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!
The BVAA Uxbridge SketchFest is back for its ninth year! Grab your pads of paper, pencils, and pens, for it’s SketchFest time!
Here’s the plan.
Sometime between November 1st and November 30th 2026, 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 2026. 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!
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
How Do I Sketch?
Ready to try sketching? Here’s an Intro to Urban Sketching we held in 2025 with Diane Mulligan, to get you started.
Our 2023 Uxbridge SketchFest session featured the talented Howie Green leading a sketching session on the Uxbridge Town Common. The video provides a wealth of advice on how to sketch scenes.
In 2024, this session by Brandi Van Roo covered all the basics – equipment, techniques, and brainstorming, done at the River Bend Farm in Uxbridge:
Yetti Frenkel led the 2025 workshop where we discussed, amongst other things, incorporating people into sketches. We then sketched at the Uxbridge cemetery and the antique store.
.
Sketching Inspiration
Here is a map of wonderful locations in Uxbridge. Click on it to get a larger version. This is a starting point. You can make your sketches anywhere in Uxbridge.
To get some inspiration, here are sketches from the 2023 SketchFest:
Here’s images from the 2021 Uxbridge SketchFest:
If you can’t get out to a site in Uxbridge in person, here are photos of locations that our BVAA members have allowed you to use as a basis for a sketch!
Ask with any questions, and we look forward to seeing your artwork!
Come join us in beautiful Millbury, Massachusetts on Thursday October 15th 2026 from 3:30-5:30pm! All are welcome as we set up on site and paint a painting of a historic stone wall along a stunning Millbury hiking / biking path! If you’d like to create your own masterpiece, you can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. You could watch talented artist Scott Nelson as he paints plein air on site, showcasing the beauty of autumnal New England.
Note that our chosen spot is about 1/2 mile in, along an unpaved path, from the power lines / Rayburn Drive junction. You can meet us at the power lines at 3:15-3:30pm and we’ll head on the trail at 3:30pm. If you want to arrive later, just head in to find us. If you are intending to come later, please RSVP to Lisa Shea ahead of time so she can give you her phone number. That way you can call/text us when you arrive if you’d like guidance.
You can bring your own cameras, sketchbooks, and painting supplies if you wish. For those who don’t have supplies, we’ll have loaner sketching supplies, painting supplies, and cameras on hand for those who want to participate hands on. Note that this isn’t a “paint along” workshop where Scott stops to wait for you to follow along. Scott will be painting and talking about what he’s doing as he goes. You’re welcome to sit and watch him, or you can also paint / photograph / sketch at your own pace.
You’re welcome to simply pop in and watch for a while!
This event is fully open to ALL people of all levels, ages, and abilities. We encourage community members to stop in and learn more about creating art! FREE!
Our featured artist is the talented Scott Nelson, who is co-founder of the Two Bridges Art Academy:
Please check out his courses. Scott offers commissions for paintings of houses, people portraits, and pet portraits!
Location: Trail is beneath the power lines immediately next to 14 Rayburn Drive Millbury, MA Please park by the power lines, not by the house. The house is just listed for your GPS to get you to the power lines.
If you specifically would like to try your hand at painting on location – known as plein air – here’s a workshop Dianne Panarelli Miller did for us, giving ideas how to prepare for plein air painting. Take a look!
Here’s a written list of items to bring with you when you do your own plein air painting. Note that at the this Millbury event we’ll have supplies on hand for this community event, if you’d like to borrow ours to give this a try. So you don’t need to bring supplies to Millbury. Still, if you’d like to build up your own travel bag of items, this page will get you started.
Come join us at the historic Sutton Common in Sutton, Massachusetts on Wednesday October 14th 2026 from 11am to 1pm! All are welcome as we set up on site and paint a painting of the Polly’s Antiques building, built in 1839! If you’d like to create your own masterpiece, you can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. You could watch talented artist Dianne Panarelli Miller as she paints plein air on site, showcasing the beauty of this historic location.
