Jennifer Lukowiak demonstrates the potter’s craft during last year’s Artists Weekend at Sickles Market, to which she and 19 other creators return this weekend.

Art happens, as it’s wont to do, often in the most unlikely of places — and any number of art aficionados can tell you that it doesn’t require a formal gallery setting to showcase some pretty awesome stuff. If you’re “art and about” the greater Green this weekend, you’re just as likely to encounter this awesomeness at a gourmet market and garden center — or, in Friday evening’s instance, at two of Red Bank’s most dynamic hair salons.

Last we looked in on Glen Goldbaum, the superstar Manhattan stylist turned catalyst for a creative new vision on Red Bank’s West Side was hosting an event branded as Bewitched, a “magical evening of fantasy, hair, art and more” that transformed his two neighboring Bridge Avenue salons (Glen Goldbaum 72 and Lambs & Wolves Den of Beauty) into an environment populated by winged fantasy characters, live mannequins and guest conceptualizers from Asbury Park’s Cookman Avenue “Arts Bloc.”

Artist Holly Suzanne Rader displays her unique miniature paper dresses at Glen Goldbaum’s two Bridge Avenue salons Friday night. (Photo by Suzy Graham)

On February 10, Saturday, February 11, the “Left Bank” block opposite the NJ Transit station stop will be the scene for GLAMit, a solo art installation (keyed to New York Fashion Week 2012) that celebrates “old Hollywood glam with a modern feminine edge” through the paintings and three-dimensional work of Holly Suzanne Rader. The Tennessee-bred artist will be on hand for a reception that spotlights her unique miniature paper dresses (composed of paper mache, vintage book pages, clip art and assorted items) as well as her Glamour Girls paintings — a series of homages to “retro bombshells, lusty pin-ups and the timeless Hollywood divine” that are “candy coated” with the artist’s engagingly repurposed found objects.

The free, open-to-the-public reception runs from 7 to 10 pm at both Glen Goldbaum storefronts, with Rader’s art remaining on display through February and March — and those whose art appetites have been whetted can sample a stylistic smorgasbord on Saturday and Sunday.

In the words of  Sickles Market publicist Karen Irvine, the gourmet grocer and garden center is “practically a mini-community center,” given over as it is to such eagerly anticipated annual public events as the summertime Butterfly Day (in which some 100 Monarch and Painted Lady butterflies are released into the wild). This Saturday and Sunday, it’s the artists’ turn to be set loose at the Little Silver landmark.

Going on between the hours of 11:30 am and 3 pm both days, Artists Weekend brings together 20 Monmouth County painters, sculptors, photographers and crafters — a different lineup for each day — with the creative folk doing their thing around the Sickles greenhouse in a welcome foreshadowing of springtime’s plein-air pleasures. It’s an event for which all art sale proceeds go directly to the artists — and an event about which Bob Sickles says, “We are lucky to have so many talented local artists dedicating their lives to creating works of art,” adding that “This is a great time of year to enjoy our greenhouse…the natural light is perfect for displaying art.”

Artists on hand for Saturday, February 11 include the internationally renowned Red Bank graphic artist and book illustrator Mike Quon (whose work is currently on view at No Joe’s), as well as Little Silver’s own Kim Levin, pet portraitist supreme and creator of such books as PhoDOGraphy and Cattitude. A trio of Red Bank Regional High School students (Amber Czesnolowicz, Kelly McAdam, Terrill Warrenburg) join a lineup that further features Doreen Catena (chairs, coasters), Leslie Eaton (jewelry), Francine Girmonte (jewelry), Ken Klohn (drawings), and Ayala Naphtali (jewelry).

On Sunday, February 12 the roster of participants will include the muti-talented RBR grad Becky Polenberg (sculpture, painting) and clay pottery artisan Jennifer Lukowiak, in addition to Lola Adolf (local scenery paintings and greeting cards), Mary Christensen (pastel paintings), Laura McHugh (vintage jewelry), Laurel Lee (jewelry), Laurie Olefson (jewelry), Demetrius Patterson (paintings), Bruce Perlmutter (woodturning), and Viki Reed (photgraphy).