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It’s creepy and it’s kooky! Mysterious and spooky! 2023 is the year for our 9th annual Macabre art show!

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 Macabre show is Friday, October 27th, 2023. 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 Diversity show reception on Friday October 27th 5-7, and then the gallery is open its normal 10-3 hours on Saturday October 28th. So we’ll have stand-up panels in the gallery for those TWO DAYS ONLY for the Macabre special event. Please bring in 1-2 items for the panels. There will just be a few panels up, 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 27th to kick off the Halloween weekend.

Theme
This show is Halloween. Spooky. Shadowy.

Here are photos from previous years –

Twisted Dolls Show 2015

Macabre Show 2016

Here’s the video from the 2020 show!

Here’s the Macabre show from 2021!

Here’s the Macabre show in 2022!

We look forward to seeing your spooky work!

Come join us in Auburn! All are welcome as we set up on site and paint a painting of a house – what’s known as a plein air painting. The house in question is the beautiful historic Thaddeus Chapin House. The house is a rare four-chimney structure and was built in 1780.

Photo by Bob See

There is a large free parking lot immediately across the street for us to set up in. You can bring cameras, sketchbooks, or painting supplies. We’ll have sketching supplies on hand for those who want to give it a try. Our featured artist is the talented Dianne Panarelli Miller:

https://www.diannepmiller.com/

This workshop is FREE and is open to the community!

We are currently aiming for Wednesday October 25th from 1-3pm. It keeps raining on weekends, so we will see if this works! Watch our social media and our newsletter for updates!

Location:
Thaddeus Chapin House
11 Elmwood Street
Auburn, MA

Note this is a PRIVATE RESIDENCE so please do not go on the property. Stay across the street at the credit union’s parking lot. We are celebrating the Auburn historic building and the fun of creating art in our community. The parking lot has two entrances. The parking lot entrance on Elmwood Street (the side we’ll be painting from) is gated off, which is good, because it means we can stand in that gated area. Drive around to the other side to get into the parking lot.

Ask with any questions!

This project is supported by the Auburn Cultural Council.

Open Critique Session

It’s time for a critique session! We all bring in our latest works or images and then offer each other suggestions and advice. You can bring the works in in person or bring JPG images on a thumb drive for us to view on a laptop. You can bring in paintings, drawings, or sculptures. Whatever you wish! It’ll be fun, relaxed, and conversational.

If you aren’t able to bring the physical item in, and don’t have a thumb drive, you can email the image to our normal info@bvaa.org address sometime before Tuesday and we’ll handle it for you. Lisa Shea will be on laptop duty for the night :).

Our November 2023 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, November 21st, 2023 from 6:30-9pm.

This critique will be moderated by the talented award-winning painter Carol Arnold!

https://www.carolarnoldfineart.com/

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!

Ask with any questions!

Some samples of Carol Arnold’s work:

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!

It’s an amazing session with talented artist Jill Pottle! We will be meeting at the historic E. N. Jenckes Museum in Douglas, Massachusetts. This building was once a traditional 1800s-era general store. It is still stocked full of all sorts of stunning historic items.

From 12 noon to 2pm on Sunday, October 22nd, 2023, Jill Pottle will show us how to approach a still life project. How do you consider the shapes? The composition?

You are warmly encouraged to bring your own cameras, cellphones, and sketch pads. Take the time to create your own art. Think about items you might want to photograph and sketch from the historic collection. Later, at home, you could create oil paintings, acrylic paintings, watercolors, digital art, and more based on those impressions.

Our BVAA photographers will take a number of photos and post them to our BVAA.org website, so you can use those as starting points for derivative art if you wish.

We will be recording Jill’s presentation, so if you can’t make it in person, you can watch the recorded version at your leisure. We’ll also be recording a tour of the museum.

This workshop is FREE and is open to the community!

Location:
E. N. Jenckes Museum
283 Main Street
Douglas, MA 01516

https://en-jenckes-store-museum.business.site/

We’ll be creating a slideshow of art which portrays Douglas, Massachusetts. If you create photos, sketches, paintings, or other art, please email that in to us to be a part of this project!

To learn more about Jill Pottle, be sure to visit:

Home

Thank you so much to the Douglas Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council for sponsoring this project!

Mixing colors together is a key part of most painting projects. You want to mix to get just the right shade of green for your leaf, or just the right shade of blue for your water. Sometimes those mixing efforts result in stunning, vibrant colors.

Other times, though, the colors turn muddy. Gray. They lose their vibrancy.

Talented artist Gina Croce will step us through some basics of color theory and demonstrate HOW and WHY this happens. She will then guide you on tips to help your own paintings glow with vibrancy and clean color. Gina will be doing her demonstration in watercolors, but the underlying concept of how color mixing works will apply to nearly all media.

