Congratulations to all of the Blackstone Valley Art Association members who were juried into the 2025 Small Stones Festival of the Arts! This show runs through February 2, 2025. Be sure to get out and see this show in person! If I missed any member’s art which was juried into this show, please let me know.
Three of our members were awarded Juror’s Choice prizes: Xiang Li, Bob See, and Lisa Shea.
To see all of the artwork in the Small Stones 2025 show:
Celebrate the beauty of the Blackstone Valley in Massachusetts! Our “Local Beauty” community art show is open to ALL forms of art – photography, watercolors, acrylics, oil paintings, pastels, printmaking, sculpture, and more. The topic is our local Blackstone Valley in Massachusetts. We eagerly look forward to seeing local landscapes, architecture, visions, and interpretations of:
Auburn, Blackstone, Douglas, Grafton, Leicester, Mendon, Millbury, Millville, Northbridge, Sutton, Upton, Uxbridge, Webster, and Worcester.
Do you have a photo of Purgatory Chasm in Sutton? A watercolor painting of the Millville canal lock? An abstract interpretation of Worcester City Hall? We’d love to see how you interpret this topic!
This show is FREE to participate in and is open to all community members! You don’t have to live in a listed down to participate. The image itself needs to somehow represent one of those towns.
When:
March 1st to April 5th, 2025
Where:
BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569
There is a TON of free parking immediately next to this building. It is fully and easily handicapped accessible.
BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information
Participation is open to the public. Each participant may exhibit up to three pieces of art.
Entering the Show
Artwork can be any size. That being said, please contact us first if you plan on bringing anything over 20″ x 30″ in size. We need to arrange for space for those separately.
All art must be family friendly and properly wired for hanging. Our hanging system does not work with saw-tooth or triangle hangers. 3M stick-on hangers are notorious for falling off – please don’t use those. If you are new to preparing photography for shows, read our page on How to Mat and Frame a Photo. Please also check out our Show Terms and Conditions
All art which is entered is displayed. There is no “pre-selection” process where some are accepted and others are rejected. If you submit artwork, and it is family-friendly and wired properly, it will be part of our show. You can have your art listed with a price for sale, or you can have it Not For Sale if you wish.
Submissions
To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. The deadline to submit the online label information is midnight on Saturday, March 1st, 2025. Work must be dropped off on Saturday, March 1st, 2025 between 10am and 3pm. Please only bring artwork in on Saturday – the staff in the location during the week do not handle artwork processing. All artwork which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).
Please indicate on your label which town each image represents. We’ll be using that information to create our town-specific slideshows, explained below.
Judging
This show will be a community choice voting. Every person can vote for a first, second, and third place. Winners will be announced at the reception.
Video Slideshows
In addition to the in-gallery experience and the traditional full show video walkthrough, we will also do town-specific slideshows as part of this project. We’ll create a slideshow of the images representing Uxbridge, the images representing Grafton, and so on. That way people who are interested in art from a particular town can easily find it.
Reception
The reception for this show will be on Friday, April 4th, 2025 from 5-7pm. Prizes are usually awarded around 6pm. Winners will receive ribbons and certificates.
Pick Up
Pickup of the art is on Saturday, April 5th, 2025, from 10am to 3pm. If you aren’t able to make this date, please contact us for other arrangements. Please do not stop by the gallery during the week to pick up art – the weekly staff are not able to process the art items.
Address any questions via our BVAA Contact Information
Ask with any questions! We look forward to seeing your entries!
To get inspired, here is our Local Beauty show from 2024!
This Uxbridge gallery is supported in part by BVAA member dues, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, and by ValleyCAST. The space use is kindly donated to us by ValleyCAST, the community outreach department of Open Sky Community Services. Open Sky uses this space for special-needs client activities during daytime weekdays. They allow the BVAA use of the space – and its gallery walls – on evenings and weekends. We actively support their inclusive mission. All are welcome to all of our events and activities!