You can bring your own cameras, sketchbooks, and painting supplies if you wish. For those who don’t have supplies, we’ll have loaner sketching supplies, painting supplies, and cameras on hand for those who want to participate hands on. Note that this isn’t a “paint along” workshop where Dianne stops to wait for you to follow along. Dianne will be painting and talking about what she’s doing as she goes. You’re welcome to sit and watch her, or you can also paint / photograph / sketch at your own pace.
You’re welcome to simply pop in and watch for a while!
This event is fully open to ALL people of all levels, ages, and abilities. We encourage community members to stop in and learn more about creating art! FREE!
Our featured artist is the talented Dianne Panarelli Miller:
Location: Sutton Common 314 Boston Rd Sutton, MA 01590
If you specifically would like to try your hand at painting on location – known as plein air – here’s a workshop Dianne Panarelli Miller did for us, giving ideas how to prepare for plein air painting. Take a look!
Here’s a written list of items to bring with you when you do your own plein air painting. Note that at the this Sutton event we’ll have supplies on hand for this community event, if you’d like to borrow ours to give this a try. So you don’t need to bring supplies to Sutton. Still, if you’d like to build up your own travel bag of items, this page will get you started.
Here’s a workshop Dianne did previously for us in Auburn, to show her painting style:
Dianne’s biography:
Dianne Panarelli Miller is a world reknown artist painting in Canada, Bermuda, and Europe. She is an award winning Boston-based “Plein Air Painter” of color and light and is a signature member of the New England Plein Air Painters and is a “Copley Master”. Her approach combines the classic atelier training of the “Boston School”, with a mastery of technique of her own personal style expressed through the harmony of color and design. The original Boston School way of painting seeks to combine the truth of impressionist color with good drawing, sound composition and skillful paint handling. Its leading exponents included Edmund Tarbell, Frank Benson, William Paxton, Joseph Decamp, Philip Hale, R.H. Ives Gammell. Gammell was a turn of the century Boston Museum School pupil of the first three men and later consulted with Paxton. Robert Douglas Hunter and Robert Cormier (with whom Miller studied ) were students of Gammell. David Lowery and Robert Moore, also students of Gammell rounded off her studies.
Enter her website to see her versatile style which allows her to capture her subjects with sensitivity and detail. Her work can be seen all over the country.
Come join us at the famous Udor Tower in Millville, Massachusetts on Friday October 9th 2026 from 1pm to 3pm! All are welcome as we set up on site and paint an oil painting of the classic stone tower from 1882! If you’d like to create your own masterpiece, you can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. You could watch talented artist Verne Thayer as he paints plein air on site, showcasing the beauty of this historic location.
You can bring your own cameras, sketchbooks, and painting supplies if you wish. For those who don’t have supplies, we’ll have loaner sketching supplies, painting supplies, and cameras on hand for those who want to participate hands on. Note that this isn’t a “paint along” workshop where Verne stops to wait for you to follow along. Verne will be painting and talking about what he’s doing as he goes. You’re welcome to sit and watch him, or you can also paint / photograph / sketch at your own pace.
You’re welcome to simply pop in and watch for a while!
This event is fully open to ALL people of all levels, ages, and abilities. We encourage community members to stop in and learn more about creating art! FREE!
Location: Udor Tower 8 Central Street Millville MA
Here’s information on the Udor Tower from a previous BVAA visit:
Here’s the info sign for the Udor Tower:
If you specifically would like to try your hand at painting on location – known as plein air – here’s a workshop Dianne Panarelli Miller did for us, giving ideas how to prepare for plein air painting. Take a look!
Here’s a written list of items to bring with you when you do your own plein air painting. Note that at the this Millville event we’ll have supplies on hand for this community event, if you’d like to borrow ours to give this a try. So you don’t need to bring supplies to Millville. Still, if you’d like to build up your own travel bag of items, this page will get you started.
The Millville historic canal lock is right next door, so you could visit that before or after Verne’s session! Here’s a previous workshop we did on the rail trail, with talented artist Laura Cenedella.
This event is supported by a grant from the Millville Cultural Council, which is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.
