Skipping Valentine’s Day and Focusing on Friends

Who needs hearts and flowers when you have a group text?

Amy Fox
Social Media and Digital Content Specialist
February 9, 2021

We lay down our arms so we can reach out our arms to one another.
We seek harm to none and harmony for all.

Amanda Gorman, “The Hill We Climb”


Valentine’s Day, that holiday that would have us focused on romantic love as the most important human connection in our lives, has us cynics thinking about our friends instead. How has friendship sustained us this year? How has the silly photo or the quick, heartfelt text jolted us out of a funk? How have we shared the burden of sorrow and anxiety with each other? How have we learned new skills and ideas, or devoured new series or books together from afar?

Grand gestures can be nice, but they are inherently exclusive (looking at you, Valentine’s Day). We’re here for the quiet, sly acknowledgement or dark inside joke that interrupts the daily grind and ties us together.

A kitten, because why not?

Media - 1975.83.89 - SAAM-1975.83.89_1 - 75755
Chuzo Tamotzu, Cats, ca. 1935-1937, lithograph on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the Evander Childs High School, Bronx, New York through the General Services Administration, 1975.83.89

A sculpture to tell your friend you are always ready with a helping hand.

Media - 2015.10 - SAAM-2015.10_4 - 117694
Dan Webb, Cut, Flamed, Spalted, 2013, maple, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase through the Decorative Arts and Crafts Endowment, the Richard T. Evans Fund, and the Renwick Acquisitions Fund, 2015.10, © 2013, Dan Webb

3, 2, 1... go! Cue up that playlist and let off some steam, long distance but synchronized.

Media - 1980.36.2A-C - SAAM-1980.36.2_1 - 83164
Alma Thomas, Red Azaleas Singing and Dancing Rock and Roll Music, 1976, acrylic on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of the artist, 1980.36.2A-C

Flowers are cliché for a reason, and absolutely no one is allergic to a link to a painting.

Media - 1964.1.93 - SAAM-1964.1.93_1 - 73491
Kathryne Hail Travis, Spring Flowers, ca. 1934, oil on canvas, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of Labor, 1964.1.93

But if the while I think on thee, dear friend, all losses are restored and sorrows end

William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 30”
Media - 1994.91.219 - SAAM-1994.91.219_1 - 82732
Unidentified, Three Friends in a Field, ca. 1900, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase from the Charles Isaacs Collection made possible in part by the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 1994.91.219

Recent Posts

Detail of quilted portrait showing three African American soldiers
Education
05/24/2023
Unpacking the Stories Behind Artist Bisa Butler’s Portrayal of the Harlem Hellfighters
Tips for teaching the layered World War I history of the 369th Infantry Regiment on their return from France
Ben Brands
A photograph of Phoebe Hillemann
Phoebe Hillemann
Teacher Institutes Educator
A procession of women walking through the desert. The woman in front holds a radio on her shoulder.
Exhibitions
05/19/2023
Discovering the Intersection Between Moving Image and Sound in Video Art
Exhibition invites viewers to discover the intersections and influences of video and sound, through works by some of today’s leading contemporary artists
This is a photograph of curator Saisha Grayson
Saisha Grayson
Curator of Time-Based Media
An illustrated portrait of a woman with short brown hair. The background is red with a yellow pattern.
Women Artists
05/10/2023
Drawn to Tiffany Chung
Celebrating the renowned artist with a comic about her life and work
A photograph of Howard Kaplan on a plane.
Howard Kaplan
Writer