Uxbridge Antique Fire Museum

Sketching at the Uxbridge Antique Fire Museum

Are you a fan of Uxbridge history? Love fire trucks? Want to practice your sketching skills? This morning event is perfect for you!

Come and meet Roy Henry, local historian and retired fireman. Roy will talk to artists briefly about the town of Uxbridge’s Fire department and the museum.

Then there will be an Artist Demonstration by talented artist Laura O. Cenedella! Thank you so much to Laura for setting this event up and offering her time!

Where:
Uxbridge Antique Fire Museum
18 Depot Street
Uxbridge MA

When:
Saturday, October 22, 2022
10am – 12 noon

Bring along your camera, your sketchbook, your pen or pencil, and your imagination!

A prized collection of firefighting equipment is carefully curated at the Uxbridge Antique Fire Museum. Local retired firefighters created and staff this museum, which features a large collection of items used in firefighting from days of old, including a 1940 Seagrave Pumper. Latest acquisitions include a piece of steel column from the World Trade Center.

*Donations recommended and collected at the event

Plein Air with Dianne Panarelli Miller – Sept 28

A “plein air” simply means we’re painting outside. We’re enjoying the fresh air of summertime. All levels are warmly encouraged to come join us and learn about the fun of painting outside!

Dianne Panarelli Miller is an amazing artist. Be sure to visit her website here:

https://diannepmiller.com/

She’ll be leading us through a plein air painting session at Capron’s Dam in Uxbridge, MA. All are warmly welcome to attend! If you don’t have your own paints, let us know in advance so we can bring some for you. Or you could just come and watch!

First she’ll do a demonstration so we can all watch and learn her technique. Then we’ll break out and do our own paintings, in whatever style and paints we want. She’ll lend a hand and offer personalized support!

Here’s some tips for doing plein air painting, if you’re curious!

plein air painting tips

Date: Saturday, September 28th, 2019
Time: 10:30am – 3pm

Location:

Capron’s Dam
Across from the FireFly Gallery
15 Mendon Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

Thank you to Carol Frieswick for planning this event!

Plein Air Painting Workshop – Blackstone Gorge – Sun July 14

Plein Air simply means we’ll be painting outdoors, and attempting to paint the landscape we see. It’s a great way to get out into nature, relax, and have some fun. If you’ve never done plein air painting before, come join us! We warmly welcome newbies to come. We have all the supplies! Come try it!

We’ll meet at 10am and paint for an hour or two. If you want to stay longer, or show up later for light reasons, that’s quite fine! This is a casual, relaxing painting and photography day.

The Blackstone River is an incredibly powerful waterway, going 46 miles from Worcester to Pawtucket, RI. Over that length it drops a full 450 feet in height. This awesome power is what gave motion to the many mills which developed along its length. It’s also what carved out the beauty of the Blackstone Gorge.

The Blackstone Gorge, with the Rolling Dam right above it and the Tupperware Mill right below it, is right on the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Rolling Dam is in Blackstone, Massachusetts while the Tupperware Mill is in North Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Directions and Time
Parking is found at the corner of Staples Lane and County Street in Blackstone, MA.
To find that, search on:

66 County Street
Blackstone, MA

The parking lot is immediately across the street from that house.

Date: Sunday, July 14th, 2019
Time: 10am to around noon, or you can stay longer if you have your own supplies.

Supplies
We’ll have tray watercolors, brushes, and watercolor paper available. If you’d like to bring a beach chair to sit on, and snacks / drinks, feel free. If you have your own painting supplies, that’s fine too!

If you’ve never done a plein air paint before, you might read: Plein Air Painting – Preparing for your First Outing.

Please RSVP via our BVAA Contact Form so we know how many paints to bring.

National Park Service page on the Blackstone Gorge

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

Ashton Mills Plein Air / Photography – Sun July 7 – Celebrating the Blackstone

During its heydey, the Blackstone River was the powerhouse behind the many mills which sprung up all along its length. Town after town boomed due to the jobs and products created at these mills. Many of these large brick structures represented prosperity for the entire town. The mill owners would often build smaller brick houses for their workers.

