Author: Blackstone Valley Art Association

The 2018 BVAA Alternatives “Tapestry” Art show is primarily located at the Uxbridge Gallery at 5 South Main Street, Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

The art is also hung at other area locations to spread the creativity and beauty throughout the Uxbridge region. We will create a “travel map” to encourage visitors to explore all of these locations to see the artwork.

These art pieces range from photography to watercolors, from acrylics to watercolors to mixed media. Each location can choose a piece of art which resonates with their theme.

Here is our planning list. Please let us know if you can contact one of these locations to determine if they’re interested in participating in 2018 and how many pieces they would like to show. Please talk with us first before contacting anybody so we can coordinate one contact per location.

Thank you in advance!

Blue Duck
Books Books
Bridals by Rochelle
Capron Corp Office
Coves Insurance – 2 medium pieces
Dynamic Hair Salon
Dynasty Café – 3 small pieces
Harry’s Pizza – 4 small pieces
K&T Nails – 3 small pieces
Lynches Liquors Store – 2 small pieces
M&B Candies
Savers Bank – 1 large piece on easel
UniBank – 2 small tabletop pieces
Uxbridge Dental Office – 3 medium pieces
Uxbridge Library – 3 medium pieces on easels
Uxbridge Senior Center
Uxbridge Town Hall

Thank you all for your help!

2018 Tapestry Community Art Show – main page

The Blackstone Valley Art Association is using this page to coordinate its donations for the raffle and prizes for the 2018 “Tapestry” Community Art Show. This art show has been running since 2000 and now is in its 18th year.

Together we can celebrate the creativity of our community!

We need cash donations to support the prizes given to the winners in each category.

Also, we need raffle items to give away for our raffle. These can be items like gift certificates for goods or actual items.

Here is an alphabetical list of donations made and sought in previous years. Please let us know if you have a contact at any of these organizations and/or are willing to talk with them. Also let us know if you know of any other organization in the Uxbridge region who would support the BVAA / Alternatives creative mission. I will note next to each name the person who will talk with them, so we can keep track of who is working with what company.

Brother’s Liquors
China Pacific
Depot Café
Don Salon 89
Dunkin’ Donuts
Elegant Nails
Elysian Salon and Spa
Friendly’s Discount Liquors
Harbro
Heavenly Hair
Imperial Car Wash
Imperial Cars
Inspirations
Jube’s
Katalina’s Boutique
King Jade
Kyoto
Linwood Mills House Wines
Maison De Manger
Major League Cuts
Miss Mendon Diner
Moms
Nona’s in Milford
Paga Gino’s
Sassy Fox
Think Local
Touch of Magic / Lisa Shea
Uxbridge Houe of Pizza

Thank you for your help!

2018 Tapestry Community Art Show – main page

ASHTON MILLS EXCURSION SAT 8/4/2018 CANCELLING DUE TO RAIN! WILL RESCHEDULE!

You can of course go anyway – just wear a raincoat! 🙂

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, we’ll also do an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready. We just need some sunshine!

Note there IS NO YOGA IN THE GALLERY THIS WEEK. So the gallery will close at 3pm.

When:
Saturday, Aug 4th, 2018
10am – 3pm
(note Lisa runs a little late in the morning, so please be patient if she isn’t there right at the crack of 10am 🙂 )

Where:
BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

This is 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!

This is our third annual art-poetry show! This page here explains how the show works, for the artists and poets who are interested in participating. The show is a “traveling” show which will be at the Blackstone Library in March 2019 and then the Millbury Barnes & Noble in April 2019. In previous years we had been at the Worcester Public Library to start in February, but they are undergoing renovations. If you have any thoughts as to where we could be in February, please let us know.

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 lets Lisa know by MONDAY OCTOBER 29 2018 of that interest. They let her know if they prefer a partner they can meet in person or if they prefer to work remotely, staying in touch via email.