Here is the proposed schedule for the BVAA Uxbridge Art Gallery for the calendar year 2027. Please note that this schedule could adjust or shift based on weather issues or other issues. Please always look for a show’s specific page to get its final details. Those detail pages are set up as we get close to a show.
The public / private notation indicates who is able to enter art into a given show. Membership is only $25/year! All receptions are always open to the public.
“Anything Goes” Community (photography) :- PUBLIC Drop-off Sat Jan 9 Reception Fri Jan 15 Pickup Sat Feb 20
“Local Beauty” Community (local scenes) :- PUBLIC Drop-off Sat Feb 20 Reception Fri Mar 26 (voter’s choice) Pickup Sat Mar 27
“Spring Show” (open theme) :- Members-Only Drop-off Sat Mar 27 Reception Fri Apr 2 Pickup Sat May 22
“Series Show” (duo/trio) :- Members-Only Drop-off Sat May 22 Reception Fri May 28 Pickup Sat June 26
“Carbon Copies Show” (forgeries) :- Members-Only Drop-off Sat June 26 Reception Fri July 30 (voter’s choice) Pickup Sat July 31
“Show of Hands” Community (anything-but-photography) :- PUBLIC Drop-off Sat July 31 Reception Fri Aug 6 Pickup Sat Sept 4
“?????” Art Show :- Members-Only Drop-off Sat Sept 4 Reception Fri Sept 10 Pickup Sat Oct 16
Community Art Show (open theme) :- PUBLIC Drop-off Sat Oct 16 Reception Fri Oct 29 (Halloween party) Pickup Sat Nov 13
“Great Gifts” (smallish size) :- Members-Only Drop-off Sat Nov 13 Reception Fri Nov 19 Pickup Sat Jan 8
……
notes about other 2027 show plans at other locations:
Choco l’Art Show at Charlton Library – CONFIRMED month of February 2027
Art-Poetry show at Blackstone library – confirming with Lisa C month of April 2027
Worcester Center for Crafts?? Drop-off Sun June Reception at Hot Night in the City Fri July
Fall Exhibit at Whitin Mill / ValleyCAST Open Sky?? Artwork Drop-off: August
Sunflower art show in Booklovers’ Gourmet Webster MA – CONFIRMED full month of August
October – Uxbridge SketchFest virtual show in person free sketching workshop plus video how-tos.
We have a wonderful workshop for our October 2026 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 **SINGH PERFORMANCE CENTER IN WHITINSVILLE**. We ran out of space when we held this workshop in 2025, in the Uxbridge gallery. For 2026 we are holding it in the larger space in Whitinsville. In this workshop, George will step us through how to approach drawing a human figure. We will start with a few quick sketches of poses to help us get loosened up. Then we will draw a live human person.
We will be drawing on easels. You can sit or stand before your easel. We will have some easels, paper, and sketching tools for you to borrow / use if you need to. **PLEASE RSVP** and in that RSVP let us know if you need an easel or if you can bring one. We want to be sure we have enough easels for everyone who needs one, and that we allocate enough space for everybody. You need to RSVP on the BVAA.org site, so we have your full details. Please do not simply click a button on Facebook :).
If you have your own easel, paper, and drawing items, please bring those. We will be stretched thin with our easel collection!
Location: Singh Performance Center – NOTE DIFFERENT LOCATION!! 60 Douglas Road Whitinsville MA
When: Wednesday Oct 21 2026 – NOTE DIFFERENT DATE!! 6:30-9pm
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 (ish) 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. Because of the high interest in this meeting, we will be opening the space up at 6pm to allow people to choose spaces. Starting at 6:30pm, we will keep the meeting portion short, and when we have covered meeting topics we will go right into the figure drawing. So we could start drawing before 7pm.
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!
Our twelfth anniversary! Hurrah! It’s creepy and it’s kooky! Mysterious and spooky! 2026 is the year for our 12th 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 28nd, 2026. 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 30th 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 30th to kick off the Halloween weekend.
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is a Massachusetts 501(c)(3) non-profit which is run 100% by volunteers. Every person you talk with in the BVAA is a volunteer! Together we all help our organization shine and support creative souls of all abilities.