The Ashton Mill complex is a great representative of what these communities were like. The area was put onto the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1984.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history! What would it have been like living in the era of the mill? Where all your family and friends worked in the same place and could hang out together side by side on weekends?

Location and Time
The location is now apartments. The address to get there is:
Ashton Mills
51 Front St
Cumberland, RI 02864

We’ll start at 10am – this is a CASUAL event. Lisa Shea will be on hand at 10am to greet people and answer any questions about the BVAA. She’ll wear a BVAA t-shirt. Feel free to come whenever you wish and to stay for however long you’re entertained. Bring paints, cameras, notebooks – whatever strikes your fancy!

Across the street is the The Captain Wilbur Kelly House Museum which has great exhibits about the mills.

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

Impasto Painting at River Bend Farm – 5/26/19

Third Time’s the Charm! Let’s All Do a Sunshine Dance!

Our very own talented artist Laura O. Cenedella will lead us through a workshop on impasto painting at River Bend Farm in Uxbridge! Impasto involves using very thick paint – often by adding in a gel or other material – to create a raised 3D effect with the paint. Here’s a page about it:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Impasto

If you want to bring your own supplies, they are listed below. Colors are Titaniam white, hansa yellow, pyrrol red, and ultramarine blue. You can bring either oils or acrylics, she’ll demo on both.

We’ll also be bringing in supplies for those who just want to give it a try with our items. Please let us know if you’re planning to attend so we can plan out what to bring.

Items to Try:
– Oil & Acrylic Paint
– Impasto Medium for both
– Canvas & Boards
– Disposable Palette Paper
– Paper
– Impasto Tools
– Disposable Gloves
– Etc.

Laura would like to offer an introduction to painting with three primary colors and white with a demonstration of mixing the four colors in different combinations to make secondary colors and different shades. Join us

This is what I would recommend if bringing your own supplies:
· M.GRAHAM & Co. Artist Oil Color and Acrylic Artist Color or Comparable
· Grey Pad Disposable Paper Palette
· Impasto Mediums
· Mineral spirits/Water
· Paper towels
· Brushes for Oil or Acrylic Painting
· A can or jar for mineral spirits/water
· A palette knife for mixing or for cleaning your palette
· A bag for trash
· A clip to clip your trash bag to your easel or tripod
· An easel or paint box
· Canvas Artist Board or Paper
· Bug Spray & Sun Screen
· Something comfortable to sit on

Technically this location is known as the Blackstone River and Canal Heritage Park, but the big red barn on the property is the River Bend Farm. So that’s what most people call the place. It’s at:

287 Oak Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

Here’s a link with more information –

https://www.mass.gov/locations/blackstone-river-and-canal-heritage-state-park

There are lovely talking trails along the canal, quite flat, and a fishing spot as well.

Bring a snack, bring your creativity, and we’ll have some fun!

Here’s Laura’s page, to learn more about her. Please like the page!

https://www.facebook.com/Laura-O-Cenedella-269143975260/

2019 Tower Hill Daffodil Field Trip

Breathe in the fresh spring air! The BVAA will be taking a field trip to the Tower Hill Botanic Garden on Tuesday, April 23rd, 2019. The rain date is Wednesday, April 24th. Their famous “field of daffodils” should be in peak bloom at that point. This trip was brainstormed by Laura Cenedella – thank you so much Laura for the idea!

The idea is to paint / photograph from 10-12, take a break for lunch, and then go again from 1-3. Of course if you just want to come for a portion of the time you’re welcome to!

Most libraries offer discount tickets to get in to Tower Hill. Normal rates are $16 each for adults and $11 each for seniors 65+. Make sure you talk to your library early so you get the ticket for the 23rd.

Lisa Shea will be coming in a long white skirt, white top, and big, floppy hat. She’s happy to pose and sprawl for you to photograph and paint :).

If you think you’ll get hungry in the middle we can either eat at their delicious cafe or we can bring in picnic snacks / sandwiches to eat.

Tower Hill is at:

Tower Hill Botanic Garden
11 French Drive
Boylston, MA 01505

To learn more about Tower Hill Botanic Garden, visit their website:

https://www.towerhillbg.org/

More info on Tower Hill’s Field of Daffodils –

https://www.towerhillbg.org/

Note that there’s a really cool sculpture exhibit right now with items that are in motion. It’ll be great fun to see that!

https://www.towerhillbg.org/

Be sure to contact us to let us know you’re planning on coming, so we can watch for you!

