The Longwood Center for the Visu al Arts (LCVA) hosted its annual free family workshop, "Valentine Time: The Valentine-Making Workshop," on Feb. 11 from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. to an enthusiastic crowd of children and their parents. The workshop had been planned and organized since Decem ber 2011, and with over 70 volunteers helping to set up the event over the following months, the Valentine's Day workshop was a success with over 150 guests. It turned out to be one of the most popular LCVA work shops of the year.
On the LCVA website, it says, "Fam ily workshops are designed to bring the family together in an enriching and creative environment to celebrate the seasons of the year." The LCVA added that it is thanks to "generous sponsorships" that the workshops remain free of charge throughout the year.
Set up in the lower level of the LCVA, the open room was filled with different tables for each available cre ative activity. The lines were walled with cut paper hearts, love birds, a glue bottle with the words, "Stuck To You," a whale with hearts spewing from its blow hole with the words, "I Whaley Love You" beside it and oth er friendly creatures and messages. Above, hung from the ceilings, were groups of wired paper butterflies in an accumulation of pink, red and white.
Assistant Educator and Volunteer Coordinator Hilary Symes described the event as a "big success," later add ing that one reason for its popularity is that "Everyone loves making hand made valentines."
Symes said, "Mostly, I work with volunteers and we prepare craft ac tivities for the kids to do. We also work on decorations and setting up for the event [and] taking out tables and chairs. So, it's a lot of work, but it's for a lot of fun."
Curator of Education Emily Gresh am commented that, "It's a fun time for families to come together and make Valentine's gifts for their friends and family." She added that the "Valentine Time" workshop tends to be one of the more popular.
Gresham's role for the workshop was to assist in organizing the set up of the event, the ideas for the event and the recruiting of volunteers for the set up and participation of the day of the event. "We couldn't do these workshops without volunteers from Longwood. They help from making the decorations to getting the supplies ready and actually staffing all the event tables on the day of [the event]. They're an essential part of the workshop. We are very grateful to have Longwood volunteers help with us," she said.
The various activities available to participate in included: "The Lan guage of Love;" "Signed, Sealed, De livered;" "Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve;" "She Loves Me, She Loves Me Knot;" "Mail Call; Loving Hands;" "Whatever Your Heart Desires;" "Sent with Love: The Love Stamp;" and "Wild Things."
"For The Language of Love," guests were able to make white, yellow, red or pink roses out of foam.
"At Signed, Sealed, Delivered," guests could fold and decorate their own envelopes to hold their Valen tine's Day cards.
"In Wear Your Heart on Your Sleeve," guests made and placed patches on their sleeves to symbolize their loved one.
"For She Loves Me, She Loves Me Knot," guests could decorate cards with Celtic knots made from yarn or color drawings of Celtic knots with markers and other decorations.
"In Mail Call," guests could make their own mailbox to hold all of their Valentine's creations.
"In Loving Hands," participants traced their hand on paper, cut out the shape and glued a heart shape overtop with the name of their val entine.
For "Whatever Your Heart Desires," guests could decorate their cards for their valentine.
At "Sent with Love: The Love Stamp," guests were to create their own love stamp in memory of the first United States Postal Service in 1973 when, after being released in each January, Valentine's Day stamps were popu larly sold, called love stamps.
At "Wild Things," guests could decorate and cut out pictures of ani mals and insects to create Valentine's Cards with a play on words, such as, "BEE My Valentine," with a picture of a bee next to it.
The LCVA organizes three work shops every year, including "Dia de los Muertos: Mexico's Celebration of Life" in October, "Winter Wonder land" in December and "Valentine Time" in February.
The Longwood Center for the Visual Arts is located on 129 N. Main Street, and is open Monday to Saturday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. For more infor mation, go online to www.longwood.edu/lcva or call (434) 395-2206.
LCVA hosted it's annual Valentine-Making Workshop for children of the Farmville community.
