Author: Blackstone Valley Art Association

Welcome to the BVAA

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Welcome to the Blackstone Valley Art Association webpage! We have been supporting arts in the Blackstone Valley since 1957. Our main gallery is in Uxbridge; we sponsor numerous shows, events, and workshops throughout the year. This website provides hundreds of pages on local art shows, art events, field trips, workshops, museum visits, and much, much more. We even have a lending library. We are warmly inclusive of all levels, backgrounds, and abilities. Feel free to contact us with any questions!

Gallery and Upcoming Events

BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Art Gallery

dennis smith

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

Open Paint and Card Making – Dec 22 2018

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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! It’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

If the weather is nice out, visitors can also embark on an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready.

The Great Gifts Art Show is currently live! Come on out and see it!

When:
Saturday, December 22nd, 2018
10am – 3pm

Where:
BVAA Alternatives 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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

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.

Ask with any questions – we’d love to have you join us!

Southgate Art Show 2019 – Floral Submissions

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In order for us to apply to have an art show at Southgate in Shrewsbury in 2019, we need to first gather up images and create a coherent “submission” to them of what we plan. We set a deadline of Friday, December 14th, 2018 for anyone who was interested to email us JPGs of their artwork. The theme was FLORAL.

Here are the art items we received! Thank you to everyone who sent in art! Now we will work on creating a show statement. We will submit these JPGs and the show statement to Southgate for review. We will let you know what they say!

Here were the details for this project:

Southgate 2019 Floral Show

Open Paint with Laura O. Cenedella – Dec 8 2018

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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! It’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

FEATURED ARTIST – LAURA O. CENEDELLA
The amazing artist Laura O. Cenedella will be in the gallery from 11am to 3pm working on a still life painting. You can watch her at work and ask any questions you wish. You can paint along with the still life. Or you can paint anything else you wish! It’ll be delightful, creative, relaxing, and fun.

Oil Painting Demonstration of Glass – painting with the simplest palette. Join Laura if you want to and bring all the supplies you will need. Basic oil paint color, surface, brushes, easel, turpentine, brush cleaner, rags, trash bag, drying additives.

Here is the time-lapse video of the session!

Here is her discussion about which brushes she uses –

If the weather is nice out, visitors can also embark on an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready.

The Great Gifts Art Show is currently live! Come on out and see it!

When:
Saturday, December 8st, 2018
10am – 3pm

Where:
BVAA Alternatives 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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

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.

Ask with any questions – we’d love to have you join us!

2019 Choco l’Art Show – Whitinsville Library

Blackstone Valley Art Association 4 Comments

Our 2019 Choco l’Art show is the perfect melding of chocolate and art! Enjoy the taste sensation! This our 8th Annual celebration of the theme!

All forms of hanging art are welcome – photography, watercolors, acrylics, oils, fabric art, drawings, etc. The art must be wired to work with our panel system. The art doesn’t have to be about chocolate. It can be about anything you wish :).

Where
Whitinsville Social Library
17 Church Street
Whitinsville, MA
Whitinsville Library Webpage

Submissions
The submission deadline is Monday, February 4th, 2019 at midnight EST. This show is displayed on panels so works submitted need to be less than 36″ wide in order to fit on a panel. There’s a $5 fee for up to 3 works. It’s open to all BVAA members. As this is a judged show, only pieces which have not been previously entered into a BVAA judged show are eligible for participation. Any sales will include a 20% BVAA commission. Full BVAA terms: BVAA Show Terms and Conditions

Drop-Off
The drop-off for Choco l’Art is Thursday, February 7th from 10am to 2pm. We’ll be setting up the panels during that time and will hang things as we get close to 2pm. If you can’t make that timeframe, let us know and we’ll arrange another time to coordinate – maybe you can drop off at the gallery the previous Saturday and we can take it in from there, for example.

Public Reception
The reception is on Saturday, February 9th from 10am to 2pm. All are welcome! There’ll be lots of chocolate in all shapes, sizes, and varieties. Artists – please bring in some chocolate of your own to share (no nuts please).

