Check out Cupid’s choice of seasonal events throughout the greater Mercer County region, from candle-making to curated wine pairings, before following the same arrow to find out what’s happening in the arts this month.
Suddenly passionate about painting and performance? Well, he may have already left his mark.
Valentine’s Day Fun
Cooking Classes with Chef Jules Odum, Rat’s Restaurant
Rat’s Restaurant, 16 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton
Rat’s Restaurant, the upscale French eatery at the Grounds for Sculpture in Hamilton, is bringing back its cooking classes with executive chef Jules Odum on Wednesday nights through March.
Each session is limited to 10 participants and costs $150 per person, with its “intimate” structure providing “an immersive and personalized experience,” according to a recent press release.
A curated wine pairing is also included in the fee. To reserve, call (609) 584-7800.
The Valentine’s Day-themed course, “Preparing the Perfect Meal for Your Loved One,” will feature a surf and turf menu on February 7, while the first of the “French Cooking Series” starts on actual Valentine’s Day, February 14, when Odum prepares a classic duck à l’orange.
Other classes are as follows:
February 21: “French Cooking Series: Trout Almandine”February 28: “French Cooking Series: Coq au Vin”March 7: “Pasta Making Class: Fresh Pasta with Shaved Truffles”March 13: “How To Make Parisian Gnocchi”
Rat’s Restaurant, 16 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton. February 7, 14, and every Wednesday night through the month of March. $150 per person. (609) 584-7800 or ratsrestaurant.com.
Cupid’s Candle Crafting Workshop, Skil-Lit Cafe
Skil-Lit Cafe, South Warren Street, Trenton
Skil-Lit Cafe, a trendy brunch spot in historic downtown Trenton, has been serving up family recipes on hot skillets since it opened in February 2022.
Learn how to make a personalized candle at the restaurant’s “Cupid’s Candle Crafting Workshop” on Saturday, February 10, from 6 to 9 p.m. with food and drinks—necessary fuel for a day of forging fiery creations—available for purchase.
“This hands-on experience,” Skil-Lit promises, “will guide you through the process of selecting scents, colors, and molds to design unique candles that will light up your special day.”
Tickets are available via the Eventbrite page for the event, eventbrite.com/e/cupids-candle-crafting-a-valentines-day-workshop-tickets-797348760607, with an early bird discount of $30 and regular prices starting at $45.
Skil-Lit Cafe, South Warren Street, Trenton. Saturday, February 10, 6 to 9 p.m. $30 to $45 per person. skillitcafe.com.
Old Fashioned Valentine’s Day, Howell Living History Farm
Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township
The Howell Living History Farm is a sprawling 130-acre site in Hopewell Township, maintained and operated by the Mercer County Park Commission, ready for the return of its annual “Old-Fashioned Valentine’s Day” event on Saturday, February 10, from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. with equal opportunities for romance or family fun.
Couples can ride in a two-seater sleigh or horse-drawn carriage, while families may choose from a hay wagon or bobsled to traverse the snowy farmland.
Children will be able to craft Victorian Valentine’s Day cards for a small materials fee from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. All guests are welcome, per tradition, to enjoy soup from the farmhouse stove.
Howell Living History Farm, 70 Woodens Lane, Hopewell Township. Saturday, February 10, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. howellfarm.org.
New Jersey Wine and Chocolate Trail Weekends
The Garden State Wine Growers Association, a New Jersey-based coalition of over sixty wineries and vineyards, kicks off its two consecutive “Wine and Chocolate Trail Weekends” from February 9 to 11 and February 16 to 18 as a curated celebration for the tastebuds.
Participating wineries across the region include Working Dog Winery in Hightstown, Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery in Princeton, Laurita Winery in New Egypt, and Angelico Winery in Lambertville.
For more information, see the official Garden State Wine Growers Association website at newjerseywines.com/events/category/trails/wine-and-chocolate-trail.
“Wine Tasting,” Working Dog Winery, 610 Windsor Perrineville Road, Hightstown. February 9, 10, 11, 16, 17, and 18 during regular business hours. (609) 371-6000 or workingdogwinerynj.com.
Reservations are not required but recommended, with appointments every 20 minutes. The $18 per person fee includes a Working Dog wine glass, a choice of five wines from the tasting menu, and a bottle of water.
“Wine & Chocolate Wine Trail Weekend,” Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery, 330 Cold Soil Road, Princeton. February 10, 11, 17, and 18, noon to 5 p.m. Free. (609) 924-2310 or terhuneorchards.com/winery.
