Valentine’s Day at the Museum

Posted by on February 13, 2008 
Filed Under Events

Are you looking for something to do on Valentine’s Day? Here’s a free alternative to consider: The Harn Museum of Art and the Florida Museum of Natural History will offer Valentine’s-themed activities from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. on Thursday. They’re even serving dessert. Here’s the official blurb:

Visitors to the Harn Museum of Art will be entertained by a live string quartet and a poetry reading by students in the University of Florida graduate poetry program. At 7 p.m. the Harn MUSEs (Museum University Student Educators) will engage participants in activities that explore the numerous ways humans express love. Visitors can also enjoy the monumental Harn exhibition Paradigms and the Unexpected: Modern and Contemporary Art from the Shey Collection, which opens Feb. 10 with 100 works by 75 artists.

At the Florida Museum of Natural History at 7 p.m. Shauna Springer will offer a talk entitled the “The Science of Love: What Science Teaches Us About How to Choose a Mate and Maintain a Strong Relationship” detailing the psychology behind how couples express and experience love. Celebrations Catering will provide various desserts for visitors to enjoy as they explore the museum all evening.

If you’re looking to stimulate your brain in addition to your heart on Valentine’s Day, then these events are for you.

Comments

2 Responses to “Valentine’s Day at the Museum”

  1. Brian Tyler on February 13th, 2008 7:16 pm

    From an email announcement specific to Dr. Springer’s talk:

    Dr. Shauna Springer, a licensed Psychologist with Clinical Psychology Associates of North Central Florida, PA, will be giving a free talk through the University of Florida Museum Nights program on Valentines Day (Thursday, February 14th at 7 p.m. – Museum of Natural History).

    Scientific research can teach us valuable lessons about how and why we fall in and out of love. If you have been unlucky in love, or if you are just interested in the topics of mate selection and how to keep romantic relationships strong and satisfying, you will be given a number of insights and learn a number of practical guidelines for creating successful romantic relationships.

    Based on a variety of research studies and her clinical experience working with couples, Dr. Springer will:

    - Share strategies for discriminating between mates with real potential, and people who are likely to let you down or hurt you in the future

    - Explain why the natural smell of your armpits may lead biologically fitting mates to pursue you

    - Reveal whether the “beer goggle effect” actually happens

    - Summarize research on whether playing hard-to-get really works

    - Discuss the striking similarities between falling in love and the experience of a cocaine high (and the implications of this)

    - Attempt to explain how couples may transition from “hating each other” one minute to having passionate sex in the next minute

    UF is sponsoring this free talk and all are welcomed to attend!

  2. Robert on February 14th, 2008 9:57 pm

    If you read this in time, Discovery channel has a documentary “Anatomy of Sex” at 10 pm! (02/14)