Pick-Up
Pick-up for the show is Saturday, February 16th from from 1pm to 2pm. Note the library closes at 2pm.

Prizes
This show has the visitors vote on a “People’s Choice” award. There’s a ribbon plus a cash prize. The prize amount is based on the number of entries.

Theme
You can do a romantic theme or a chocolate theme if you’d like, but it’s not required!

Use the BVAA online submission form to submit for this show.

Volunteers Needed
The BVAA is run by volunteers – please lend a hand! We need volunteers for the following activities:
* Bringing of Panels and Hanging the show from noon-2pm on Thu, Feb 7th
* Watching over the reception for time blocks of your choice between 10am and 2pm on Sat, Feb 9th.
* Bringing of chocolate for the chocolate reception (please do not include any nuts)
* Take-down of the show from 1-2 on Saturday, February 16th and return of panels

Let us know on your submission form how you’re able to help out.

Past Shows:
Choco l’Art 2018 Details – 7th Annual
Choco l’Art 2017 Details – 6th Annual
Choco l’Art 2016 Details – 5th Annual
Choco l’Art 2015 Details – 4th Annual
Choco l’Art 2014 Details – 3rd Annual
Choco l’Art 2013 Details – 2nd Annual

If you have photos from the first show please let us know!

The 2016 winner for this show was Carole Plante with her chocolate lab! Quite appropriate :).

pic4

Here’s what Carole did for 2018 :).

Open Paint and Pet Portraits with Betty Havens – Dec 15 2018

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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! It’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

FEATURED ARTIST – BETTY HAVENS
The amazing artist Betty Havens will be in the gallery from 10am to 2pm doing live pet portraits!

The price is $20 each without a mat and $25 matted. Bring in a photo of your pet, printed or on your phone or tablet, and she’ll paint from that!

If you can’t make it on Saturday you can also contact her directly at bettyart196@gmail.com and arrange other plans!

If the weather is nice out, visitors can also embark on an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready.

The Great Gifts Art Show is currently live! Come on out and see it!

When:
Saturday, December 8st, 2018
10am – 3pm

Where:
BVAA Alternatives 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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

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.

Ask with any questions – we’d love to have you join us!

Just a few of Betty’s delightful portraits:

 

Tapestry Show Reception 2018 / Uxbridge First Night

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The First Night celebrations in Uxbridge were fantastic! We had a delightful barbershop quartet and a Mark Seagrave – live caricature artist entertaining our gallery all night long. Thank you to Depot Cafe and Trek Stop for supporting our raffle!

The winners of the Tapestry Art Show were:

1st – Karen Pendleton
2nd – Linda Tellier
3rd – Jennene Pasquarosa
honorable – Louise Allain
honorable – Ann Wagstaff
honorable – Lisa Shea
Youth prize – Marlene Eichelroth

Here’s photos of the show’s reception!

This is a full video walkthrough of the entire show:

Here’s a short video of the barbershop quartet who filled our gallery with stunning music:

And here’s a link to the show’s details!

Tapestry Art Show

Great Gifts Art Show – Dec 2018

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The Blackstone Valley Art Association is showcasing a delightful selection of photography, watercolors, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, jewelry, and more for the month of December 2018. Be sure to stop by and see what we have available! Perfect for gift giving!

When:
December 3rd to December 31st, 2018

Where:
BVAA Alternatives 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 Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

Entering the Show
This show is open to BVAA members only. The theme is wide open. Any topic can be addressed as long as it is family-friendly. 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 wall-hanging items must be properly wired for hanging. Our hanging system does not work with saw-tooth or triangle hangers. If you are new to preparing artwork for shows, read our page on How to Mat and Frame a Photo. Please also check out our Show Terms and Conditions

Submissions
To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. This show is free to participate in. Each artist may submit up to five items under 11×17 or up to three items if they’re 11×17 or larger.