A special pairing includes a wine flight with selections from Terhune’s 18 total varieties, “single-origin artisan chocolates” from Pierre’s Chocolates in New Hope, and a souvenir Terhune Orchards Vineyard and Winery glass.
Other chocolate baked goods will be available from Terhune’s onsite bakery. Outside fire pit, “cozy wine barn,” and live music from 1 to 4 p.m.
“Wine and Chocolate Weekend,” Laurita Winery, 85 Archertown Road, New Egypt. February 3, 4, 10, 11, 17, and 18, noon to 5 p.m. (609) 752-0200 or lauritawinery.com. Free admission. Tastings, chocolate vendors, and live music.
“Wine and Bundt Cake Flight Night,” February 8, 7 to 9 p.m. The $35 per person fee includes a flight of four wines, either dry or sweet, paired with four “bundtini” handcrafted cakes from Nothing Bundt Cakes in Princeton in chocolate chocolate chip, white chocolate raspberry, red velvet, and lemon. Register online.
Art Exhibits & Galleries
“Nature’s Duet,” Tulpehaking Nature Center
Tulpehaking Nature Center, 157 Westcott Avenue, Hamilton
The Friends for the Abbott Marshlands’ first exhibit of 2024 is “Nature’s Duet,” a joint display by artists Abigail Johnson of Princeton and Laura Beard of Ewing at the Tulpehaking Nature Center in Hamilton, on view through February 28.
FFAM is a nonprofit organization supporting the stewardship of the Abbott Marshlands, the more than 3,000 acres of marshlands and open space running throughout Trenton, Hamilton, and Bordentown within Lenapehoking, also known as the “traditional and ancestral homeland of the Lenape.”
An opening reception will take place on Sunday, February 4, from 2 to 4 p.m.
According to the Abbott Marshlands website, the exhibit focuses on “the color harmony of both abstract and realism, applied to the inspiration of the natural world. Johnson’s collection, from her ‘Planetary’ series, is a meditation on the natural world and its many complex ecologies. Beard’s collection is an invitation to consider the animals, both large and small, that share our planet.”
Beard’s piece “Serenity” (2023) is acrylic on gallery-wrapped canvas, while “Fragile Balance 1” (2019) depicts a male Halloween pennant dragonfly with watercolors and gouache on watercolor paper. Johnson’s “Rain” and “Forest” (2023) are both mixed media on canvas.
Each of Johnson’s mixed-media abstract pieces is paired with an original poem about the natural world that inspired it, a true testament to her multi-medium approach that, according to her website, artbyaella.com, is “driven by [her] deep desire to understand humanity’s ever-evolving place in nature and how it shapes our experiences.”
Her work has been previously shown at the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie Mansion, the West Windsor Arts Council, the Arts Council of Princeton, Artworks Trenton, and more.
Beard is a portrait artist specializing in photorealistic paintings of animals and nature. Beard, who has exhibited before at both the Arts Council of Princeton and Artworks Trenton, is also a member of the New Jersey Watercolor Society and the Garden State Watercolor Society. For more, see her website at laurabeardart.com.
Last year, both exhibiting artists—Johnson for digital art and Beard for watercolor—won awards in the Ellarslie Open 40.
All pieces on display are available for purchase at the closure of the exhibit, with a portion of the profits benefiting the Tulpehaking Nature Center and the FFAM.
Note: For more on Beard and Johnson, see “Tulpehaking Exhibit Offers Two Views on Nature” by Michele Alperin for Community News Service.
Tulpehaking Nature Center, 157 Westcott Avenue, Hamilton. On view through February 28. Open Wednesdays through Saturdays, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. 609-888-3218 or www.abbottmarshlands.org.
“Reciting Women: Alia Bensliman & Khalilah Sabree,” Art@Bainbridge
Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau Street, Princeton
“Reciting Women,” an exhibit featuring Alia Bensliman and Khalilah Sabree, opened at Princeton University’s Art@Bainbridge gallery in late January and remains on view through March 31.
A reception is set for Saturday, February 3 at 2 p.m., followed by a conversation with the artists on Thursday, February 15 at 5:30 p.m. in the Friend Center on Princeton campus.
As stated in the online museum materials, the two artists “deliberately disrupt conventional divides between tradition and modernity and the sacred and the secular. As Muslim-American artists and educators deeply rooted in the Trenton community, their imagery grapples with human rights struggles and the challenges of cultural belonging.”
