Gather up your gals and celebrate friendship with art and love at Forsyth Galleries’ Galentine’s Day. 

On Sunday, Feb. 13, Forsyth Galleries will host its Galentine’s Day event alongside its “In Actuality” art exhibit, which features 20th century social realism photography and art pieces. Curator of education and public programs for the University Arts Galleries Jennifer Korolenko said the Galentine’s Day event is something that has been done for many years, with the exception of the last few years due to COVID-19. Korolenko said the event’s purpose is to allow women to reflect on and enjoy their friendships through the medium of arts. 

“It’s a celebration of friendship before the official romantic date of Valentine’s Day,” Korolenko said “We basically got the idea from other people doing Galentine’s Day events to celebrate female friendship and relationships. It [features] friendship-building exercise[s] in which the students are invited to participate [and] a tour of the galleries and current exhibition.” 

Korolenko said there will be a lot of activities in which attendees can participate that reflect different aspects of the exhibit. 

“Right now our exhibition is called ‘In Actuality’ … and I [am] going to teach students a technique using everyday craft supplies to do a photo transfer onto coasters,” Korolenko said. “We are also going to get a tour of the exhibition [and] discuss some of the artworks within. Of course, there’s sugar involved because it is sort of [a] Valentine’s Day event. It’s just an opportunity for girls to get together and bond, have some fun.”

Communication junior Ronie Rae Mills said the idea of a Galentine’s Day event is to give a positive message to female Aggies. 

“I think that friends will get really cute photos together,” Mills said. “It can bring a sense of belonging to girls that might feel lonely and to the side on Valentine’s [Day], so I think it can be a good thing.”

Korolenko said curator and assistant director Elizabeth Applebee decided which photographic pieces to display in the exhibit. The pieces were chosen in hopes to contextualize and complement the era of social realism, Korolenko said.

“[Applebee] is the one who actually selected the objects from the collection to complement the photos,” Korolenko said. “She did pick things, which demonstrated the techniques in … a photograph. For instance, a dozen little boys working in a factory, climbing on equipment, she selected a bunch of different objects that you could look at and get an example of what these people were making at that time … it’s complementing the idea of social realism and contextualizing these images using actual objects from our collection.”

Psychology junior Daniela Porro said there is a significance in having the opportunity to learn about an era of photography that is not commonly talked about. 

“I feel like a lot of historical art pieces are from the 18th century or the 19th century. You don’t see a lot of modern art unless you really go out of your way to go to an art museum,” Porro said. “It’s nice that they [are] showing art that’s more recent because you don’t learn about modern art in a classroom setting, especially not in college unless you take a modern art class.” 

For individuals looking to get involved in the Galentine’s Day event or other future events, Korolenko said checking out the galleries’ website would be a great place to keep up to date. 

“There’s a calendar and events tab on there that you can click on; it’ll list everything that we have coming up,” Korolenko said. “All of our programming is free, especially to students. You can just keep checking back on that calendar page to see when our events update or you can sign up for our mailing list and receive emails about upcoming events.”

Korolenko said she personally finds Galentine’s Day enjoyable because it celebrates  relationships and allows for individuals to not only learn about art history, but partake in artistic activities. 

“I think generally this has always been a really fun event for me because [the] idea of celebrating female friendships and being able to do that through looking at art, art history and making art ends up being a lot of fun,” Korolenko said. “It’s something that anybody can do. You do not need a background in art history, crafting or any kind of art technique making. It’s just an opportunity to get together with your friends and get some glue stuck on your fingers — which is never a bad thing.”