What a fantastic holiday! Monday, April 8th, 2019, is International Draw A Bird day.
This holiday found its source in 1943 when a young girl in England was cheering up her uncle, a war veteran. To distract him from his worries, she asked him to draw her a bird. The rest is history! Together we all draw birds and celebrate the beauty of life.
In the image above, the leftmost three images are done by Bonnie Frederico. The three on the right are by Frank Robertson. Both artists are amazingly talented. Those images are part of our current Series show at the Uxbridge gallery and are available for sale. Stop on by the gallery and take a look in person!
We’d love to see your bird images for Draw A Bird day. Email them to us, post them as comments, or post them on our social media sites! Join in the birding celebration!
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is sponsoring its annual BVAA Spectacular Spring Show – this is our 61st 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: May 17 to June 14, 2019
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 61st 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, May 11th, 2019. Work should be dropped off that Saturday, May 11th 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, May 15th from 4-6pm. 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, May 17th, 2019 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 15th 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!
It’s all about series! The reception for our delightful Series show is on Friday, April 5th, 2019 from 5-7pm. Bring family and friends! Come on out! The show is just amazing. Our artists really came up with stunning combinations of items to create their series.
Location:
BVAA / Open Sky Uxbridge Community Art 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.
If you’re interested in painting, drawing, and illustrating, we have the perfect Saturday lined up! It’ll be a great time with laughter, conversation, creativity, and the space to stretch out!
This Saturday April 6th is also INTERNATIONAL SLOW ART DAY! It’s a day for taking your time and really appreciating a work of art. We have a super-cool series show in the gallery right now. Come on in and soak in its beauty!
Open Paint 10am-3pm For the entire day, it’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free! If the main room gets busy with photography, we have the back conference room dedicated for the painters. We have watercolors and acrylics on hand, or bring your own if you wish.
We’ll also do a casual drop-in workshop in Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, and other main social networks. If you’ve got one you’d like to learn more about, stop on in and we’ll lend a hand.
If the weather is nice out, visitors can also embark on an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready.
When: Saturday, April 6, 2019 10am – 3pm
Where: BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery 5 South Main Street Uxbridge, MA 01569
Our Saturdays at the gallery include an open paint session where all styles of art are warmly welcome. Whether you’re 12 or 102, whether you’re a new beginner or a seasoned artist, we would love to have you. It’s completely free to participate in the open paint. You can bring your own paints or we’ll have watercolors and brushes to share.
There is a TON of free parking immediately next to this building. It is fully and easily handicapped accessible.
Feel free to show up for some or all of the day to paint. Some come for just the morning, some for the afternoon, and some for the entire time. There are several options on the same block to grab lunch if you’d like. We also bring in a pizza and those who want slices chip in a few dollars.
Our Saturday events are free, casual, relaxed, and fun! All levels are welcome.
Ask with any questions – we’d love to have you join us!
Here are a few photos of the Art and Poetry Show at the Millbury Barnes & Noble from April 1 to April 7, 2019. The closing reception, with poetry being read, is on Sunday, April 7th from 2-4pm.
Be sure to come on out and see the show in person!
It’s our second annual event! Come join us and celebrate!
Uxbridge features some of the most beautiful scenery in the region. Did you know that within a five-minute walk of our Uxbridge Art Gallery there is a train station, several old churches, two historical homes, a waterfall, and several old stone buildings?
We have created a day of creativity, art, and fun to explore all that is delightful about Uxbridge!
This event is FREE and open to the public! All are welcome and warmly encouraged to participate! From raw beginners to experienced artists, come enjoy the day! The morning will be sketching around Uxbridge. The afternoon will be portrait sketching in the gallery. Come to one or both halves, whatever you wish! FREE!
Where: BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery 5 South Main Street Uxbridge, MA 01569
MORNING EVENT: URBAN SKETCHING
In the spirit of Urban Sketchers, we will sketch Uxbridge!
This sketch walk will be led by talented artist Dennis Smith and instructed by Laura Sfiat. We will meet at the BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery at 5 South Main at 10am to get acquainted. We’ll discuss what sketching is all about. At 10:30am, we will head off as a group to a first sketch site. At 11:15am we will move to a second sketch site. You can stay with the group to get the instruction and feedback, or if you wish to roam on your own, Dennis has put together an amazing set of maps and photos of area locations to get you started.
You can bring your sketchbook or pad, pens, pencils, watercolors or whatever your favorite medium and have at it. If you don’t have materials, we will have items to share.
Materials List – bring your own or we’ll supply them:
1-Staedtler Pigment Liner, 0.1mm, Black Ink (308-0.1) and 0.4mm Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00AHW56PK/ 2-Pentel Arts Pocket Brush Pen, Includes 2 Black Ink Refills (GFKP3BPA) Learn more: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B002LJRKN8/ 3-Cotman Watercolors: (affordable line, not the professional) cerulean blue ultramarine blue yellow ocher sienna sap green perylene green indigo bamboo brushes small and medium small spray bottle napkins water water container watercolor paper 140 cold press pad (any brand) optional: an old toothbrush for spatter and a small natural sponge for trees
Lunch is from around noon to 12:45pm. You can bring a picnic lunch to eat at the waterfall or in the gallery. There are plenty of restaurant options along Main Street, or if you wish, we’ll order in a pizza or two and you can chip in for a share of that. Whatever your lunchtime ideas, We will meet back at the Uxbridge art gallery around 12:45pm to share our experiences. We will create a wall of our sketches so we can take photos of the art and our group.