“Bensliman’s images of Amazigh women focus on the Indigenous population of North Africa in richly patterned watercolors informed by local artistic motifs, with her own triple portrait as an introspective counterpoint. Sabree’s painting suite turns a photograph taken during Hajj, the annual Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, into a meditation on loss and the devastations of war. Seen together, the artists’ works testify to seemingly incompatible commitments: preserving cultural traditions that are under threat while forging visual vocabularies that resonate with their own unfolding identities.”
Bensliman’s “Me, Myself, and I: Unfinished Conversation” (2023) is a combination of watercolor, ink markers, charcoal, and colored pencil on archival paper.
Sabree’s “Broken Promise” (2016–2017) is a graphite, oil paint stick, acrylic, acrylic printing ink, paper, oil paint, and photography piece on masonite from her ‘Destruction of a Culture’ series.
According to Bensliman’s website, aliabenslimanart.com, the Robbinsville-based artist grew up in Tunisia, North Africa, which she called a place “at a crossroad of eastern and ancient art and cultures on one hand and western more contemporary art on the other. As a result, her work merges “east and west with a penchant for North African and Berber art.”
On Sabree’s website, khalilahsabree.com, she describes her work as “about spiritual transformation and world issues,” yet “with a contemporary Islamic flavor,” drawing from her experiences as a Black Muslim woman.
Both are arts educators, too, with Bensliman currently teaching at Artworks Trenton and the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, while Sabree is a former Lawrence Township teacher who also has a private studio at Artworks Trenton.
Art@Bainbridge, 158 Nassau Street, Princeton. On view through March 31. Open Tuesday and Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 7 p.m.; and Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Free. artmuseum.princeton.edu/artbainbridge.
“Freda Williams: A Retrospective,” Artworks Trenton
Artworks Trenton, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton
Mabel “Freda” Williams, a self-taught visual artist and longtime resident of Ewing Township for more than 70 years, is the subject of Artworks Trenton’s exhibition “Freda Williams: A Retrospective” in its main and community galleries through Saturday, March 16.
There will also be an opening reception on Friday, February 2, from 6 to 8 p.m.
A graduate of what is now Rider University, Williams’ lifelong passion for painting grew into a professional career after she retired from two decades as a steel industry manager and 27 years as an affirmative action manager for the New Jersey Department of Education.
“Most people enjoy seeing things that are familiar to them and give them a sense of community and fond memories of a time gone by,” Williams said in a quote from the exhibit page on the Artworks website, artworkstrenton.org/events/freda-williams-a-retrospective.
Her work, the materials continue, “depicts scenes of historical events, African American roots, beautiful landscapes, and vivid, abstract images that reflect both past and current periods and settings.”
Other themes and motifs, according to the Artworks page, include “florals, political, African American history, Trenton historical sites, southern themes, landscapes, and cityscapes,” including her “To the Left” series.
The majority of William’s collection is acrylic, but her favorite medium is oil, and she has experimented with both watercolor and mixed media.
Williams’ winning painting in the 2021 Mercer County Senior Art Show, “Original People,” was awarded third place in the state competition, the New Jersey Senior Citizen Art Show.
She formerly served on the Ewing Township Arts Commission, an appointed municipal body and nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting the local creative community.
Williams has also exhibited at the Lawrenceville and Ewing Public Libraries, West Windsor Arts, Hopewell Valley Vineyards, the Trenton City Museum at Ellarslie, and more.
For more on Williams, see her website at fredasartgallery.com.
Artworks Trenton, 19 Everett Alley, Trenton. On view through March 16, Tuesdays through Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Opening reception Friday, February 2, 6 to 8 p.m. Free. artworkstrenton.org.
Concerts & Performances
“Welcome to the Neighborhood,” Westminster Choir & the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville
2688 Lawrenceville Road, Lawrence Township
Students in the Westminster Choir at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Lawrenceville, a music conservatory historically in downtown Princeton but currently operating exclusively from Rider’s campus, perform “Welcome to the Neighborhood” at the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville for the first time in 15 years on Sunday, February 4, at 3 p.m.
The concert will be conducted by Grammy-nominated choral conductor Dr. James Jordan and is hosted by the Community Well, a church-based community wellness center that provides “services that promote wellness of body, mind, and spirit and a sense of purpose,” in partnership with the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville and Westminster Choir College.
General admission is $25 per person, with seats available on the balcony and main floor, four people per pew, and no set arrangements.
