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!
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!
We are celebrating our Eighth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest in historic downtown Uxbridge! Talented sketcher Yetti Frenkel will be our guide. We will walk short distances along Uxbridge’s main street and use the beautiful architecture to develop our sketching skills.
Perfect for all levels of artists. Beginner will get themselves started, and more advanced artists will hone their skills!
This workshop is FREE! Please RSVP either with the online form on this site or by emailing info@bvaa.org so we know how many supplies to prepare. We will provide clipboards to draw on, paper, and pens / pencils. You can of course bring your own if you have supplies you prefer to use.
By getting started with Yetti, you’ll then have the skills you need to participate in our Eighth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest, which runs from September 1st through November 30, 2025!
Our River Bend Farm Sketching workshop will be held on Sunday, September 21st from 1-3pm. If it rains, we’ll hold the workshop in the BVAA Uxbridge Community gallery space. We will definitely post here and on social media, and email all RSVPed people, if we have rain concerns.
Initial Meeting Location: BVAA Uxbridge Community Art Gallery 5 South Main Street Uxbridge MA
The space is fully handicapped / disability accessible with no stairs. It has a large free parking lot.
This workshop is free and open to the public. No experience is necessary. The fun of our workshops is that we all try new things we’ve never done before.
All are welcome – this workshop is open to BVAA members and non-members. Feel free to bring along a friend! We’d love to see you there to try some new things and explore your creativity!
We have a great workshop for our September 2025 BVAA monthly meeting! This is open to the public – all levels of interest are warmly encouraged to attend!
We are holding this workshop in the BVAA Uxbridge Art Gallery. It is a ‘getting started’ tutorial so that you can then participate in our Uxbridge SketchFest community project over the coming weeks.
In this demo, Diane will offer a show-and-tell of her urban sketching set up and will share techniques for overcoming the anxiety of sketching in public, staying loose on the page, and simplifying reality into an interesting composition. She will guide participants through several exercises that she regularly uses as part of her urban sketching and plein air painting practices. Bring your sketchbooks and try the techniques for yourself!
If you don’t have materials, we will have sketchbooks, pens, pencils, and watercolors for you to practice with.
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 about our 2025 Uxbridge SketchFest community project here –
Want to learn more about taking lovely photos? Join us on Friday September 26th 2025 from 2-4pm for our photography workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill! All levels of photographers warmly encouraged to participate. This event is open to the public.
The cost of the photography workshop is $5 each.
Note that because we are holding this month’s workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, YOU MUST SEPARATELY PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE TO TOWER HILL. That entrance fee is $20. You can find discount or free tickets at many local libraries. Check with your libraries to find an inexpensive way to get into the gardens. If you are a individual served by Open Sky, talk with Open Sky about being sponsored for this event. You pay that entry fee directly to Tower Hill when you arrive.
We will meet at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, past the entry gates, by the turtle fountain at 2pm. Photographer Lisa Shea will provide a brief introductory discussion of ideas for taking photos in an outdoor setting. Then we will explore the gardens from 2-4pm. You can roam on your own, stay with the group, and ask questions whenever you wish. Feel free to come early or stay late!
Location: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill 11 French Drive Boylston, MA https://nebg.org/
Date and Time: Friday August 22nd, 2025 2-4pm
Please be sure to RSVP to join the group. Let Lisa know what type of cellphone or camera you plan on bringing. Lisa can then send you a PDF of ideas to get you started. If you don’t have access to any cellphone or camera, we have a few we would be able to lend for the afternoon.
Let us know if you have any questions! And please make sure you research your New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill tickets beforehand. That way you can get discount tickets from your local library or from Open Sky (if applicable) to save on your entrance fee.
Whether you participate in the field trip or not, please consider then sending in a few of your Beautiful Skies photos to participate in the free ValleyCAST virtual art show. This show has a deadline of Sunday, September 28th, 2025!
Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Fall Art Show, held at the ValleyCAST Spaulding R. Aldrich Heritage Gallery at the Whitin Mill in Whitinsville, Massachusetts! Cristi Collari was the judge for this show.
