Author: Blackstone Valley Art Association

This is our eighth annual art-poetry show! This page here explains how the show works, for the artists and poets who are interested in participating.

We are holding this show at the Blackstone Public Library in Blackstone Massachusetts (a town by the Rhode Island border) for the month of April 2026.

The artists are drawn from our Blackstone Valley Art Association. The poets are drawn from the Sutton Writing Group and the Worcester Writers Collaborative.

Anyone interested in participating please let Lisa Shea know by SAT JANUARY 31st 2026 of that interest. Let her know:

1. If you prefer a partner you can meet in person or if you prefer to work remotely, staying in touch via email.
2. If you prefer an ‘intense’ relationship where you talk a lot about your works, or if you prefer a more ‘casual’ relationship where each person simply receives the other’s offering and then goes from there.

All of these options are fine. We want each team to be happy.

Soon after the names are gathered, each artist is paired with a poet. They form a team for the duration of this project.

Poet Writes a Poem

Sometime before February 20th, 2026, the poet provides the artist with a poem. The poem can be custom-written for this project or it can be a favorite the artist already has written. The poem will be hung in the show on a maximum size of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper so it should be short enough to fit on that paper at a reasonably sized font. With that being said, the poem can otherwise be as short or as long as the poet desires. It can be a short haiku or a long sonnet.

The artist now has until March 20, 2026 to create a work of art that represents that poem. The art can be a literal interpretation. It can convey the emotion of the poem. It can focus on one aspect of the poem. It is up to the artist to choose how to present their interpretation. That pairing of poem-plus-artwork will be hung side by side at the show. Artist: This means you NEED TO HAVE YOUR ARTWORK IN HAND so it can be hung in the art-poetry show for the show’s duration. Please do not sell or give away your art until the show is over.

In parallel: Artist Creates an Artwork

Sometime before February 20th, 2026, the artist provides the poet with a piece of art. Emailing a JPG photo of the art to the poet is fine; you do not need to give them the actual physical piece of art. Again, the artwork can be custom-created for this project or it can be an existing favorite. Keep in mind YOU MUST PHYSICALLY HAVE THIS ARTWORK. This piece of art will hang in the art-poetry show. Please do not sell or give away the artwork until after the show.

The poet now has until March 20, 2026 to write a poem based on that piece of art. The poem does not need to literally describe the artwork. It can convey an emotion. It can create a story based on the scene. It can be whatever the poet wishes. Again, the poem will be hung in the show on a maximum size of 8.5″ x 11″ piece of paper so it should be short enough to fit on that paper at a reasonably sized font. With that being said, the poem can otherwise be as short or as long as the poet desires. It can be a short haiku or a long sonnet.

When each poem and artwork is complete (both in the source and response round), please also send a copy to Lisa so she can update the website with the details. For art, let her know the dimensions of the piece when you send the JPG. Artists – if you are framing your piece under glass, please take a photo of the artwork before you frame it. That way we have a no-glare image to use in our promotions. If it’s a photo, you can just send us a JPG of the photo.

The drop-off date will be Tuesday, March 31st at the library.

Poets don’t need to ‘bring in’ anything – I print out all the poems so everything matches. Poets can just email me their 2 poems when they are ready. Artists can arrange with me to have me pick their 2 artworks up sometime just before March 31st or on the 31st. Remember, there should be TWO PIECES PER PERSON – a source item and response item – for this show :).

The reception will be at the Blackstone Public Library, at 86 Main Street in Blackstone MA. Date to be announced. Please bring a snack or soda to share. Please try to attend – we like to videotape the artist and poet talking about their collaboration!

Here are pairings from some previous years to see how this works:
2017 Art-Poetry Show
2018 Art-Poetry Show
2019 Art-Poetry Show
2020 Art-Poetry Show
2023 Art-Poetry Show
2024 Art-Poetry Show
2025 Art-Poetry Show

If anybody has any questions or comments, please let Lisa know. Let her know if you’re interested in participating!

The current pairings are:

* pending *

If I missed anybody, please let me know! My email sometimes loses messages so I apologize if I inadvertently missed someone who was interested.

Ask with any questions!

Open Friendly Supportive Critique Session

It’s time for a FREE encouraging, compassionate critique session! We all discuss our latest works or images and then offer each other suggestions and advice. You can present photos, paintings, drawings, sculptures, digital art, collages, and whatever else you’ve been working on.

Whatever you wish! It’ll be fun, relaxed, and conversational. All abilities are warmly encouraged to participate. We each have something to learn!