Urban Sketch by Laura Sfiat
AFTERNOON EVENT: PORTRAIT SKETCHING
For the afternoon, Laura Sfiat will guide us through how to create portrait sketches. We’ll be inside in the gallery for this portion. Again, all levels are welcome to join us and participate. The portrait sketching runs from 1pm to 3pm.
You can bring your own favorite supplies or we’ll have some on hand.
Materials list (bring your own or we’ll supply them):
bristol smooth pad 2b and 4b pencil or mechanical pencil kneaded eraser
As part of our Uxbridge celebration, we’ll have a showcase of local Uxbridge-themed art on hand for visitors to explore. From notecards to prints to original paintings, we’ll delight in the fantastic beauty which is Uxbridge.
There is a TON of free parking immediately next to this building. It is fully and easily handicapped accessible.
The Premier Image Gallery in Ashland, Massachusetts is having its 2019 Summer Show! This is their 30th anniversary of the show! This will be a joint show between the Blackstone Valley Art Association and several other local art groups. There will be cash prizes!
Premier Image Gallery 290 Eliot Street Ashland MA 01721
You can enter up to two pieces at $8 each. Pieces must be properly wired. The drop off dates are:
Thu May 2, 2019 10-2 Fri May 3, 2019 10-2 Sat May 4, 2019 10-1
If you can’t make it during those times, let us know and we can arrange someone else to coordinate with you to bring them in. You don’t have to fill out any online forms with this. Just label the back with the usual artist name / title / medium / price and then the owner Don will fill out a hand-written inventory sheet when you get there.
The BVAA has historically done quite well at these open shows. It’s well worth entering!
The reception is Thursday, May 16th from 5:30-7:30pm. Bring a snack to share!
The pickup will be on June 29th during the gallery’s normal business hours.
For more about the gallery including contact information visit:
NOTE: This class will focus on still life. Bring what you’d like to paint and your light and Carol will see you there!
Oil paint has been the medium of choice for a wealth of famous painters. Leonardo da Vinci. Claude Monet. Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paul Cezanne. There is just something spectacular about the beauty of oil paint which captures the eye and the imagination.
Whether you’re a raw beginner or an experienced painter, this oil painting class will take you to the next level. It’s full of personal hands-on advice and a warm, welcoming atmosphere!
Talented painter Carol Arnold teaches a monthly oil painting class at the BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Gallery! Carol is a member of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik’s Putney Painters! All levels of painters are welcomed with open arms. The focus will be on drawing, edges, values and color. These are areas which a beginner can practice and an advanced student can hone to perfection.
Carol makes these classes fun and inspiring, while supporting you to the next level of your growth!
This monthly class usually meets on the first Thursday of every month from 6-9 pm. We are experimenting with other days to see how they work.
Cost: The maximum class size will be 10 students, to ensure plenty of hands-on time for each one. If there are only 1 or 2 students registered for a class, the class will be cancelled. If there are 3 or 4 students, each student pays $20/hr for the class = $60 total. If there are 5-10 students, each student pays $15/hr for the class = $45 total.
Invite your friends! Share the news! The more students which attend, the less you pay and the more fun it is to learn from each other.
When: Monday, April 8, 2019 6pm – 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.
This is a sneak preview of the 2019 series art show! It’s not fully hung yet, or labelled, or anything. We just have things randomly on the walls. The opening reception for this will be on Friday, April 5th from 5-7pm. Come on out!
Like most Americans, artist Karina James has traveled a long
way from her ancestors. She traces her unique history back to the beautiful
country of Guatemala, nestled deep in Central America. She has embraced her new
opportunity with passion and creativity. Drawing inspiration from flowers,
petals, and pieces of bark, she creates beauty with the natural world which
surrounds us all. It takes an attentive, mindful eye to see what world and to
bring it into fresh view.
In Karina’s case, it was a pair of friends which first brought the flowers into focus. One friend was gathering up flower pieces as raw materials for crafting. Another friend looked at those items and commented to Karina, “What are you going to make – a peacock?”
Those words rung in Karina’s mind long after she returned
home. Indeed, the colors were vibrant. The threads were delicate. She carefully
set to work. She had to cut delicate diamonds out of blue and black to form the
eye petals. Then there was the researching of what a peacock’s dimensions
presented and how to recreate those in birch bark and lobelia. It was a
painstaking process.
Karina works with careful precision. She draws out the initial dimensions. She organizes her supplies and carefully dabs each flower with Elmer’s glue. Then, carefully, with tweezers and toothpicks, she puts down each item.
This is an activity that those of us with less-than-ideal
hands could never dream of attempting. We are incredibly grateful that people
like Karina exist in the world. For without them, such visions would never be
realized.
Item by item, petal by petal, Karina dabs glue on each specific spot and lays it down onto the background. Banana peel for the branch. Birch for the legs. She won’t spray any sort of fixative or glue over the face of it, because that would mar the overall effect. She trusts in the environment to hold together. She has faith.
The artwork holds.
What results is not just a work of art. It’s a cohesive community of nature – a collaboration of flower, tree, and hope. It is an inspiration of Guatemala realized in a nestled suburb of Massachusetts.
It’s a sign that our world comes together to create a beauty which we all treasure.