For tickets or more information, see the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville website at pclawrenceville.org/westminster-choir-concert-welcome-to-the-neighborhood.
The Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville, 2688 Lawrenceville Rd, Lawrence Township. Sunday, February 4, from 3 to 6 p.m. $25 per person. (609) 896-1212 or pclawrenceville.org.
McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton
Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center presents a variety of programming this month, including the following performances:
“The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine,” Matthews Theater. Sunday, February 11, at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $60 to $90.
Conductor Volodymyr Sirenko and soloist Volodymyr Vynnytsky on piano. The program includes “Berezovsky, The 1st Ukrainian Symphony,” in C major; “Saint-Saens, Piano Concerto No. 2”; an intermission; and “Dvorak, Symphony No. 8.”
Keep the music going with a post-concert conversation onstage, “Artists in Wartime,” featuring NSOU managing director Alexander Hornostai and Princeton University visiting research scholar of history Iuliia Skubytska.
“Ayodele Casel: Chasing Magic,” Matthews Theater. Thursday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $65.
Tap dancer, choregrapher, and dance educator Ayodele Casel developed “Chasing Magic” during the pandemic as “a celebratory display of artistic encounters and how, after a lost year, they remain right where you left them,” according to the McCarter Theater page for the event.
Directed by Torya Beard, the show features special guest performances by seven-time Grammy Award-winning jazz musician Arturo O’Farrill, pianist Anibal César Cruz, vocalist Crystal Monee Hall, percussionist Keisel Jimenez, and tap artists Jared Alexander, Amanda Castro, Naomi Funaki, Quynn Johnson, Sean Kaminski, and Dre Torres.
“American Patchwork Quartet,” Berlind Theater. Friday, February 9, at 8 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $55.
Vocalist Falu, guitarist-vocalist Clay Ross, drummer Clarence Penn, and jazz bassist Yasushi Nakamura make up the American Patchwork Quartet, a group of American activists and artists described as “reclaiming the immigrant soul of American roots music.”
According to the McCarter Theatre website, the four members come “from different cultural backgrounds” with the shared goal of “striving to counter pervasive prejudices around the issues of race and immigration, performing a repertoire of centuries-old American folk songs made new with creative arrangements, drawing connections between the nation’s contemporary culture and its immigrant roots.”
McCarter Theatre Center, 91 University Place, Princeton. (609) 258-2787 or www.mccarter.org.
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick
New Brunswick’s State Theatre New Jersey presents a variety of programming this month, including the following performances:
“Annie,” Friday, February 2 and Saturday, February 3 at 8 p.m., Saturday, February 3 at 2 p.m., and Sunday, February 4 at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $40 to $105. Directed by Jenn Thompson. Part of STNJ’s “Broadway Series.”
“The Cher Show: The Musical,” Friday, February 9 and Saturday, February 10 at 8 p.m., Saturday, February 10 at 2 p.m., and Sunday, February 11 at 1 p.m. Tickets range from $55 to $105. Part of STNJ’s “Broadway Series.”
“Sofia Philharmonic Orchestra,” Saturday, February 17 at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $55. Principal conductor Derek Gleeson and Ivaylo Vassilev on piano. The program includes Beethoven’s “Coriolanus Overture,” “Piano Concerto No. 5,” and “Symphony No. 7.”
“Vivaldi’s the Four Seasons,” New Jersey Symphony. Sunday, February 25 at 3 p.m. Tickets range from $25 to $169. NJS conductor Xian Zhang, Robert Ingliss on oboe, and Eric Wyrick on violin.
State Theatre New Jersey, 15 Livingston Avenue New Brunswick. (732) 246-7469 or www.stnj.org.
And just like that, Cupid takes his bow.
The National Symphony Orchestra of Ukraine takes the stage of McCarter Theatre Center’s Matthews Theater on Sunday, February 11, at 1 p.m.,
Pour your heart out with this month's calendar of events, from Valentine’s Day to the area’s best in arts and entertainment. (Photo by RDNE Stock Project via Pexels).,
The Westminster Choir returns to the Presbyterian Church of Lawrenceville after 15 years with 'Welcome to the Neighborhood' on Sunday, February 4, at 3 p.m.,
Another one of Freda Williams' works on display at Artworks Trenton.,
Tap dancer and choreographer Ayodele Casel performs at McCarter Theatre Center's Matthews Theater on Thursday, February 8, at 7:30 p.m.,
Beard's 'Serenity' (2023).,
