Blog

BVAA Fall Show Reception

We held our reception for the Fall Show at Alternatives in Uxbridge on Friday night and had another great turnout and fantastic artwork.

Congrats to everyone who entered for the show and we recommend that you call in and see the high quality of the work yourself.

First Place
Carol Frieswick “Kitty Point Skiff”
Second Place
Judy Belben “Going Places 42nd St. NY”

Third Place
Lisa Shea “Worcester Auditorium”

Honourable Mentions

Anne McNevin “The Three Graces”

Frank Robertson “New England Central”

Carol Dandrade “Golden Hour”

Gelli Monoprints at Monthly Meeting

event-2016-10-monthly

Our monthly meeting for October is on Tuesday, October 18th, 2016 at the Northbridge Senior Center.

This month we’ll be playing with a hands-on demo and workshop in Gelli printing! These monoprints use acrylic paint and let you make one-off creations.

Wear clothes that can get a big messy and prepare for fun!

We did a number of hands-on workshops last year with Gelli plates and everyone had a blast. In essence these are the same things as gelatin plates that you can make yourself but they last longer and oddly they are even cheaper to buy than to make in most cases.

Lisa has a number of books on Gelli printing that she’ll bring to lend out.

Here’s photos from one of our previous smaller workshops –

Gelli Printmaking Workshop

Ask with any questions!

March 2017 Art with Poetry Pairing – How It Works

These instructions are for the artists and poets participating in the March 2017 Art and Poetry Pairing being showcased at the Worcester Public Library. Here’s how it works!

Each artist is paired with a poet. They form a team for the duration of this project.

Sometime before November 15, 2016, 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 February 15, 2017 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 November 15, 2016, 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 artwork will be hung in a locked glass case at the library so the art has to fit inside one of those cases :). There are both horizontal “lay items flat” style cases as well as vertical wall cases. You can see photos of the cases here:

Worcester Library Cases

We have 18 artist-poet pairs so that is 36 finished works of art plus poems. We have 10 total cases. So artists should aim for the art to be about 1/4 of a case as a maximum size.

The poet now has until February 15, 2017 to write a poem based on that piece of art. Again, 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.

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.

If anybody has any questions or comments, please let Lisa know. All poets and artists should now have received an email with their partner information. Anybody who doesn’t have that information yet should contact Lisa.

Enjoy!

Seeking BVAA Photographer of Art

Many of our BVAA non-photography artists, such as oil painters, acrylic painters, illustrators, and such, would like to be able to make prints from their works. They are looking for professional help in getting a high-quality JPG version of their original image. As we all know, that can be incredibly challenging. There can be a variety of issues with flash, lighting, reflection, and more.

The BVAA is looking for one of our photographers to offer a photography service to members in need. You can set a fair price for that service. Other photographers in our area charge $10/3 artworks and $20 for up to 10, for example.

You could choose to do the photography once a month or batch them up in other ways. The aim is not for this to be a fast-demand service but rather a planned out activity.

If you’re a BVAA member who would be interested in offering this service, please let us know!

Macabre Halloween Show 2016

In 2015 the BVAA held a one-day pop-up “Twisted Dolls” show at the Worcester PopUp location next to City Hall. We had a great time and the show’s online version became very popular.

Twisted Doll Photos

In 2016 we wanted to expand our scope beyond dolls while maintaining the spooky aspect of the show. Hence the name Macabre. The general theme of the show is creepy, spooky, and thought-provoking.

We also wanted to expand beyond a single day of show, so that more people could enjoy it in person. The Canal on Water Street in Worcester agreed to be the venue!

Our plan is for the last week in October – October 24th through 31st. We’re still mapping out the opening reception. The number of images per person will depend on the final layout of that gallery system and the number of BVAA members interested in participating.

Please let us know if you’d like to join us in the Macabre show!