Ashton Mills Plein Air / Photography – Sun Sept 16 – Celebrating the Blackstone

We’ll start at 10am – this is a CASUAL event. Lisa Shea will be on hand at 10am to greet people and answer any questions about the BVAA. Feel free to come whenever you wish and to stay for however long you’re entertained. Bring paints, cameras, sketch notebooks – whatever strikes your fancy!

Across the street is the The Captain Wilbur Kelly House Museum which has great exhibits about the mills.

Location and Time
The location is now apartments. The address to get there is:
Ashton Mills
51 Front St
Cumberland, RI 02864

Time: 10am – ??

During its heydey, the Blackstone River was the powerhouse behind the many mills which sprung up all along its length. Town after town boomed due to the jobs and products created at these mills. Many of these large brick structures represented prosperity for the entire town. The mill owners would often build smaller brick houses for their workers.

The Ashton Mill complex is a great representative of what these communities were like. The area was put onto the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1984.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history! What would it have been like living in the era of the mill? Where all your family and friends worked in the same place and could hang out together side by side on weekends?

Note that we have permission to use the bathroom :).

This is just one part of our month-plus-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

Free Fun Friday – Friday August 3rd 2018

Free Fun Friday on Friday August 3rd, 2018 includes Worcester! Hurrah!

Here are the options for a field trip:

Franklin Park Zoo• Boston
Cape Cod Museum of Art• Dennis
The Children’s Museum of Greater Fall River• Fall River
Davis Museum at Wellesley College• Wellesley
Naumkeag, The Trustees• Stockbridge
Worcester Historical Museum• Worcester
Osterville Historical Museum• Osterville
Historic Deerfield• Deerfield
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art• Amherst
Paragon Carousel• Hull

Here’s where to find out all the details!

https://highlandstreet.org/programs/free-fun-fridays

Let us know where you’d like to go – Worcester is nice and close!

Plein Air at Foppema’s Farm Sutton – Aug 18 2018

This invitation comes courtesy of Dennis Smith! Thank you so much to Dennis for setting this up for us!

All active BVAA members are welcome to come paint for a day on the grounds of this beautiful farm.

When: Saturday, August 18, 2018
Time: 8:00am to noon

Because of limited parking on Saturdays, this will need to be a BVAA-members-only event. We will need to park in the employees parking as their main lot fills up on Saturday. Employee parking is on the grass at the north end of their paved parking lot.

We currently have me, Carol F, Pam S, and Libia G on our list. Who else would like to join us?

Bring a snack, water and painting supplies. If you’ve never been on a plein air before, this is your perfect time to give it a try! Here’s some information:

Preparing for your First Plein Air Outing

Please let Lisa know by Friday night, 8/17/2018, if you’re planning on going, so we know to watch for you and wait :). We will keep an eye on the weather and see how it goes. We really want to give this one a shot, even if it’s cloudy, because there aren’t many open dates to reschedule on right now. We’ve got a packed schedule! We’ll post and email if we end up having to cancel.

Hope to see you for a fun day of painting and good company!

https://www.facebook.com/foppemasfarm/

Free Fun Friday Museums – Friday July 6 2018

Free Fun Friday Museums

The Highland Street Foundation Free Fun Fridays are here for 2018! Every Friday there is a batch of museums in Massachusetts which are COMPLETELY FREE TO VISIT! Get on out and explore the culture in your own back yard!

These are the museums which are free on Friday, July 6, 2018.

Boston Children’s Museum • Boston
Peabody Essex Museum • Salem
Cape Cod Maritime Museum • Hyannis
Battleship Cove • Fall River
Amelia Park Children’s Museum • Westfield
Gore Place • Waltham
Falmouth Museums on the Green • Falmouth
Hancock Shaker Village• Pittsfield
Pilgrim Hall Museum• Plymouth
New England Quilt Museum • Lowell

Where would you like to go?

Here’s the full list of all the free museums and all the Fridays. Let us know what you’d like to go to in the coming weeks!

https://highlandstreet.org/programs/free-fun-fridays