“ERIC SHULTZ”: The cellist, painted here by Mel Leipzig, will perform with Mira Kang and Sandra Pucciatti at the closing reception for the exhibition “Painting the Moon and Beyond: Lois Dodd and Friends” on Saturday, April 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie.

The Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie will host the closing reception for its exhibition “Painting the Moon and Beyond: Lois Dodd and Friends” on Saturday, April 30 from 1 to 4 p.m. In addition to meeting the show’s artists, attendees will hear a moon- and art-inspired concert of “Nocturnes, Arias, and Artistic Memories” performed by cellists Eric Schultz and Mira Kang and pianist Sandra Pucciatti. The program will include selections by Chopin, Sondheim, Bach, and Puccini.

Schultz is known as a producer and director of arts programming, including public television’s State of the Arts. Kang is an accomplished concert soloist who has appeared on many renowned stages. Pucciatti is the managing director of Boheme Opera NJ.

Following the concert, the museum will formally accept into its collection the painting Woodland Vase, by Mel Leipzig, who painted the artwork on site in the Trenton City Museum in 2019.

“Painting the Moon and Beyond” showcases paintings by New Jersey native and revered landscape painter Lois Dodd and artists who have long been a part of her life. Dodd is a co-founder of the legendary artist-run Tanager Gallery and has, for more than 70 years, painted her surroundings — New York’s Lower East Side, rural Mid-Coast Maine, and the Delaware Water Gap. Among her favorite subjects — and the central theme of the exhibition — is the night sky. Together with fellow exhibitors Jeff Epstein, Dan Finaldi, and Elizabeth O’Reilly,  Dodd has ventured out on summer nights to paint. In addition to the nocturnes, “Painting the Moon and Beyond” looks through windows and doors and at portraits the artists have made of each other, including one by Mel Leipzig of Trenton.

For more about the exhibition and the Trenton City Museum, and to sign up for the reception, visit ellarslie.org or call the museum at (609) 989-1191.

The Trenton City Museum’s hours are Fridays and Saturdays from 12 to 4 p.m. and Sundays from 1 to 4 p.m. Ample parking is available adjacent to the museum in Trenton’s Cadwalader Park, entered from Parkside Avenue. There is no admission charge, but donations in support of the museum’s mission and programs are appreciated.