Chinese Brush Painting

Chinese Brush Painting Workshop and Saori Weaving Demo – March 2024

We have an absolutely amazing two-part workshop and demo on Sunday March 24th 2024! Note the Sunday date!

You are invited to attend a two-hour workshop in Asian arts with local artist Bayda Asbridge. The first 30 minutes will revolve around Saori (Japanese weaving) where you will see the artist weave on her portable loom. You may even get a chance to run the shuttle yourself and experience weaving personally. She will introduce this art form and explain in what way it is different from traditional weaving. Meanwhile, there will be a Powerpoint presentation of her fiber art playing in the background. She will be able to answer any questions that arise during that period of time.

In the remaining 90 minutes, you will learn about Classical Asian Brush Painting – the 4 gentlemen. The focus will be on two of them by practicing the basic strokes of the bamboo stalk and leaves & wild orchid flowers and their leaves.

This workshop is FREE and is open to the community. If you want to participate in the brush painting portion, please RSVP to info@bvaa.org so that we know how many stations to set up for the brush painting. We have a hard limit of 24 brush stations. All materials will be supplied for the brush painting portion of the session.

The date for this workshop is Sunday March 24th, 2024. Bayda will start setting up at 12:30pm and we’ll get started at 1pm. Feel free to arrive at 12:30pm to chat and get updates on our spring schedule. We’ll aim to start with the Saori weaving portion right at 1pm.

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.

Please note the SUNDAY DATE! In general, our monthly meetings are held on the third Tuesday of each month unless otherwise announced. For March 2024 we are moving this meeting to SUNDAY SUNDAY SUNDAY :).

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!

For more about Bayda –

https://www.baydasart.com/

Blackstone Valley Art Association Sponsors

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

BVAA Spectacular Spring Show 2024

The Blackstone Valley Art Association is sponsoring its annual BVAA Spectacular Spring Show – this is our 66th year! The show is open to all BVAA members. If you’re not yet a BVAA member, now’s the time to join us!

When:
April 6 to June 1, 2024

Where:
BVAA / Open Sky Uxbridge Community Art Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

About the Show:
The Blackstone Valley Art Association celebrates its 66th year with its annual Spectacular Spring show. This open-themed extravaganza features the very best artwork from its diverse membership. We explore stunning black and white photography, soaring landscapes, delicate watercolors, swirling acrylics, precisely detailed oil paintings, and much, much more. Our members range from teens to retirees, from those just starting out to award-winning Putney Painters. We warmly invite you to our opening reception where you can enjoy insightful conversations with the artists and infuse inspiration into your life!

Entering the Show
The entry fee for the Spectacular Spring show, open to all styles of artwork, is $8/piece or $20 for three. You can submit up to three pieces. The theme is wide open. You can submit a portrait, landscape, still life, abstract, seascape, you name it. Your imagination is the limit. Because this show is judged, you cannot enter anything which has previously been submitted for a BVAA judged show. It’s fine to enter works which have been in non-judged BVAA shows.

All artwork must be family friendly. Any hanging artwork MUST BE properly wired for hanging. The gallery will not accept non-wired wall-hanging artwork. If you are new to preparing hanging artwork for shows, read our page on How to Mat and Frame Artwork. Please also check out our Show Terms and Conditions

Submissions
To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. The deadline to submit the online form is midnight on Saturday, April 6th, 2024. Work should be dropped off that Saturday, April 6th from 10am to 3pm. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).

We will have a sign-in sheet. Please make sure you sign your art in so we can track what is in the gallery.

The show will be hung on Wednesday, April 10th from 5-7pm. We’d love to have you come participate! Hanging is easy and fun now that we have the wall hanging system. It’s all about figuring out which artwork styles go together.

Judging
This show awards cash prizes based on the number of entries received. The judge for this show is to be determined.

Opening Reception
The opening reception for the show is:
Friday, April 12th, 2024 5-7pm

There’ll be music, fun, and lively conversation! Bring a snack to share – just how creative can you get? Lisa might bring her ladybug-tomato-on-mozzarella! That is nice and springy!

Please invite family and friends – all are welcome!

Viewing Hours
Mondays through Saturdays 10am-3pm. If coming during the week, note that Open Sky uses this space for their work with clients. Call ahead to make sure someone will be there.

