October is Inktober! During the month of October, the fantastically fun Inktober celebration begins.
During Inktober, you get a theme word every day. Each day, you do a sketch / drawing / etc. representing what that word means to you. You can interpret it ANY way you want. Most people do this monochrome with black on white, but you can explore your creativity.
You then post your art on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram / whatever other systems you like to use. If you don’t use any of them, send it in to the BVAA and we’ll post it on our feeds.
It’s a great way to get into a daily art habit! Ask with any questions!
Here’s the list for October 2021 from the Inktober team. Remember, one a day! Tackle the day’s theme word!
Here’s the official Inktober website, for all the details:
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is sponsoring our annual members-only Fall Show! This show is open to all active members of the BVAA. Entries can include all forms of artwork on any theme. This show will be judged for cash prizes.
When: Saturday, October 2 to Saturday, October 25, 2021
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. The fee to participate is $8/piece or 3 for $20 for members. You can submit up to 3 pieces. As this is a judged show, you cannot enter anything which has been entered into a previous BVAA judged show. The deadline to submit is Saturday, September 25th, 2021 at 3pm EST.
Drop Off of Works Work must be dropped off on Saturday, September 25th between 10am and 3pm. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).
Opening Reception For COVID reasons we will not be having an in-person reception for this show. We will let you know about a virtual one!
Pick Up Saturday, October 23, 2021, from 10am to 3pm. If you aren’t able to make that, contact us for other arrangements.
Just a reminder to everyone that tomorrow Saturday September 18th 2021 WE ARE NOT IN THE UXBRIDGE GALLERY. The Uxbridge Gallery is CLOSED.
We will all be in Hopedale at the big Hopedale Day in the Park event!!
We have a booth there with panels and bins. Here are the people from our group we know are attending and maybe bringing art for those panels / bins:
Lisa Shea Bev Tinklenberg Carol Frieswick Pam Siderewicz Bob Evans Young Farwell
If anyone else is planning on coming and/or bringing art please let us know! That way we can figure out how much art to bring each. We would love to see you there!
Here are two paintings Carol F is bringing for our panels.
Fall Fiesta 16×20 oil $250. Indigenous Pot and Harvest 9×12 oil $225.
Bev T entered the “white tent” art show with three of her paintings. We wish her luck with winning!
Harvest Door $325 Beach Houses $300 Quiet Harbor $300
If anyone else has images of their art for Hopedale to share, please send them along! I’m posting them on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Maybe we can drum up some sales!
We hope to see you at Hopedale this Saturday. The weather is looking good!
The BVAA Uxbridge SketchFest is back for its fourth year! Grab your pads of paper, pencils, and pens, for it’s SketchFest time!
Here’s the plan.
Sometime between September 1st and September 30th, 2021, 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 September 30th. Participation is completely FREE!
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 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.
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 in-person 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:
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 –
Ask with any questions, and we look forward to seeing your beautiful sketches!
Thank you to the Uxbridge Cultural Council and to the Massachusetts Cultural Council for supporting the Uxbridge SketchFest!
Here’s the schedule of BVAA shows at the Milford TV Studio for the 2021-2022 season!
We have a FREEEEE 2-month show schedule at the Milford TV Studio location. This location gets a fair amount of traffic as locals come and go to the various events there. Our art hangs on the walls in their hallways and rooms. Every two months we swap out with a new theme.
On the swap-out date, we all descend on the studio and hang out from 6-8pm. We take down the old art, put our new art against the walls, and have fun. We bring in our own snacks and drinks for this. It’s casual and relaxing. You can bring as many pieces as you wish on the theme. Milford TV hangs and labels our pieces for us.
On the reception date, Milford TV provides the food and drinks. By now they’ve hung and labelled all the artwork for us. We show up and enjoy the show and conversation from 6-8pm.
It’s free to participate and there’s no stress. Just bring in as many or few art items as you want, on the theme. Just label the back of each with the title, artist name, and price. You don’t have to fill out any online forms. We do have a sign-in sheet there just to keep track of what is in the gallery.
Ask with any questions! And let me know if you spot any typos on any of these pages. In general the date is always the last Wednesday of the month. We only slide it to avoid major holidays. Sometimes we have to move dates due to winter storms and such – we’ll email in advance if that happens.
July 28th, 2021 – Summertime Reception
August 25th, 2021 – Autumn Splendour Drop-off
September 29th, 2021 – Autumn Splendour Reception
October 27th, 2021 – Small Works Drop-off
November 24st, 2021 – Small Works Reception
January 5, 2022 – Winter Magic Drop-Off
January 26th, 2022 – Winter Magic Reception
February 23th, 2022 – Spring Joy Drop-Off
March 30th, 2022 – Spring Joy Reception
April 27th, 2022 – Monochrome Drop-Off
May 25th, 2022 – Monochrome Reception
June 29th, 2022 – Good Ole Summertime Drop-Off
July 27th, 2022 – Good Ole Summertime Reception
August 31st, 2022 Autumn Splendour Drop-Off
September 28th, 2022 Autum Splendour Reception
Thank you so much to Milford TV for allowing us use of their wall space! Be sure to follow them at:
We are back to a fully live hung-on-the-walls show! Hurrah!
