About Victorian Valentines with Leah Hickey

Join artist, writer, and current Whitworth Wallis Fellow Leah Hickey in hand-crafting your very own vintage-inspired Valentine for a friend or loved one, inspired by the aesthetic beauty and intimate storytelling of the Pre-Raphaelites. Set among our Pre-Raphaelite displays, this special event invites you to slow down, reflect, and create in a historic, art-rich setting.

Leah Hickey’s practice explores intimacy, love, longing, and emotional truth, and you’ll be encouraged to channel these themes into your own heartfelt creations. Drawing inspiration from Birmingham Museums’ precious collection of Victorian-era Valentines, you’ll hand-craft a keepsake using Romantic prose and poetry, decorative die-cut ‘scraps’, and collage techniques, while also exploring the quiet power of handwritten words.

Whether you’re writing to a sweetheart, a friend, or even to yourself, this workshop blends Victorian courtship rituals with contemporary self-expression. Surrounded by echoes of 19th-century artistry, craft, and idealism, your afternoon becomes part of a wider conversation between past and present, art and personal expression.

Whether you come with someone special or on your own, prepare for an afternoon of poetry, introspection, romance, and creative connection this Valentine’s season.

Good to know:

All materials are provided.

Tea and coffee will be available with your ticket.

Pre-booking is essential as places are limited.

Image gallery

About the artist

Leah Hickey

Leah Hickey is an artist and writer informed by heartache, a term she uses to mediate between grief, love, limerence and loneliness. She explores this through a diaristic research journal, Emotional Outbursts (2022 - present), a collaborative memorial engraving practice, and typographic design. Her work is emotionally led and influenced by women on screen, Romantic thought and Christian morality.

She has recently been awarded ‘Developing Your Creative Practice’ (DYCP) funding, Arts Council England (ACE) to develop publishing imprint Tentative Press, and she currently volunteers at The Winterbourne Press. She is the recipient of the Sir Whitworth Wallis Fellowship 2025-26 at Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, where she is researching the material processes and histories of Victorian-era Valentine’s cards.