Congratulations to Lynne Randolph for winning first place in our BVAA Fall Art Show at ValleyCAST! This beautiful pastel painting is “Family Stroll” $325.
Congratulations to Karin Cloutier for winning second place with “Silence to Bloom” acrylic painting $215.
Congratulations to Joanne Zeis for winning third place with her photo “Long Way Down” $175.
Congratulations to Carole Plante for winning an honorable mention in our BVAA Fall Art Show! This is stained glass “Kiss Me” – not for sale (sigh Carole you are so cruel!!).
Congratulations to Michael Backunas for winning an honorable mention in the BVAA Fall Art Show! This is “Abandoned Whaling Ship West Iceland” photography $300.
Congratulations to Bonnie Frederico who got an honorable mention for “Sunflowers and Peaches” oil painting $475.
Here’s the information on this 2025 Fall Art Show!
The BVAA Uxbridge SketchFest is back for its eighth year! Grab your pads of paper, pencils, and pens, for it’s SketchFest time!
Here’s the plan.
Sometime between September 1st and November 30th 2025, head out to your favorite locations in Uxbridge. Make sketches of whatever catches your eye. Send them into us at info@bvaa.org. Each person can send us up to five sketches. Please have the last JPGs in to us by midnight on November 30th 2025. Participation is completely FREE!
If you can also send a photo of what you were sketching, or its location, that would be lovely. That way people can tour Uxbridge and see the locations of the artwork.
We will make a virtual gallery of the sketches and also a YouTube virtual presentation! We’ll share all the beautiful artworks for the entire community to enjoy!
All ages and abilities are warmly encouraged to participate. This is open to the public!
Here’s a how-to workshop we’re holding to get you started! Free!
Here is Dennis Smith’s great map of wonderful locations in Uxbridge. Click on it to get a larger version along with details about each location. This is a starting point. You can make your sketches anywhere in Uxbridge.
Dennis Smith Map of Great Sketching Locations
What Is A Sketch?
Just what is a sketch? We’re glad you asked!
For the sake of our SketchFest, a sketch is a quick representation of a scene done with pen or pencil on paper. It can then be colored in with colored pencil or watercolors. Here’s a beautiful example done by Pamela Siderewicz of a lawyers’ office building on Uxbridge Common.
Pamela Siderewicz – Uxbridge Common Building
At our 2019 Uxbridge SketchFest we had the amazing Laura Sfiat from the Urban Sketchers Boston group come guide us through sketching. Here is one of Laura’s examples (not of Uxbridge) which provides a few details about how she works.
Laura Sfiat City Sketcher Boston
Here’s Laura’s website which has all sorts of great information and advice:
Congratulations to the winners of our 2025 art show at the Worcester Center for Crafts!
Congratulations to Sue Dion Art for winning first place in our Worcester Center for Crafts art show with her acrylic painting “Come Hell or High Water”.
Congratulations to Deb Bottomley for winning second place in our Worcester Center for Crafts art show with her oil painting “Invitation”.
Congratulations to Nancy Szostak Wright for winning third place in our art show at the Worcester Center for Crafts with the photo “Chatham Gull”
Congratulations to Bob See for winning an honorable mention in our Worcester Center for Crafts art show with his photo “A Leap of Faith”.
Congratulations to Monica McCarthy for winning an honorable mention in our Worcester Center for Crafts art show with her acrylic painting “Numbers Game”.
Congratulations to Young Farwell for winning an honorable mention in our art show at the Worcester Center for Crafts with her oil portrait “Mr. Robert Farwell”!
Thank you to everyone who participated in this show! Thank you to the Worcester Center for Crafts and to ValleyCAST for the opportunity!
The judges for this show were Elaine McKenna-Yeaw, Executive Director, Tomo Sakai, Community Gallery Director, and Amanda Santerre.
Summertime is a busy time for many of our artists, so we keep our summer workshops light and fun. The public is warmly encouraged to participate!
