Fine Arts Shows, Exhibitions, and Events in New Jersey

Find out where the upcoming fine arts shows, sculpture, and pottery shows, exhibitions, events are taking place in NJ.

I have selected the most significant and popular New Jersey art museums and galleries that would be of interest to fine arts enthusiasts looking for an educational and enjoyable day trip, or to complement their weekend getaway or vacation.

All of the museums, art galleries, and art centers are open to the public and include exhibits that display l works from artists and crafts people. Some of these special exhibitions are limited engagements as well as ongoing or extended period of times. All of the exhibits are not exclusively for adults, many can be enjoyed by children

In this period of difficult financial times, art galleries, museums, and artists are struggling to stay afloat. Please offer your financial support when visiting an exhibition or an artist with works on display.

Note: This information is provided by event sponsors as a free service to our viewers. Sometimes conditions require cancellations or changes of dates, times and location which are not reflected in the original schedule. Before planning a trip to visit one of the listed events, it is suggested that you call the event sponsor to confirm the event schedule or for additional information on the event.

Northern NJ Art Galleries and Museums

Belskie Museum of Art & Science
Belskie Museum, New Jersey 280 High Street
Closter, NJ
201-768-0286
Exhibits the works of sculptor and medical illustrator Abram Belskie and provides a forum for the arts by providing a venue where both local and international artists of repute can display their works.
Hours: Saturday and Sunday: 1-5 pm. Special hours can be arranged by appointment for schools and organizations. Admission is Free.

Hiram Blauvelt Art Museum
Hiram Blauvelt Museum, New Jersey 705 Kinderkamack Road
Oradell, NJ
201-261-0012
One of only five museums in the United States to exclusively display wildlife art. Hours: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday 10am–4pm Saturday and Sunday 2–5pm

Jersey City Museum
350 Montgomery Street
Jersey City, NJ
201-413-0303
Features high quality American visual art and material culture. Emphasis is on exhibiting and supporting the work of contemporary artists who represent the diversity of our society.
Hours: Wednesday through Friday: 11am to 5pm. Saturday: 12pm to 5pm Admission $5 adults, $3 seniors/students free for museum members & kids under 12 Children must be accompanied by an adult.

Montclair Art Museum
3 South Mountain Avenue
Montclair, NJ 07042
(973) 746-5555
They feature distinctive collection of American and Native American art, exhibitions, and educational programs that link art to contemporary life in a global context.
Hours: Wednesdays - Sundays, Noon - 5 p.m; Closed Mondays, Tuesdays, and major holidays.

The Morris Museum
Morris Museum, New Jersey 6 Normandy Heights Road
Morristown, NJ
973-971-3700
Features the enjoyment of the visual and performing arts, natural and physical sciences, and humanities through exhibitions, performances, and educational programs.
Hours: Wednesdays, Fridays, Saturdays: 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Thursdays: 11 a.m.-8 p.m.. Sundays: 1-5 p.m. Closed Mondays & Tuesdays, New Year's Day, Easter Sunday, Memorial Day, 4th of July, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Eve and Christmas Day.

The Newark Museum
49 Washington Street
Newark, NJ
973-596-6550
Features experiences in the arts and natural sciences with 80 galleries of world-class collections including American, Asian, African and Classical.
Open: Wednesday through Sunday, 12 noon–5 pm. Closed Mondays (except for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and Presidents' Day), Tuesdays, New Year's Day, July 4, Thanksgiving Day and December 25.

The Art School at Old Church
The Mikhail Zakin & Café Galleries
The Art School at Old Church, New Jersey 561 Piermont Road
Demarest, NJ
201-767-7160
An art school and fine art gallery offering art classes, craft classes, workshops, children's classes, art exhibits & more. Gallery Hours: Monday-Friday, 9:30 AM - 5:00 PM, Please call the school for evening or Saturday hours.

