Valentine’s Day is globally celebrated with pink and red hearts, candies, and flowers. However, the true purpose of this holiday is to spread love. At RMA, students and faculty alike share their love for each other through things like cards and cupcakes and also art.

Teachers in Lower School love to let students get creative and enjoy art in the classroom, especially around holidays. In Pre-K, for instance, students completed a wide variety of crafts, including adorable paper collage hearts that say, “I love you to pieces”; paper bags designed to look like pink, heart-shaped pigs; and pictures of students blowing paper hearts in the air. Mrs. Miniard’s 1st-grade art class made hearts out of clay, waited for them to dry, and then painted them however they chose. This project resulted in a beautiful array of colors, patterns, and sizes.

But Valentine’s fun isn’t only for the little kids! Mrs. Hunter’s Upper School Ceramics classes made many Valentine’s pieces as well–often with the purpose of gifting them to their mom or another special someone. In 11th grade, Abbie Hooks made a pink and white plate with a heart in the center as a Valentine’s/birthday gift, as her birthday is just two days after Valentine’s. Juniors Ava Swanner and Frances Tharin also made gifts for their mothers: a pot covered in hearts (Ava)  or a box (Frances) in Valentine’s colors. (Frances Stone also opted to complete a Valentine’s heart box but loved it so much she decided to keep it for herself!) Upper School Exceptional Children’s student Grace Berry made a ceramic heart that can be hung on the wall for her cousin in 11th grade, Hank Berry. I made a ceramic coffee mug with red hearts around it for fellow senior Eduardo Ruthes. 

For students who aren’t part of a class but still wanted to get in on the fun, the Upper School Student Government Association gave students the opportunity to purchase heart-shaped “candy grams.” Students made their purchases, decorated their candy grams, and wrote the recipients’ names on the back. SGA then delivered these candy grams to homerooms the morning of Valentine’s Day. Each candy gram came with a piece of candy, a message from the sender, and perhaps a drawing or stickers to decorate it. Students showed creativity in their candy grams by adding borders or drawing hearts around their messages on the front.

Finally, we made sure that students had time to share their love for each other. Students at RMA each have a “buddy” corresponding to their grade level (Pre-K students are paired with students from 6th grade, Kindergarten is paired with 7th, etc.) to connect with each other despite their age differences. On certain occasions, such as holidays, buddies gather and celebrate together. For Valentine’s Day this year, buddies came together for some Valentine-themed coloring pages that the younger buddies got to take home. Pictures included many different patterns such as cupcakes, hearts, and everything we associated with love and the holiday.

Even though students here at RMA simply enjoy making art, the real reason for these crafts is that we use art to celebrate a love even more beautiful than our creations.