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is honored to have exceptional photographer Al Weems present at our January 21, 2025 meeting!
Al is a master at the use of lighting, on composition, on values, and on using photography to engage the viewer. Our gallery is currently hosting the Anything Goes photography show. Al will answer any and all questions about the photos in the gallery and also talk about what makes a compelling image.
Location:
BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569
This meeting and session is free and open to the public. No experience is necessary. The fun of our workshops is that we all learn new things we’ve never done before.
Our meetings cover BVAA organization business from 6:30-7:00pm and then go into the workshop part of the evening. Feel free to come for whichever half interests you the most. In general, our monthly meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month unless otherwise announced.
All are welcome – this workshop is open to members and non-members. Feel free to bring along a friend! We’d love to see you there to learn some new things and explore your creativity!
You can learn more about Al Weems here:
Here are a few sample photographs from Al Weems:
Congratulations to the winners of our 2025 Anything Goes photography show! This show ran from January 4, 2025 to March 1, 2025 at our Uxbridge Community Art Gallery. Thank you to everyone for participating in this show!
First Place / Neil Rosenberg / “Pipe Dream”
The judge loved the sharp focus, the use of shadow and light, and the composition. Neil took this photo using black and white film. He then scanned the negative and adjusted the image’s hue to bring forward the top two pipes to add to its dimensionality.
Neil Rosenberg Photography
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Second Place / Lisa Shea / “Barely Fitting at the Panama Canal”
The judge liked the composition, the graphic nature of the lines, and the way the eye moved around the image. Lisa used her Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra cellphone. She took this photo standing on the glass-walled balcony of the cruise ship, shooting straight down. Her aim was to show in a two-dimensional way the relationship between the ship, the sliver of water, and the rails on land. You can see her toes in the bottom center.
Lisa Shea Website
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Third Place / Brent DeWitt / “Dogs At Rest”
The judge liked the composition and how the eye moved around the image. He liked the sense of story, causing a viewer to think about the scene.
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Honorable Mention / Sue Gomes / “It’s the Real Thing”
The judge liked the use of color, the unusual presentation of the image, and the composition. Sue took this image with a Motorola phone camera and then posterized it in Photoshop.
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Honorable Mention / Bob Evans / “Pollution”
The judge liked the use of light and dark values, the movement of the smoke, and the crisp focus on the main point of interest. Bob used a drone to capture this shot of a location in Millbury. Several of you asked what kind of a camera can mount on a drone! Bob Evans was kind enough to send along these details: Hasselblad Camera. Image Sensor: 4/3 CMOS, Effective Pixels: 20 MP. Lens: FOV: 84°, Format Equivalent: 24 mm, Aperture: f/2.8-f/11, Focus: 1 m to ∞, ISO 100-6400, Shutter Speed, Electronic Shutter: 8-1/8000 s.
Bob Evans Photography
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Honorable Mention / Michael Backunas / “Sinking Ship – Quabbin Reservoir”
The judge liked the use of light, the composition, and the range of values in this image. He liked the soft gradient of the sky.
Michael Backunas Photography
About the Judge – Al Weems
Al Weems is a visual artist born in Fall River, Massachusetts. He received a BA in Psychology from U Mass – Dartmouth. For several decades, Weems was a corporate and commercial photographer with a focus on environmental portraiture. He now concentrates on fine art portraiture with a practice that seeks to elevate the ordinary.
Weem’s work has been included in numerous exhibitions including shows at the Providence Art Club, the Newport Art Museum, and the Art League, Rhode Island. He presented a solo exhibition at The Providence Art Club in January of 2020. His work has been published in the Providence Journal, the Worcester Telegram amongst others and his images have been featured in The New England Catch and Providence & Rhode Island Chef’s Table cookbooks. He lives and works in Sutton, Massachusetts.
Details of the 2025 Anything Goes Photography Show: