By Bre Nichols
Reporter
Thursday, students will have the chance to create free handmade Valentines for a special someone in their life.
“Print-a-Valentine” will take place from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. in the foyer of the Martin Museum of Art located in the Hooper-Schaefer Fine Arts Center. Students, faculty and staff are invited to drop by.
The printmaking event was inspired by the Martin Museum of Art’s current art exhibition, “Advancing Tradition: Twenty Years of Print making at Flatbed Press.”
Karen Gilliam, director of the Martin Museum of Art, and Berry Klingman, professor of print making, assisted in organizing and preparing the museum for the holiday event.
“This introduces people to what fine art printmaking is all about,” Gilliam said.
Baylor students who have taken printmaking classes carved designs for the Valentines on linoleum plates, following traditional print making methods.
One student, Forney senior Esteban Diaz, volunteered to design a plate for printing after his professor approached him in class about the event.
“I tried to go with something that related to Valentine’s Day,” Diaz said about his design. “I just played with hearts in different ways, and it just kind of came to me.”
Gilliam said the designs took the printmaking students about three or four days to create. Museum faculty and the printmaking students will assist those who participate during the process of inking the plates and creating the prints.
Once the participants arrive, they will be able to choose the design they want for their Valentine. They may select either one or two prints to create, and the actual process should take less than five minutes, Gilliam said. Prints will be made on two-sided, 4-by-6-inch cards of professional artist-quality paper. The event is free and participants will also receive an envelope for delivering their creations.
A trial run of the event was held last week and a promotional video for the event was posted on the Martin Museum of Art’s Facebook page to give viewers an idea of what will happen in the printmaking process.
Supplies for the event are provided by the Martin Museum of Art, enough material for 250 students, staff and faculty to make two Valentines.
“The process is hands-on and is more personable than buying a Valentine’s card from Wal-Mart,” Gilliam said.
For more information, visit the website of the College of Arts & Sciences.