Here are just a few things we could use volunteer assistance with!
Saturdays at the Gallery Every Saturday from 10am to 3pm we have our Uxbridge Community Art Gallery open to the public. Sometimes people come in to view the current show. Sometimes they bring their art supplies to work on their latest project. We bring in watercolors, brushes, paper, and pens for people to use. Sometimes visitors just like to chat about art! It’s relaxing and fun. BVAA President Lisa Shea is usually in the Uxbridge gallery every Saturday 10-3 but she’s not much of a morning person and the 10am starts are tricky. Sometimes we like to offer special art projects tying in to US holidays like National Collage Day or National Watercolor Day. If you’re available on a Saturday, contact us to let us know!
Going forward, we’ll put indications on our BVAA Google Calendar so you know which times are taken care of.
Show Installations Our show drop-offs are always on a Saturday 10-3. We generally aim to have the show installation (arranging of the art) from 3-5pm so that everything is safely on the walls and in its correct location. This takes some Tetris-like attention to how colors and shapes work together, to create a pleasing overall composition. We will announce for each show when we plan to do the installation.
Show Labelling We often label the show just before the reception, once we have confirmed all the pieces in a show and gotten in the titles and prices from everyone. This is a fairly quick 1-hour process where we pair up the labels with the pieces and tape the labels to the walls.
Reception Setup Our receptions are generally on a Friday from 5-7pm. Depending on the show the reception could be at any time during the show’s duration. Lisa gets there at 4pm with the supplies and can use help getting everything set up. Let her know if you’re free on a reception Friday!
Field Trip Support We aim to have monthly field trips to enjoy a local art-related location. Lisa generally runs these. It’s always helpful to have someone else on hand to help with meeting people and keeping things organized!
Transportation We have a number of members who have challenges driving at night or at all. If you’re planning on attending an event and wouldn’t mind having a passenger, please let us know! We can figure out if there’s someone in your neighborhood who could use a hand. It would be enormously wonderful if some of our unable-to-drive members could cherish time in the company of warm, supportive artists!
Monthly Press Releases Every month we send out press releases to the local newspapers. These include upcoming events, upcoming art shows, and images from our existing art shows.
Grants We submit applications for about 15 cultural council grants each autumn. We also apply for various other grants throughout the year.
Video Editing We record every workshop and meeting so that people with mobility issues can watch the activities on YouTube. We use Adobe Premiere for our editing. We could use help with the editing process, to catch up on our backlog.
BVAA Board Our BVAA Board is very casual. We have a Zoom meeting every few months to discuss the upcoming calendar and brainstorm about workshops to hold. If you’d like to join us on the board, please let us know!
If you have other ways you’d like to help out, contact us! We’re open to ideas!
Thank you so much to everyone who came out to the Blue show reception on Friday evening! We had a number of new members and it was wonderful for them to be able to talk with so many different artists. It was fun to see the blue outfits in the mix!
The judge for this show was George Hancin, who teaches at the Worcester Art Museum. He had a really hard time judging amongst the 79 entries. Normally we have 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and three honorable mentions. We let George choose the three main ribbons plus six honorable mentions. And he still wanted a seventh :).
Congratulations to Christine Masse-Hainley for winning first place with her colored pencil creation “His Favorite Belt”. Judge notes: Close-cropped composition of clothes, seemingly generic, made special by sharp detail and complementary colors.
Congratulations to Merilyn Rocks for winning second place with “From Mom’s Garden” watercolor. Judge notes: Complex arrangement rendered with such amazing detail it looks the dimensional. Merilyn notes: Mommy died in 2020 at the age of 97. She always had the most beautiful gardens and I would either sit on the lawn by her flowers & paint them from life or in this case photograph them to paint in years to come. These Iris especially were some of her hybrid ones which were so tall I had to take a pic before the wind at Lake Nipmuc blew them down. Still painting now from her beautiful blooms.
Congratulations to Bonnie Frederico for winning third place with her “My Gravy Boat” oil painting. From the judge: “Primarily grey painting brought to life by bright oranges and blues.”