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

Sometime before December 1, 2018, 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 January 31, 2019 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.

In parallel:

Sometime before December 1, 2018, the artist provides the poet with a piece of art (a JPG photo of it is fine). Again, the artwork can be custom-created for this project or it can be an existing favorite.

The poet now has until January 31, 2019 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 first and second round), please also send a copy to Lisa so she can work on the Tetris-like logistics of seeing what will fit where. For art, let her know the dimensions of the piece when you send the JPG.

Here are the pairings from previous years to see how this works:
2017 Art-Poetry Show
2018 Art-Poetry Show

Since we are not restricted in size this year by the Worcester Library cases, our size restriction is primarily the Blackstone Library cases. Half of the artwork needs to go in the cases there while the other half can hang on the wall. Lisa will coordinate who will go where once we determine the pairings. We’ll try to ensure that people who “went small” in previous years to fit the space constraints have the opportunity to “go large” this year if they wish.

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

My current roster is:

Poets
Samantha Schroeder
Christine Beauchaine
Linda DeFeudis
Patty Cahill
Frank Robertson
Jane Nozzolillo
Sheryl Kimball
Liz Decasse
Trisha Wooldridge
Nasim Mansuri
Kara Emily Krantz
Danielle Redden
Evan Plante

Artists
Sue Dion
Christine Beauchaine
Linda DeFeudis
Patty Cahill
Frank Robertson
Pam Siderewicz
Young Farwell
Dennis Smith
Liz Decasse
Bob Evans
Trisha Wooldridge
Kara Emily Krantz
Danielle Redden
Deb Bottomley
Carole Plante
Verne Thayer
Marcia Ciak

Let me know if you’re interested in joining us! Last call is Monday, October 29th, 2018 at midnight EST!

Enjoy!

Every two months we rotate the art show at the Milford TV Station. We arrange our drop-offs on the last Thursday of the month preceding the show. The drop-off for the upcoming September-October 2018 show on the theme of “Autumn Splendour” is Thursday, August 30th from 6-8pm.

This date is also the reception (and take down) for the existing “Good Ole Summertime” show. Please try to wait until the end of the evening before you take your art off the walls. That way people who come to the reception to see the show are able to see all the art. If you’re not able to make it for the reception date, please wait until after the reception to stop by and retrieve your art.

The public is warmly welcome and encouraged to attend the art reception!

Artists – please bring food or drink to share!

The Milford TV Station is at:

138 South Main Street
Milford, MA

https://www.milfordtv.net/

The Milford people handle the labels and hanging for us, so there is no need to use our online submission form to indicate what you’re bringing. Simply be sure to label the back of each piece with its title, your name, and the price.

The Milford TV station does not take any commission on sales. Neither does the BVAA. So this is an ideal sales venue, and we do see sales regularly at this venue.

This show is for BVAA members only and is free to participate in.

Most artists bring in three items but if you have more which match the current theme that’s great! The items can be any size or shape – Milford has a great hanging system which can accommodate pretty much anything.

Ask with any questions!

The Millbury Bike Path is part of the plans for a long bike path / walking path / celebration of the entire Blackstone River from Worcester, MA to Pawtucket, RI. The stretch which is complete in the Millbury area starts at a parking lot near the Blackstone Shoppes mall complex and goes north along the river to the parking lot with the WalMart in Worcester.

Lisa has a PixelStick which is an amazing device to do long-exposure photography with in the darker hours.

https://thepixelstick.com/

We’ll play with it and have some fun!

Completely FREE! Supported by Constellation Energy! 🙂

Directions and Time
We’re meeting at the bike path parking lot. It’s immediately across the highway from the Blackstone Shoppes, on that same road that leads into the Shoppes. So if you look on Google for:

206 North Main Street
Millbury MA

That house is right across the street from the parking lot for the bike path.