The FREE workshop will involve Carol Frieswick’s book and card set “The Artist’s Muse – Unlock the Door to Your Creativity”. There are bunches of cards with all sorts of challenges and prompts to get you thinking out of the box with your art. We’ll have watercolors, paper, and brushes on hand. If you have a preferred medium feel free to bring along your own paints, pencils, or camera. We will tackle the creative challenges with whatever we like to work with. Or, heck, if you normally work in one media, try changing over to another to see how it goes!
If you’d like to bring in a few of your works in progress, we’re happy to offer friendly ideas and suggestions on them!
Our summer meetings are casual and drop-in. Come and leave whenever you want, and work on whatever projects you’d like.
Our August 2025 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 19th from 6:30-9pm.
Location: BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery 5 South Main Street Uxbridge, MA 01569
The space is fully handicapped / disability accessible with no stairs. It is immediately next to a large free parking lot. There is a bathroom.
This meeting and workshop is free and open to the public. No experience is necessary. The fun of our workshops is that we all try 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 try some new things and explore your creativity!
Ask with any questions!
Our meetings are supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Want to learn more about taking lovely photos of garden critters? Join us on Friday August 22nd 2025 from 2-4pm for our photography workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill! All levels of photographers warmly encouraged to participate. This event is open to the public.
The cost of the photography workshop is $5 each.
Note that because we are holding this month’s workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, YOU MUST SEPARATELY PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE TO TOWER HILL. That entrance fee is $20. You can find discount or free tickets at many local libraries. Check with your libraries to find an inexpensive way to get into the gardens. If you are a individual served by Open Sky, talk with Open Sky about being sponsored for this event. You pay that entry fee directly to Tower Hill when you arrive.
We will meet at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, past the entry gates, by the turtle fountain at 2pm. Photographer Lisa Shea will provide a brief introductory discussion of ideas for taking photos of bugs, beetles, butterflies, dragonflies, and more. Then we will explore the gardens from 2-4pm. You can roam on your own, stay with the group, and ask questions whenever you wish. Feel free to come early or stay late!
Location: New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill 11 French Drive Boylston, MA https://nebg.org/
Date and Time: Friday August 22nd, 2025 2-4pm
Please be sure to RSVP to join the group. Let Lisa know what type of cellphone or camera you plan on bringing. Lisa can then send you a PDF of ideas to get you started. If you don’t have access to any cellphone or camera, we have a few we would be able to lend for the afternoon.
Let us know if you have any questions! And please make sure you research your New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill tickets beforehand. That way you can get discount tickets from your local library or from Open Sky (if applicable) to save on your entrance fee.
Whether you participate in the field trip or not, please consider then sending in a few of your Garden Critters photos to participate in the free ValleyCAST virtual art show. This show has a deadline of Sunday, August 24th, 2025!
Our eleventh anniversary! Hurrah! It’s creepy and it’s kooky! Mysterious and spooky! 2025 is the year for our 11th Annual Macabre art show! We hold this members-only pop-up and virtual show to celebrate Halloween. It is free, not judged, and does not involve prizes. It’s all for fun!
About the Show Spooky. Unsettling. Wisps of mists and dark shadows. Macabre brings out the fascination with the off-beat side of life.
Submissions / Virtual Show The online submission deadline for the FREE Macabre show is Wednesday, October 22nd, 2025. You don’t need to use the online submission form – you can simply email the JPGs to us. You can submit up to five works for the virtual show. It’s open to all BVAA members. This is not a judged show so you CAN enter things you’ve entered in previous shows (including previous Macabre shows).
The In Person Macabre Show
We have our community show reception on Friday October 24th 5-7, and then the gallery is open its normal 10-3 hours on Saturday October 25th. So we’ll have places in the gallery for those TWO DAYS ONLY for the Macabre special event. Please bring in 1-2 items for the in-person feature. There will just be shelf and easels, so we want to have room for everyone. You can bring your art with you Friday if you want and then pick them up any time after Saturday afternoon (or in later weeks). No rush. The in-person show is just a highlight to …
The Macabre Video The video we release for the reception with be a “moody” version. It will have a soundtrack and the images showing one by one. It will be something you could have going in the background at a spooky dinner to add ambiance.
Virtual Reception We’ll have our premiere of the video slideshow on Friday night October 24th to kick off the Halloween weekend.