Beautiful summertime is celebrated at the Milford TV Station!
Every two months the Blackstone Valley Art Association rotates the art show at the Milford TV Station. The drop-off for the upcoming June-August 2020 show on the theme of “Good Ole Summertime” is the week of June 7th to June 11th 2021.
Drop-Off Monday June 7th to Friday June 11th, 2021 Milford TV Station 138 South Main Street Milford, MA 01757
You can bring in up to five pieces. All members in good standing can participate in this show for free. Please make sure the art is wired for hanging. Label the back with your name, the artwork title, and the price. You don’t need to use the online form for this show – Milford TV takes care of the labels for us.
Please call Liz Harkins, the Executive Director, to arrange a specific time to drop off your work. That way she can make sure someone is there to take it in.
Liz Harkins, Executive Director C. 508-333-9207 W. 508-488-6445
Public Reception Wednesday, June 30th, 2021 6-8pm THIS IS IN PERSON! IN PERSON AT MILFORD TV! Note that there will be NO FOOD OR DRINK at this reception, and normal mask requirements are in place. We are still easing into in-person activities for now.
Also note THIS IS WEDNESDAY. Milford TV said that Wednesdays are easier for their schedule now.
Pickup will be during the drop-off period for the next show, which will be for the September-October period. It’ll probably be the middle of August. We’ll let you know when we plan that next step.
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is holding an art show at the beautiful Whitin Mill in Whitinsville, Massachusetts! The show is open to all BVAA members. If you’re not yet a BVAA member, now’s the time to join us!
The Blackstone Valley Art Association celebrates the joy of community and friendship! The summer of 2021 reminds us just how precious it is to see the smiling faces of loved ones, to share laughter, and to treasure every moment. Through our photography, painting, drawing, and other forms of art, we offer our visions of creativity. Together we inspire each other to explore new avenues of expression.
About the Show: This is an open-themed show to celebrate the re-opening of events and activities! Come treasure the creativity and expressions of our local Blackstone Valley area artists!
Thank you so much to ValleyCAST and Alternatives for providing this opportunity to the BVAA.
Entering the Show The entry fee for the Whitin Mill show, open to all styles of artwork, is $8/piece or $20 for three. You can submit up to three pieces. The theme is wide open. You can submit a portrait, landscape, still life, abstract, seascape, you name it. Your imagination is the limit. Because this show is judged, you cannot enter anything which has previously been submitted for a BVAA judged show. It’s fine to enter works which have been in non-judged BVAA shows.
All artwork must be family friendly. Any hanging artwork MUST BE properly wired for hanging. This gallery does have pedestals for sculpture-style artwork. If you are new to preparing hanging artwork for shows, read our page on How to Mat and Frame Artwork. Please also check out our Show Terms and Conditions
Submissions To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. The deadline to submit the online form is midnight on Sunday, June 13th, 2021 at midnight. Work should be dropped off during the week of TUESDAY, June 15th to Friday, June 18th, 2021. The hours are 9-12 and then 1:30-4:30pm each day. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).
We will have a sign-in sheet. Please make sure you sign your art in so we can track what is in the gallery.
The show will be hung by Cristi at ValleyCAST once all art has been dropped off. Please label the back of every piece so she knows which labels go with which objects.
Note that art that is entered into this show must stay present for the duration of the show. Art which is purchased can be retrieved after the show is complete.
ValleyCAST will take a 30% commission on each sale. Price your artwork accordingly.
Judging This show awards cash prizes based on the number of entries received. The judge for this show will be Joellen Rheinhardt.
Opening Reception Due to lingering pandemic issues, we will not be having an opening reception. However, ValleyCAST is planning to have their summer concert series in the plaza, and the gallery will be open during those concert events. So if you’d like people to hang out and talk with, be sure to attend one of the summer concert shows!
Viewing Hours This building will be open Mondays through Fridays 9am-4pm. Please call ahead to let them know your intended arrival time, as the doors are locked and they are not always right by the front door.
Pick Up Pick up for the Whitin Mill show is during the week of Monday, August 23rd to Friday, August 27th, 2021, between 9-12 and then 1:30-4:30pm. Please call ahead so they know you’re coming. Pick up for art at the Uxbridge Gallery will be Saturday August 28th from 10am to 3pm.
If you aren’t able to make that, contact us for other arrangements. Someone can probably pick up your art for you and then arrange to meet another time.
Congratulations to the ribbon-winners from the BVAA’s Third Annual Carbon Copies show! This show premiered on April 30th, 2021.
Marcia Ciak – First place Carl Larsson / Dagmar Grill
Lisa Shea – Second Place Paul Klee / Three Houses
Dennis Smith – Third Place Old Tower in the Fields / Vincent van Gogh
For full-sized versions of the images along with the works they are representing, be sure to watch the video! It’s only 2 1/2 minutes long and quite fun!
If you’re interested in purchasing prints or originals of any piece, let us know and we’ll get you in touch with the artist.
This is a “trial run” of my attempt to get a park-sanctioned plein group going. If we get past this, there would be regular park subjects painted on your schedule with possibility for promotion by the park.