We’ll meet there at 7:15pm to gather up everyone. This is the golden hour so we’ll get some lovely photographs on the way in, and then play with the PixelStick and flashlights until we’re done! Please bring a flashlight with you – the path is unlit, which is the whole purpose of being there :). I recommend bug spray as well. This is by a river, after all. It’s good to have a tripod, but you can also rest your camera on a rock or something else to have it steady. It’s also good to have a camera which can take a picture over a long period of time, like 3 or more seconds, but even if you just have a cellphone it’ll be fun too!

Please let us know via our contact form if you’re planning on coming, so we know to wait for you. It’ll be a great evening of learning about photography and exploring our Blackstone River history!

Blackstone Valley Bike Path Photos

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

River Bend Farm in Uxbridge is a beautiful location. There’s the traditional red farm which has a visitor’s center within it. Then the farmland is right on the Blackstone Canal. This is one of the best locations on its entire stretch to see what the canal was once like.

Until the early 1800s, traveling around central Massachusetts was fraught with trouble. The woods were thick. There were wolves and other dangers. Either you were trudging through deep snow in the winter or dealing with swarms of bugs in the summer.

It was nearly impossible for any trading to get done.

Finally in 1823 the Blackstone Canal Company was formed. Its mission was to create an easy-to-navigate canal connecting Providence to Worcester. This would then open trade up to the entire world via the Narragansett Bay.

Construction went fairly quickly – they began in 1825 and were completely done with the first travel on October 7, 1828. It took two days for one of the slender canal boats to make its way from one end of the course to another.

They expected the canal system to last hundreds of years.

Unfortunately for them, the railroads saw the opportunity and quickly moved in. By 1848 the canal was shut down. The railroad had taken over that quickly.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history!

Talented, amazing artist Michael Graves has showcased his art in the Massachusetts State House as well as in countless galleries. He’ll be leading our adventure today! He’ll begin with a short demo, so you can see what plein air painting is all about. Then he’ll offer advice and suggestions as you all explore your painting skills!

If you’ve never done a plein air paint before, you might read: Plein Air Painting – Preparing for your First Outing. If you don’t have supplies, we’ll bring watercolors, brushes, and paper. Bring a water bottle and something stiff like a small cutting board to tape the paper to.

If you’d like to bring a beach chair to sit on, and snacks / drinks, feel free.

Please let us know via our contact form if you’re planning on coming, so we know to wait for you. It’ll be a great morning of learning about photography and exploring our Blackstone River history!

Location and Time
River Bend Farm
287 Oak Street
Uxbridge, MA

9:30am – 2pm (or so, feel free to leave earlier)

Michael Graves is a nationally-recognized landscape artist based in central Massachusetts. As a plein air artist, Graves paints on location, braving the elements, to capture the many moods and temperaments of the natural world. Over a 30 year career, Graves has received over 70 awards and medals, been featured in a variety of books and publications, and inducted into numerous national art associations.

Although Graves has taken painting trips throughout North America, and parts of Europe and Asia, his favorite subjects continue to be of the simple farms, bucolic vistas, and rugged coasts of his native New England. His artwork is and has been exhibited in dozens of galleries throughout the U.S. and is included in the permanent collection of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. His paintings have also been selected eight times for inclusion in the national Arts for the Parks competition of the Top 100 Paintings of National Parks.

Born in 1952, the son of a local tree warden, Graves grew up with a love of painting and a deep appreciation for the outdoors. In the late 1970s, Graves met the renowned Cape Ann artist Bernard Corey (1914-2000). Corey became a lifelong friend and mentor and the two painted together nearly every day for over two decades. Michael Graves is a member of the Rockport Art Association, the Guild of Boston Artists, the Hudson Valley Art Association, and the Old Lyme Art Association. He is a friend and frequent painting companion of some of the most well known plein air artists of New England.

Mike lives in Millbury, Massachusetts with his wife Pam. He has two sons.

Michael Graves Artist Website

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.