Peters Valley Craft Center
The Sally D. Francisco Gallery
19 Kuhn Road
Layton, NJ
973-948-5200
A national center for fine craft education where people's lives are enriched through the exploration and execution of fine craft. They offer two to five day workshops in blacksmithing, ceramics, fibers, fine metals, photography, print making, wood and special topics including print making, books & paper, drawing, and glass. The Sally D. Francisco Gallery is located on the second floor and hosts solo and group, themed exhibitions on a rotating basis throughout the year.
Hours: Open year round. Thursday through Tuesday 10am - 6pm. April through early November, they are open Thursday through Tuesday, 10am - 6pm. The store opens 7 days for holiday shopping beginning mid-November through December.

Central NJ Art Galleries and Museums

Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
Rutgers, The State University Of New Jersey
71 Hamilton Street
New Brunswick, NJ
732-932-7237
Hours: Tuesday – Friday: 10:00 am – 4:30 pm, First Wednesdays: 10:00 am – 9:00 pm, Weekends: Noon – 5:00 pm Closed: Mondays all year, month of August Holidays: Memorial Day, July 4, Labor Day, Thanksgiving Thursday and Friday, December 24, 25, and 31, January 1

Grounds For Sculpture
Grounds for Sculpture, New Jersey 18 Fairgrounds Road
Hamilton, NJ
(609) 586-0616
A 42-acre public sculpture park founded by J. Seward Johnson to promote an understanding of and appreciation for contemporary sculpture. Visitors to the park can enjoy the outdoor permanent collection, indoor seasonal exhibitions, and learn about contemporary sculpture through a variety of educational programs including workshops for adults and children, artist residencies and lectures, tours for adults, schoolchildren, toddlers, as well as touch tours for the blind.
Hours: Open year-round. Tuesday-Sunday, 10am-6pm; Closed Mondays except Labor Day and Memorial Day. Closed Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day, and New Year's Day. Also closed to the public for Members only events.

The Hunterdon Art Museum
Hunterdon Art Museum, New Jersey 7 Lower Center Street
Clinton, NJ
908-735-8415
Features contemporary art and design and serves as a home for art education programs.
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday, 11:00AM - 5:00PM. Suggested Admission: $5 per person

The New Jersey State Museum
205 West State Street Trenton, NJ
(609) 292-6464
The museum features over 12,000 works of art including paintings, prints, drawings, sculpture and photographs, most acquired since 1965 when the Museum's mission was expanded to include fine art.
Open: Tuesday – Saturday, 9 am to 4:45pm Sunday, noon to 5 pm. Closed Mondays & State Holidays.

Princeton University Art Museum
McCormick Hall in the middle of the Princeton University campus
Princeton, NJ
609-258-3788
They feature visual arts as being essential to the advancement of knowledge of art and archaeology.
Hours: Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday, 10:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Thursday, 10:00 a.m. to 10:00 p.m., and Sunday, 1:00 p.m. to 5:00 p.m. Admission is free.

Southern NJ Art Galleries and Museums

The Noyes Museum Of Art
733 Lily Lake Road
Oceanville, NJ
609-652-8848
The Noyes Museum of Art the only fine arts museum in southern New Jersey, is filled with treasures of American art, especially folk art and crafts.
Hours: Monday through Saturday 10:00 AM to 4:30 PM; Thursday until 8:00 PM; Sunday noon to 5:00 PM. Closed Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve Day, New Year's Day, Thanksgiving, Labor Day, 4th of July, Memorial Day, Presidents Day, MLK Day, Columbus Day, Easter and Easter Monday

Wheaton Arts and Cultural Center
1501 Glasstown Rd
Millville, NJ
800-998-4552; 856-825-6800
A restored village and an arts organization emphasizing the creative spirit with a special emphasis on glass.
Hours: Open April through December, six days a week: Tuesday through Sunday, 10am to 5pm. Open Legal Holidays: Memorial Day, July 4 and Labor Day Closed: Easter Sunday, Thanksgiving Day, Christmas Day and New Year's Day. ( closes at 3 p.m. on Christmas Eve day)
Admission: $10.00 Adults, $9.00 Senior Adults (62+), $7.00 Students, Children 5 and under are free. Every Sunday ALL children 17 and under will be admitted Free.