Drop Off of Works
We are doing a rolling drop-off for this show since it’s coming so quickly after our Tapestry show. Lisa will be at the gallery on Monday, Dec 3rd and Tue, Dec 4th from 6-8pm. We’ll be hanging the items on Wednesday, Dec 5th probably around 4pm. If you had items in the Tapestry show you’d like to just carry over into this show, fill in the form so we know that and we’ll re-use them. If you want to bring in fresh items, that’s fine too. If you’re not able to make it in until Thursday night (Carol Arnold has a class from 6-9 so the gallery will be open) or Saturday 10-3, that’s also fine. We’ll find spots to put up your items. Just please do use the online form so we can make up labels.

All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).

Opening Reception
The opening reception will be during our annual holiday pot luck on Tuesday, December 18th, 2018 from 6:30-9pm. Each member can bring one guest, and there is a charge for the catering meal. We need an RSVP for that – BVAA Holiday Party. For those who want to come see the show and hang out for a little while, the public portion of the meeting is from 6pm to 7pm. Feel free to come in during that time period to talk with artists and see the artwork.

Pick Up
The pick-up for the Great Gifts show will be casual. We don’t start the next show, our open photography show, until mid-January. So we have some breathing room. Feel free to come by Saturday Jan 5th or Sat Jan 12th during our normal 10am to 3pm hours to get your art. You could also come by Thu Jan 3rd during Carol Arnold’s oil painting class, as we’ll have the gallery open then. Just check ahead if you want to do that, as sometimes we cancel her class if we don’t have enough students.

Address any questions via our BVAA Contact Information

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

Photography Print Proportion Sizes Explained

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You might think that, when you take a photo, you can simply get it printed as big or as small as you want in standard sizes and the entire photo will get bigger or smaller. However, for bizarre reasons far beyond our ability to comprehend, the standard print sizes nearly all have completely different proportional ratios. That means, as you go larger or smaller, you would gain or lose parts of your photo.

Let’s take a simple example to show how it works. Most cameras take a photo which is a 4:6 ratio. That means, if you make a 4×6 print out of it, your print shows the entire image. Like this:

Now let’s say you wanted to put that image into a square frame. You would lose parts of the image off the left and the right. So you are now at a 1:1 ratio where the width is exactly equal to the height.

Most of us can wrap our minds around that change.

Now, let’s look again at how the different sizes of standard prints differ from each other.

See how when you go from that standard 4×6 print size to the lovely 8×10 print size that now suddenly you’ve gone from a 1.5 ratio to a 1.25 ratio? That means that suddenly your image isn’t quite as wide as it used to be, proportionally speaking.  Instead of a long rectangle you’ve got a taller rectangle. So this is what happens to your image.

You start with this, at 4×6 proportions (1.5 ratio):

The image would be trimmed to this, at 8×10 proportions (1.25 ratio). You lose some left and right edge content.

You’d have to go all the way up to a 12×18 print in order to regain the same proportions you had at the 4×6 size, using standard prints and mats.

Now, keep in mind, if you have a mat cutter and your own printer, you could print your image as large or small as you want. You could trim the image and mat to match any ratio at all. If you want to pay someone to do that for you, you could do that as well. But if you want to go with an organization which will print to specific sizes, like 11×14, then you’re going to have to make your image at the 11×14 proportion which is a 1.27 ratio. It’s very close to the 1.25 ratio above, but just a smidge off.

It may be that your image has “not really important” stuff at the edges that you don’t mind losing. But it could also be that you have gorgeous detail at those edges that you are upset at losing. If that’s the case you might need to get custom-cut prints and mats so you can print exactly the dimensions you want to print.

It’s wise in photography, when you take your initial image, to always leave “extra space” around all four edges. That way you have the leeway to crop and arrange the image in different sizes of prints. If you crop your image too tight in-camera, you’re now stuck. You can’t gain back that extra image space around the edge.

Ask with any questions!

Photos courtesy of Bob See (marigold) and Lisa Shea (cypress tree).