Two generations of Quons — 103-year-old artist Milton, and Fair Haven favorite Mike — team up for their first tandem show at the Oyster Point. 

Though Mother Nature is preparing to swat us like a lion, the atmosphere here on the Greater Red Bank Green is alive with the pent-up energy of a local art scene anxious to bust out of its cabin-fever confines.

In addition to the current juried shows on display at Red Bank’s Art Alliance and Shrewsbury’s Guild of Creative Art (detailed here in a previous post), art explorers have plenty of impetus to brave an artwalk on the wintry side.

It begins tonight with a first look at a new installation on the walls and walkways of Red Bank’s Oyster Point Hotel — a “Two Generations of Art” display that pairs a redbankgreen favorite, Fair Haven-based painter and illustrator Mike Quon, with a special colleague: his 103-year-old father, Milton Quon.

More than just a casual father-and-son game of catch, the Quon + Quon exhibit is a fascinating look at the varying visions and shared experiences of two serious professionals, each a respected veteran of the advertising and graphic design fields.

A former Disney animator who worked on such classics as Fantasia and Dumbo, the still-active Milton favors natural landscapes in a “more traditional and ethereal watercolor style,” while local art aficionados have long known Mike for his boldly colorful, engagingly stylized takes on regional landmarks and urban street scenes.

Be sure to join Mike at the Oyster Point for a reception on Friday, March 24 — a 7 to 9 p.m. event at which Milton (who resides in Los Angeles) is expected to make an appearance via video.

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Mark that calendar for this Wednesday evening, when all are invited to the Lincroft campus of Brookdale Community College for an opening reception keyed to the 2017 Teen Arts Festival. The annual exhibition curated by Red Bank-based nonprofit Monmouth Arts commandeers the Center for Visual Arts (CVA) Gallery at BCC, for a 6 to 7 p.m. event in which the organization’s new executive director Teresa Staub will be formally introduced.

The dance, vocal music and writing talents of Monmouth County student artists will also be showcased (and refreshments by Mumford’s Café will be served) at the reception, the sole general-public event in a festival that’s expected to draw some 2,000 school-age attendees throughout the week. See the AllGood section of redbankgreen for more details.

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The nearing of spring spells a heightened degree of activity over at Detour Gallery, the recently opened 10,000-square-foot facility (located at 24 Clay Street in Red Bank) that’s quickly become the Greater Green’s most buzzworthy new artspace.

Opening with an artist reception on Sunday is a new show spotlighting the work of Martin Schapira and Zevi G. Linked by their status as successful young businessmen (respectively, a designer of acclaimed custom aquarium/pond installations, and an in-demand construction contractor-philanthropist), the two thirty-somethings are also possessed of an artistic streak that manifests itself in the character-based sculptures and message-driven sketch art that’s grown out of their friendship and brick-and-mortar collaborations.

The artists are expected to be in attendance at the reception that runs from 6 to 10 p.m., with the installation remaining on display during regular gallery hours (or by appointment) through April 22. Take it here for redbankgreen‘s report on still more interesting activity in Red Bank, courtesy of Detour’s owner Kenny Schwartz.

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Artists have never been afraid to take on pressing issues — and in Pulped Under Pressure, the new show opening imminently at Lincroft’s Monmouth Museum, paper goes from merely being the vehicle for paint and pencil, to the medium itself.

A group of seven featured artists from California, Illinois and Virginia (Jillian Bruschera, Julia Goodman, Reni Gower, Trisha Oralie Martink, Melissa Potter, Marilyn Propp, Maggie Puckett) employ printmaking, papercutting, letterpress and other time-honored techniques with a variety of recycled materials, to create bold pieces that are both based in handmade, natural-fiber papermaking and positioned within the public debate on some of the most urgent matters facing civilization today.

The public is invited to a free reception that takes place between 4 and 6 p.m. this Sunday, and the installation remains on display through May 7 during regular museum hours (Tuesday-Thursday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Friday 10 a.m. – 9 p.m.; Saturday 10 a.m. – 5 p.m.; Sunday 12-5 p.m.) Regular admission is $8 per person; free with valid student or staff ID from Brookdale Community College, on whose Lincroft campus the Museum sits.

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It doesn’t happen often, but sometimes the “opening” reception falls upon the last day of the exhibit — and so it is with Oldies But Goodies, the current installation at Middletown Public Library.

On display right now inside the library’s Community Room, the group show (curated by the Art Society of Monmouth County) explores a theme that doesn’t so much refer to the measured life experience of its contributors, but to the vintage of the assembled works: a collection of revisited pieces that in some cases may not have been presented to the public for some 25 years, if at all.

Several of the artists are expected to be in attendance at MTPL on Saturday, March 25, for a reception (with award ceremony) that goes on between 1 and 2:30 p.m. The Art Society returns to the Middletown Library on Monday, April 3, with the 2017 edition of their annual Ruth Crown Memorial Art Show.