If you’d like just to listen in, and gain knowledge from the conversation, that is fine too.

Our moderator for this session will be the amazing artist Jo Ellen Reinhardt!

Our February 2026 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, February 17th, 2026 from 6:30-9pm.

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

If the weather is icy we will hold the session online on Zoom. We’ll send out announcements if the weather warrants it.

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!

To learn more about Jo Ellen Reinhardt visit:

https://www.joellenreinhardt.com

Ask with any questions!

Congratulations to the winners of our 2026 “Anything Goes” annual photography show! The judge for this show was Ron Rosenstock.

https://www.ronrosenstock.com

First Place: Dale Hoopingarner / Dahlings

Dale took this photo with a scanner with a black cloth over the top!

Second Place: Cheri Holland / “Submerged Flower – Red White and Bloom”

 They are images of flowers submerged in a fish tank. They are attached to a heavy frog at the bottom. I use droppers with milk, to drop on the flowers to make the effect.

Third Place: Michael Backunas / “Beach of Dreams, West Iceland”

Honorable Mention: Wendy Fulginiti / “A Walk in the Past”

Wendy took this photo at the Blithewold Mansion, Gardens & Arboretum with a Canon 90D.

Honorable Mention: Dale Hoopingarner / “Corsage”

Dale took this photo with a scanner with a black cloth over the top!

Honorable Mention: Cheri Holland /  “Submerged Flowers: Ethereal Bloom”

From Cheri: They are images of flowers submerged in a fish tank. They are attached to a heavy frog at the bottom. I use droppers with milk, to drop on the flowers to make the effect.

Thank you to everyone who participated in our photography show!

Are you a photographer who would like to tweak the lights and shadows of your photo? Maybe you’re a painter and need to learn how to “de-skew” your painting image so it looks more straight? Whatever your style of artwork, Bob can help you learn the basics of Lightroom and Photoshop to improve your images!

We will be doing this ON ZOOM so that people can see the menus in detail on their own computer monitors or TV screens. We will also be recording this so that people who are busy on the 20th can watch the replay later. It’s always good to come live, though, so you can ask questions!

Location:
Online in Zoom!
We will email everyone the link in our BVAA newsletter.
If you don’t get our newsletter, contact us directly for the link

When:
Tuesday January 20th 2026
6:30-9pm (may not run this late, depending on user questions)

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 for the first 10-15 minutes and then go into the workshop part of the evening. Feel free to come for whichever part 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!

Our meetings are supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Attention artists! The Charlton Library in Charlton Massachusetts is offering FREE gallery space to local artists! Each artist gets a month for their personal art show. You could do one solo by yourself, or you could get a friend or two to share the space! If you’d like to do a joint show with someone, let me know, and I’ll hook you up with someone to share a space.

Here’s the beautiful venue:

Charlton Public Library
40 Main Street
Charlton MA 01507

For the month of January 2026 I (Lisa Shea) am presenting an art show of my cyanotype artworks. My show is in the Charlton Library foyer space, which holds about 9 -18 pieces depending on how you decide to hang items and how large / small they are. When you stand in the Charlton Library lobby and look at the hallway to your right, there are two art spaces on the left and one on the right. There’s a pillar separating the two left-hand areas – the library puts a sign there to describe your art and provide a link to your website.

Here’s a direct view of the left hand wall.

Here’s the right-hand wall.

The hanging metal strips can slide left and right along the moulding rail.

The art is connected to those strips either by a small hook or a long rectangular metal piece. For either option, it’s really best if your art is WIRED on the back. That is, a metal wire should stretch left to right across the length of the back of your piece. Here’s what the hanging units look like.

The small hooks / horizontal hooks can slide up and down the strip. Generally you can fit 1 or 2 hanging items per strip.

For the artwork labels, it’s best to tape those TO your art so they aren’t damaging the wall paint. So what you do is this. Make your label. Put blue painter’s tape on the back of your label, with extra tape off the top. Now connect that extra tape to the back of your artwork, with the label facing forward. That way the label “hangs” off the bottom of your artwork, facing the viewer.

The Charlton Public Library also has a main meeting room which is in constant use. This is well suited for larger items. Here is Brandi Van Roo who is in the space in January 2026. You can see that the space works well for art items of all sizes. Note how Brandi has attached her labels to the bottoms of her artworks.

For more information on the space, the hanging system, and to sign up, visit:

Charlton Public Library

Thank you so much to the Charlton Public Library for this amazing opportunity for local artists!