Pick Up
Pick up for this show is:

Saturday June 1st, 2024 10am-3pm

If you aren’t able to make that, contact us for other arrangements. Address any questions via our BVAA Contact Information

Ask with any questions! We look forward to seeing your entries!

Full 2024 BVAA Uxbridge Gallery Art Show Schedule –
https://bvaa.org/2023/08/30/bvaa-uxbridge-show-schedule-for-2024/

Here’s the show from 2022 to get an idea of what this is like!

Local Beauty Community Show

Local Beauty – Community Art 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 2nd to April 6th, 2024

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 2nd, 2024. Work must be dropped off on Saturday, March 2nd, 2024 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 5th, 2024 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 6th, 2024, 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!

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!

Massachusetts Cultural Council
Massachusetts Cultural Council
Andy Volpe Printmaking Workshop

Printmaking Workshop with Andy Volpe – February 2024

Have you ever wanted to try printmaking? This FREE workshop on Basic Intaglio Printmaking is just what you need!

Artist, Printer and Living Historian Andy Volpe will host a workshop at the BVAA meeting on Tuesday February 20, 2024, to demonstrate some basics on an Intaglio platemaking technique known as Drypoint, using plexiglass, plastic sheet and some other possible materials for printing plates.

He’ll also show and talk about some of his work in both modern and traditional techniques.

Members should bring some sort of metal scribing tool (nail, X-acto knife, etc.) and think about a simple image to work on, thumbnail size (around 3 inch x 4 inch) due to limited timeframe.  Then we’ll print!  Andy will look to bring a portable rolling press.  

Paper, ink and plates will be provided

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 Andy Volpe here:

https://www.andyvolpe.com/

Blackstone Valley Art Association Sponsors

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

Jane Penfield Pastel Workshop

Jane Penfield Pastel Workshop – March 2024

Dating from the Sixteenth Century, pastels enthrall with their vibrant colors and beautiful textures. Talented artist Jane Penfield guides us through an amazing five hour hands-on workshop on landscapes with pastels. Jane begins with a wet underpainting, and then develops the imagery with layers of pastel.

The workshop is on Saturday, March 16, 2024 from 10am to 3pm. It will have a maximum of 10 students to ensure one-on-one time with Jane. This workshop helps you develop your own image – you bring the source image you wish to work on, and Jane will guide you through the techniques. Each student works on their own image during the course of this day. The source image must be wholly your own (not an Internet-sourced image).

This workshop requires that you bring your own supplies including soft pastels (NOT oil pastels), pastel paper, easel, and a drawing board. A full recommended supply list can be found here:

https://www.janepenfield.com/workshop/35108/student-resources-materials-list-for-classes-and-workshops

The Whitin Mill is not near any fast food restaurants. It’s recommended you bring in any snacks, lunch, and drinks you wish to have during the class time.

Cost: $65 each for the full class, if we have 10 students. We currently have 6 students. Please share the news!

Limited spaces are available – contact us to reserve your space!

Location:
Singh Theater / Whitin Mill
60 Douglas Road
Whitinsville MA

The space is fully handicapped / disability accessible.

About Jane Penfield:

Jane Penfield is a Signature Member of the Pastel Society of America and of the Connecticut Pastel Society. To learn more about Jane, and to see a range of samples of her style, visit:

https://www.janepenfield.com/

Ask with any questions!

Blackstone Valley Art Association Sponsors

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

Sarah Lemansky / BVAA Anything Goes Photography Show

2024 Community Photo Show Winners List

Congratulations to the winners of our 2024 “Anything Goes” Community Photography Show! This show was wholly open with the theme – any topic at all could be shown, as long as it was done with photography. We had both digital and film photography represented.

The judge for this show was Stephen DiRado.

First Place: Sarah Lemansky “Mother May I”

The judge felt an incredible, overwhelming sense of peering into a very private moment of an individual. It was a wonderfully sensitive and well-seen photograph. The execution was beautiful, everything from the face and eyes and pose, the juxtaposition of the household blanket in a natural field setting. It drew you in to wonder what was going on.

Sarah runs a portrait studio which specializes in inclusive photography. Take a look! https://www.facebook.com/foxandcrowphotos/

.

