on the Museum's outdoor patio with our Stegosaurus sculpture is Tess Martin and her grandmother, Joann Kreger. Tess submitted the winning name of "Stella" in our dinosaur naming contest.
|