Ocean City Arts Center
1735 Simpson Ave
Ocean City, NJ
(609) 399-7628
The center features three large studios with northern light and a dance studio, music room, pottery studio, reference library and darkroom. Forty-plus weekly classes are offered in five to six sessions yearly, as well as frequent one-day workshops for adults, teens, and children. They also have a summer art camp, and each month they have new exhibits featuring regional and national artists of various mediums.
Hours: Monday through Friday, 9am to 9pm. Saturday, 9am to 3pm

Ongoing Featured Arts Shows and Exhibitions

Arts of Africa
The Newark Museum
This exhibit features extraordinary works of art from different African cultures and regions in a thematic display. It explores the human form in art, dress and adornment, masquerade and performance, the aesthetics of utilitarian objects, emblems of rank and status, and art and spirituality. Among the highlights are a 17th century Ethiopian icon painting, a Dinka man's bead work corset from Sudan and a contemporary Ghanaian "fantasy coffin" in the form of an eagle. Complementing the gallery are selected works of contemporary art, including a shimmering metal "wall cloth" by the internationally celebrated artist El Anatsui.

2012 Art Shows, Exhibitions, and Events

Paul Stankard: Poetry in Glass
Now until January 22, 2012
The Noyes Museum Of Art
In an homage to Walt Whitman, Stankard creates nature's intricacies, blossoms and insects suspended perfectly in glass. Internationally acclaimed as a leader in the contemporary art world, Stankard has been working tiny miracles for more than thirty years.

Deconstructing Nature
Now to January 29, 2012
The Hunterdon Art Museum
Exhibition features a contemporary interpretation by five artists of the modern landscape, by examining the essential qualities of nature through an updated lens, new possibilities emerge. The contemporary landscape is less concerned with a strict portrayal of a beach or a mountain and more concerned with a narrative about nature, regardless of the format.

Christine McPartland Art Exhibit
The month of January, 2012
Ocean City Arts Center
Meet the artist reception: Friday, January 13th 7 - 8:30pm

Annual Artists' Days in the Sickles Market Greenhouse
Saturday, February 11th and Sunday 12th, 2012, 11:00 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. Sickles Market
One Harrison Avenue (off Rumson Road)
Little Silver, NJ
732-741-9563
Contacts: Lisa Karasic, Marketing Manager; Tori Sickles, Marketing Assistant, (732) 741-9563 sicklesmarket@sicklesmarket.com
The perfect cure for the winter blues. A visit to Sickles Market's greenhouse during its Annual Artists' Day weekend. Each day approximately a dozen artists will display their art and hold demonstrations. The event is free to the public. Artwork is for sale with 100 percent of the proceeds going to the artists. The art alone is reason enough to attend, however a simple walk through the natural, light-filled greenhouse with colorful flowers, lush fauna, Heavenly fragrances and the melodious sounds of water fountains all work together to relieve the winter doldrums. Artists work in several mediums ranging from Watercolors, Oils, Pen and Ink, Textiles and recycled materials plus many more.

New Jersey Artist Series Essential Life: Painting & Sculpture by Tricia Zimic
Now through February 19, 2012
Main Building – 2nd Floor Riverside Galleries
The New Jersey State Museum
Tricia Zimic's love of illustration and passion for clay have led her to explore three-dimensional narrative sculpture. Her work has evolved to embrace her passion for better understanding and appreciation of wildlife conservation issues. The exhibition features painting and sculpture created over the last several years.

The Art of the Brick®
Now until February 19, 2012
The Morris Museum
Nathan Sawaya is an award-winning artist who creates large-scale sculptures using only toy building blocks: LEGO® bricks. A special area has been set up where visitors, inspired by Sawaya's work, can build their own LEGO creations.

The Endangered Observed
Now to February 19, 2012
Tuesday to Saturday, 9 am to 4:45 pm; Sunday, noon-5 pm;
New Jersey State Museum
205 West State St.
Trenton, NJ
609-292-6464
Maplewood resident Tricia Zimic's solo show, "Wild Urbania. " The program features more than 40 sculptures, paintings and etchings that showcase rare and endangered species such as the American blackbird in New Jersey urban environments. Admission is free.

