Santa Barbara Maritime Museum Logbook

Despite the Covid-19 restrictions, SBMM’s Education Programs have continued to encourage curiosity through exhibits, experiential learning, and community outreach by redefining and reimagining its activities with creativity, innovation, and technology. The newest of these efforts is SBMM’s Love Letters to the Sea Interactive Exhibit.

Love Letters to the Sea (click here for materials) is an arts-enriched, creative letter-writing project, developed by Sondra Weiss (@lostartofloveletters) a longtime museum Art Educator & founder of Lost Art of Love Letters. Sondra engages people around the world to write letters for mental wellness, social justice, environmental protection and good old-fashioned love for self as well as others. Through her Love Letters projects, she investigates how to ignite more caring in our world.

Wanting to expand on the project, SBMM created an interactive exhibit incorporating a Love Letters to the Sea nook complete with a writing table, art supplies, writing tools, and samples of student art and words. Building on provided prompts, visitors will be able to take a moment to reflect on various issues, create artistic and persuasive letters and envelopes, and thus use their art and words as power for global change.

SBMM believes this new exhibit is even more relevant now as it enables youth to tap into their emotions and concerns about ocean protection, global change, times of crisis, isolation, and grief by expressing themselves creatively through writing and art. Letters can be sent to friends, relatives, government representatives, change-makers, advocacy organizations, and businesses.

Love Letters to the Sea (click here for materials) also provides a great opportunity for teachers and parents to practice clever word play, creative writing, art skills, and activism. It is the hope of SBMM that when the Museum reopens and it becomes safe for the public to visit, this new exhibit will be a healing place for visitors to express their feelings. In the meantime, instructions and resources for this project are now available online here.

Instructional Video

Love Letters to the Sea Materials Available Online