BRATTLEBORO — Did you ever want to express your love to someone but weren't sure how to do it? Or perhaps you wanted to write a heartfelt letter but never quite got around to it?
This February, you will have your chance.
“One Thousand Love Letters” is a project conceived by local artists to create a participatory community art installation that is both an invitation and a challenge.
Beginning during Gallery Walk on Friday, Feb. 1, and culminating two weeks later on the Friday after Valentine's Day, the public will be invited to a temporary space in downtown Brattleboro, to write 1,000 love letters.
According to project coordinator Dalia Shevin, participants can define a love letter as broadly as they like, “letters may be written to people living or dead, people known or unknown to them, to animals, places, or even objects - anyone or anything to whom they wish to express their love.”
While it is expected that letters which convey romantic love will certainly be written, in this context a love letter may express any number of things, says Shevin.
“It could be a thank-you note, a letter of condolence, an anonymous secret admirer message, perhaps a child's drawing for her parent, or perhaps an ode to your beloved dog.”
The letters will be written and some displayed in the Letter Lab, a temporary studio and gallery located in the storefront of the former Sanel Auto Parts building at 47 Flat St. in downtown Brattleboro.
The space has been transformed by local artists into a beautiful environment that will provide a warm spot to sit and relax into the tactile experience of handwriting or typing a love letter. Side by side with neighbors and strangers, participants will have the opportunity to write their hearts out. Visitors will also be able to view some of the love letters on display during the run of the project.
The Letter Lab will be open daily from noon to 7 p.m., and hot tea and cocoa will be available to help warm participants' hearts. There will also be a late night love letter writing marathon beginning at noon on Feb. 9, and ending at 1 a.m. the next day.
The One Thousand Love Letters project will end with an evening performance of letter reading and music on Friday, Feb. 15. Letters will be mailed at the end of the project or made available for participants to pick-up.
In addition to whatever hopes and dreams participants have for their letters, Shevin envisions that “the project will also be a love letter to the people of Brattleboro, an expression of love for the act of letterwriting itself, and even a symbolic love letter to our imperiled United States Postal Service! Folks can write as many letters as they want, of any length.”
Materials will be supplied, and writing prompts and ideas will be available to help you get started. “All you need to bring is a desire to express your love,” says Shevin.