Congratulations to Vincent Ryan for winning an honorable mention in our BVAA Blue Show with “Potted Succulents” watercolor. Judge notes: Triangle of greens, violets, and blues accent each other; each had its own repetition of various petal shapes.
Congratulations to Carol Frieswick for winning an honorable mention in our BVAA Blue Show with her oil painting “Eastham”! Judge notes: A dreamlike nighttime misty atmosphere with subtle colors and hues.
Congratulations to Verne Thayer for winning an honorable mention in our Blue art show with his “Art of Water” oil painting! Judge notes: A twilight scene of dark clouds and sunset reflecting in water against a silhouette.
Congratulations to Beverly Tinklenberg for winning an honorable mention with “Eric’s Daughter” watercolor in our Blue art show! Judge notes: A loosely painted rosy-faced portrait with an expression that can have many interpretations.
Congratulations to Steve Paulson for winning an honorable mention in our Blue art show with his “Twilight” watercolor! Judge notes: This monochrome watercolor has a still gentle atmosphere.
Congratulations to Sue Dion for winning an honorable mention in our Blue art show with “Serenity”! The judge said: A quick impressionistic expressive view of trees in a marsh.
Thank you so much to everyone who participated in our Blue art show. This show is live through Sat Oct 17th. Sat will be the pickup for the Blue show and the dropoff for the free Community art show.
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is proud to host the FREE 2026 Community Art Show! The public is warmly invited to participate! This show is open to all forms of artistic expression. We would love to see watercolors, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, sculptures, pottery, mixed media, drawings, pastels, photography, cyanotypes, and other forms of art.
THERE IS NO THEME. Your art can be about any topic at all! We celebrate the diversity of our artistic community. All levels of artist warmly encouraged to participate!
When: October 17th to November 14th, 2026
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.
Entering the Show 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 two items. The deadline to submit is Saturday, October 17th 2026 at 3pm EST.
Drop Off of Works Work must be dropped off on Saturday, October 17th between 10am and 3pm. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly). We do not “jury” the artwork, picking and choosing which art will be in the show. We allow all artists to participate. Please ONLY bring your artwork in on Saturday, October 17th. BVAA staff need to be present to sign in the artwork, and we are only there at that day and time.
Reception We will be having an in-person reception at the Uxbridge gallery on Friday, October 30th from 5-7pm! We would love to see you there. This is also a Halloween party! Family, friends, and community members are warmly welcome!
Pick Up Pick up is on Saturday, November 14th from 10am to 3pm. If you aren’t able to make that, please contact us for other arrangements.
Voting is done by the community! Please cast your votes for first, second, and third place. Each person can vote for those 3 places. You can email votes to info@bvaa.org, vote in person, vote on the video, or in any other way that reaches us! Voting is through November 13th 2026 so we can give the winners their certificates when they pick up their artwork on Saturday Nov 14th.
With some voting shows we have a ‘closing reception’ to hand out prizes. In this case, though, we have our reception in October so we can also celebrate Halloween / the Macabre show as a pop-up show. And the holidays are so busy that having two receptions (one for this show, then one for the next Great Gifts show) in quick succession would be a challenge for peoples’ schedules. So we will announce winners on social media and in our newsletter on the evening of Fri Nov 13th.
Community Show History This art show, originally called “Tapestry”, was begun by Alternatives as an annual community art celebration. This show was running by 2010, and maybe began earlier. When the BVAA began handling the Uxbridge gallery space in 2016, we took responsibility for continuing this Tapestry show. Up until 2022 we continued to call this art show “Tapestry” to indicate it represented all types of threads from the community coming together.
Unfortunately, every time we referred to this show as “Tapestry”, many artists thought it was a fabric arts show and wouldn’t enter. Even when we attempted to make it clear that all types of art were welcome, artists remained confused and skipped the show. To counter this issue, in 2022 we updated this show’s name to “Diversity”. We aimed to represent our goal to bring in a diverse community of artists. However, people then thought the topic was specifically about Diversity.
So starting in 2024 we simply called this a Community Art Show!