Second Place: Francesca Tramboulakis “Wrong Turn”

The judge enjoyed that this was refreshing, whimsical, playful, and with a skilled eye it elevated up out of what could have been cliché. Its well-done composition can work well at all sizes and in all formats.

From Francesca: “I have loved photography since I was a little girl. I’m very amateur and my photos are taken with just my iPhone. I love being able to organically catch little moments while being out in nature. Because of some health issues my memory has significantly faded so each photo on my roll is precious. This photo was taken in Fall of 2022 after my nieces excitedly took me on a hunt to show me the “treasure” they discovered in the woods behind their house. The car sat for decades so it was quite something to see the vines and branches grow around and make their way up into the car. I would love to get back to the site again to take more photos and capture this as a series!”

.

Third Place: Gene St. Pierre “Taliesin #1”

Taliesin is a Frank Lloyd Wright home. The judge felt the image was composed very well, intriguing, it draws you in to examine it in further detail to figure out what it is. The beauty of this image is the love of pure design – a deliberate construction of color and shape.

From Gene: “Most of my abstract photographic work is an examination of shape, colors and textures. I often work with a wide angle lens as I observe the bigger picture and then move in closer to extract a smaller part of what I find to be more interesting on a macro level.”

.

Honorable Mention: Lisa Shea with Bob See “Gone”

The judge was drawn to the strong emotion felt from this image. He liked the composition, the diagonal line in the snow, the contrast between the white snow and dark figure. The viewer’s eye moves through the image in clear ways, with the car adding scale and a sense of place. He appreciated the sense that we were watching a very private moment from a respectful distance.

From Lisa: “My father has been struggling with worsening tremors and balance issues for over a decade. On December 25th, Christmas Day, 2023, he chose to end the struggles by driving his car into a tree. My photo was created on January 9th, 2024 with help from Bob See, my partner. While we own more technical cameras, we shot this with my Samsung Galaxy S21 Ultra because I wanted to craft the feeling that it was an intimate moment. I wanted the vehicles there, the lines that resembled tire tracks but were clearly hand-made, and how I was collapsed in the wake. I wanted the deep black dress against all of the white.”

Lisa’s artwork and writings can be found at https://lisashea.com.

.

Honorable Mention: James Hunt “Blackstone Canal, Plummer’s Corner, No. 2 Infrared Photography”

The judge enjoyed the atmosphere of the image. He liked how the image drew the viewer to move their eye through the scene, creating shapes with the branches. Very nicely composed.

You can find James’s photography here: https://jameshuntphotography.com/

.

Honorable Mention: Linda Bonaccorsi “Checking You Out”

The judge was immediately drawn to this image. It was more than a photo of a generic bird – it was like a portrait done of this specific bird showcasing this bird’s unique personality. It draws you in to think about the bird and its associated symbolism. In addition the exposure and details of the image are great.

From Linda: “I am self-taught through experimentation. I don’t use a tripod, even with my newer 500mm lens. I’m pretty basic with my settings, keeping a faster speed as a starting point for birds, insects…other settings work around that. I think the thing to do is to learn what your camera does well and work with what you have. I take a lot of pictures. Because of my astigmatism and the fact that I don’t wear my glasses when I shoot, everything is slightly blurry so I’m never 100% sure of clarity until I pull things up on my pictures. For me, one of the biggest rules in birds and other animals is to have their eye/s in focus. Every rule, of course, has its exceptions. There are some exceptional bird photographers out there with more sophisticated equipment and techniques than me.”

You can enjoy many of Linda’s amazing photos here: https://linda-bonaccorsi.pixels.com/

.

For all the details about the community photo show visit:

Stephen DiRado Photography Talk

Stephen DiRado Photography Talk – January 2024 Monthly Meeting

Are you interested in photography? Be sure to mark your calendar for this amazing discussion with talented award-winning photographer Stephen DiRado!

Stephen DiRado Lecture: Revisiting Bell Pond 1983 and New Works

A PowerPoint presentation, DiRado will be showing examples from his upcoming book, Bell Pond, Davis Publications 2024. During the summer of 1983, DiRado made documents using a large format camera and black and white film to capture a Worcester inner city community at leisure in and around a city park and pond. He recorded a time in Worcester’s history of a mix of young and old, immigrants and native families merging together to find relief from the hottest summer on record. The results of his efforts produced the most in-depth photo essay of any community archived to date in central New England.