Celebrating Our Legacy: The 20th Anniversary Exhibition of Art in the Atrium
January 12 – March 18, 2012
The Morris Museum
This is the museum's annual African-American fine arts show. It features the work of both established and emerging artists, with a mission to increase community understanding and awareness of African-American art and artists. This exhibition features the work of Norman Lewis and twenty other artists.

In The Search of an Absolute : Art of Valery Yurlov
Now until June 3, 2012
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
Soviet artist Valery Yurlov was active with formation of movements and grouping into collectives. This exhibition continues a series of one-man shows devoted to early nonconformist artists.
Open: Tuesday - Friday: 10am - 4:30pm. Weekends: 12 noon - 5pm. And until 9pm on the first Wednesday of each month.
Admission: Adults: $6; Seniors over 65: $5. Free admission to Museum members, Rutgers University students and staff (with I.D.), and children under 18. Free admission on the first Sunday of every month

Rachel Perry Welty: 24/7
January 28, 2012 - July 08, 2012
Voorhees Special Exhibition Gallery
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
New Englander Rachel Perry Welty,is a conceptual artist who creates humorous, beautifully crafted, process-based work on the subject of life in the twenty-first century. Her insightful images made by reconstituting such materials as supermarket labels and flyers, receipts, price tags, twist ties and fruit stickers. This exhibition includes drawing, sculpture, collage, installation, video, photography, and performance works using iPhones, Facebook and Twitter.

Modern and Contemporary Art from Private Collections
February 12 – June 17, 2012
Montclair Art Museum
This exhibition features over 40 works by 20th and 21st century artists from area private collections. The exhibition offers a rare opportunity to view works that are seldom exhibited in public.

Harmony in Clay: the Elegance and Refinement of Song Ceramics
March 8 through June 24, 2012
The Morris Museum
This exhibition features a collection of Chinese ceramics, showcasing the ingenuity of the Song dynasty's ceramics industry, including both stoneware and porcelain. The exhibition includes approximately 100 stunning objects from the Jiyuanshanfang Collection, assembled over decades by a single family. Song dynasty ceramics have long been prized for their elegant shapes, unique glazes, and inventive decoration.

John Constable: Oil Sketches from the Victoria and Albert Museum
March 17, 2012 - June 10, 2012
Princeton University Art Museum
This exhibition features a look at one of the greatest landscape artists of all time. Organized by the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, this exhibition offers a rare opportunity to investigate the significance of John Constable's contributions to British art and ultimately to the rise of Romanticism across Europe and North America. Constable (1776-1837) was one of the first artists to work en plein air, "so as to note 'the day, the hour, the sunshine and the shade.'" The openness of his brushwork and his concern for passing light effects were enormously influential for subsequent generations of artists, including the Impressionists of late- nineteenth-century France.

Aspects of Architecture: The Prints of John Taylor Arms
April 14, 2012 - July 31, 2012
Eisenberg Gallery
Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum
71 Hamilton St.
New Brunswick, NJ
732-932-7237
John Taylor Arms (1897-1953), an American etcher who specialized in the depiction of architecture, created prints that astonished viewers with his extraordinary skill in capturing detail. this exhibition features twenty-six prints dating between 1919 and 1940. Highlights include remarkable prints of the cathedrals of Chartres and Rouen, and the gargoyles of Notre Dame in Paris

New Jersey Arts Annual: Fine Arts
April 19 – July 22, 2012
Montclair Art Museum
This exhibition features the works of contemporary artists incorporating new technologies and forms into their work. The juried show is open to artists currently living or working in New Jersey and who engage with digital media in their work.

The 42nd Monmouth Festival of the Arts
May 5 – 9, 2012
Monmouth Festival of Arts 332 Hance Ave • Tinton Falls
Tinton Falls, NJ
732-747-8278 or festival@monmouthfestivalofthearts.com
for information about advertising, patron opportunities and jurying dates for artists.
It is one of the most popular and professional juried art shows in the area supporting artists as well as art education. This event expects over 2500 visitors from the tri-state area. Art lovers can enjoy the variety of art on display from more than 225 artists from the Northeast area. The event also has workshops presented by the artists on the technique of their craft as well as an evening artists' lecture series, children's craft workshops and entertainment. The Festival also offers an educational symposium for teachers to earn continuing education credits.