Gina Croce is the past President of the International Watercolor Society of the USA and a signature member of the Rhode Island Watercolor Society. Her National Award Winning work has been shown here in the United States as well as internationally.

Our October 2023 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, October 17th, 2023 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.

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 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!

To learn more about Gina Croce and her art, visit:

https://www.ginacroce.com/

Ask with any questions!

Here is the video from this workshop. Thank you again, Gina!

Our meetings are supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Thank you to everyone who entered our 2023 Blackstone Valley Art Association Fall Art Show! Here are the list of winners from this show. The juror was Jennifer Behymer. The notes are from Jennifer. Thank you to everyone who participated in this show!

First place – Portrait of Lisa Shea – Young Farwell
Portraits are a combination of achieving both a likeness and a sense of personality of the model – which is challenging. This portrait does both of these beautifully as well as achieving good skin tones and sense of form. Nice work!

Second place – Committed – Al Weems
There is so much to love about this piece and for me the title enhances the storytelling aspects of the hands and string. Commitment takes time and does not come without many entanglements and is more valuable for its weathering. The hands locked together and the intertwining string which forms an infinity symbol around one finger are a lovely composition.

Third place – MFA Luncheon – Frank Robertson
The composition and sense of sunlight are what drew me into this painting. Scenes with multiple figures, perspective, and lighting are a challenge in any media. Watercolor is particularly difficult to achieve figurative work in successfully. I admire the artist’s accomplishment in taking on this subject matter.

Honorable Mention 1 – Adrianna’s Lily – Sue Dion
I like how the artist chose a square format to really zone in on the lily. White is difficult to achieve a variation of form in and I like how the petals and colors work together to give the flower form.

Honorable Mention 2 – Umbrellas – Bob Evans
What a fun piece! So many bright colors and shapes tumble through this piece. The blue of the sky as it transitions along with the size of the umbrellas is a visual delight.

Honorable Mention 3 – Coastal Winter – Carol Frieswick
This little landscape drew me in with its warm sky and cool blue snow in the foreground. The ocean in winter has such a range of colors and light, and I liked how the warm and cool palette worked together on this piece.

Juror’s Note – Nightmare Fox – Anayah Goncalves (Libia’s granddaughter)
I love this adorable little creature, Anayah! Great job on your painting and I especially like the wide open eyes and bushy tail. Great job! Keep painting!

Here are the full details about our 2023 Fall Art Show –

2023 Fall Show at the Blackstone Valley Art Association

We are kicking off our Sixth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest with a bang! We have the amazingly talented artist Howie Green coming to Uxbridge to lead a workshop on how to urban sketch. We will walk short distances around the Uxbridge common and use the beautiful architecture and landscapes of Uxbridge center to build our urban 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 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 Howie, you’ll then have the skills you need to participate in our Sixth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest, which runs from Sunday September 17th through Tuesday October 31, 2023!

Our Urban Sketching workshop will be held on Sunday, September 17th, 2023 from 1-3pm. If it rains, we’ll hold the workshop in the gallery space.

Initial Meeting 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.

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!

Here are a few sketches by Howie to see his style!

To learn more about Howie Green and his art, visit:

https://howiegreen.com/index.htm

For all the details about the Sixth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest read:

6th Annual Uxbridge SketchFest – Fall 2023

Ask with any questions!

Our meetings are supported in part by grants from the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

The BVAA Uxbridge SketchFest is back for its sixth year! Grab your pads of paper, pencils, and pens, for it’s SketchFest time!

Here’s the plan.

Sometime between September 17th and October 31st 2023, 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 three sketches. Please have the last JPGs in to us by midnight on October 31st 2023. 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!

We launch our 2023 Uxbridge SketchFest with a fantastic FREE Urban Sketching workshop with the talented artist Howie Green! All are welcome to participate!

Intro to Urban Sketching with Howie Green

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.

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.

Talented artist Scott Nelson led an urban sketching session on Grafton Common – you get a TON of tips from Scott in this on how to compose and approach sketching in a town setting –

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.

Here’s Laura’s website which has all sorts of great information and advice:

https://belleartwork.wordpress.com/

Here’s a video of the afternoon session with Laura, which focused more specifically on portrait sketching.

Portrait Sketching by Laura Sfiat using Reilly Method

Here’s a 22-minute YouTube video by Alphonso Dunn that goes step by step through how to create an urban sketch. You can skip the first two minutes – those are an ad for his book :).

To get some inspiration, here are sketches from the 2021 Uxbridge SketchFest:

If you can’t get out to a site in person, here are some photos of locations that our BVAA members have allowed you to use as a basis for a sketch!

Uxbridge SketchFest Source Photo Library

Here’s a flyer for our 2023 Uxbridge SketchFest. Please share this flyer with local websites, libraries, and schools!

Ask with any questions, and we look forward to seeing your beautiful sketches!