DiRado will also show recent unpublished photographs from his series In the Present Day: an emerging body of work that perceptually investigates our state of mind living in an endemic world.

* * *

Our January 2024 monthly meeting will be held on Sunday, January 14th from 12 noon to 1:30pm. NOTE THE DIFFERENT DAY AND TIME – usually our monthly meetings are on the third Tuesday. We are holding this on a Sunday to work with Stephen’s schedule.

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.

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!

Ask with any questions!

More about Stephen DiRado:

A professor in the Studio Art Program at Clark University, Stephen DiRado has over four decades experience in the field of documentary photography and filmmaking. He is a recipient of a 2012 Simon Guggenheim; 2019 Bob and Diane Fund and five other major fellowships. DiRado’s photographs internationally can be found in many public and private collections including MFA, Boston, MA. He has been featured in the New York Times, Washington Post, Vice Magazine, National Geographic; internationally, Geo Wissen Magazine, Daily Mail, and Royal Photographic Society Journal.

DiRado’s book With Dad, published by Davis Publications in 2019, illustrates a loving and changing relationship between father and son as Stephen’s father succumbs to Alzheimer’s.  With Dad 2021, a documentary film by director/producer Soren Sorensen is a narrative history by DiRado about the project With Dad. The film has won numerous awards across the U.S.

This January he will be featured in the New Yorker magazine, interviewed by Margaret Talbot about his 1980s Mall Series photographs. Davis Publishing in late January will be releasing DiRado’s newest book titled, Bell Pond; photographs from a Worcester community 1983.

Stephen DiRado lives and works out of a triple decker in Worcester, MA. Year round he documents communities, couples and individuals at work and at leisure. 

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!

Massachusetts Cultural Council
Massachusetts Cultural Council

LAST CALL!! Cardboard Backs of Frames

Back in September 2023, Marcia T brought us a bunch of great donation items. Thanks Marcia T! I still have a batch of about 10 backs which are 16″x20″ in size with the triangle hangers and swivel metal tabs to hold them in place:

We also have one back which is 12″ x 17.5″.

These are FREE – let me know if you can use any of them! Otherwise I will donate them to the Salvation Army, if nobody in our group can use them. Thanks!!

Ware MA Art Call

We’ve received three calls to artists from Ware Massachusetts. The BVAA isn’t associated with these, but they are worth thinking about!

BLUE: Call deadline is this Thursday, December 14th, by midnight. Entry form and details: https://www.workshop13.org/exhibitions/blue-call-for-art/
Explore the use of the color blue and the varied psychological and symbolic meanings associated with this color. Juror is Anne Seuthe, Interim Director at Augusta Savage Gallery.

All Things Animal: Call deadline is Thursday, February 8th, by midnight. Entry form and details: https://www.workshop13.org/exhibitions/all-things-animal-call-for-art/
This exhibition aims to celebrate the diverse and fascinating world of animals through various artistic mediums.

Ware It’s At!: Call deadline is Thursday, August 22nd, by midnight. Entry form and details: https://www.workshop13.org/exhibitions/ware-its-at/
In the Fall of 2024, Workshop13’s ArtWorks Gallery will present: Ware It’s At!: An Exhibition celebrating the people, places and things uniquely Ware. We invite ALL artists to come to Ware MA ? often! to explore and make art in preparation for this Juried Show. The call for art will close August 22, so you have time to capture the beauty of Ware across four seasons. If you are unable to make it to Ware, no worries! We will be posting images on our website that you can paint from.

2023 Milford Massachusetts Mural Project

The BVAA is not running this mural project – we are simply sharing the news!

Milford Cultural Council Seeking Artists to Submit Designs
for Town Park Fitness Court
 Mural: Deadline January 12, 2024 

The Milford Cultural Council is seeking artists to submit designs for a mural to be included on the 32’ wide multipurpose training wall of a Fitness CourtⓇ to be installed in Milford Town Park. Artwork must be submitted digitally.

The selected artist will receive a grant of $5,000.

The deadline to submit designs is January 12, 2024.