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Ashton Mills Plein Air / Photography – Sat Aug 4 – Celebrating the Blackstone

ASHTON MILLS EXCURSION SAT 8/4/2018 CANCELLING DUE TO RAIN! WILL RESCHEDULE!

You can of course go anyway – just wear a raincoat! :)During its heydey, the Blackstone River was the powerhouse behind the many mills which sprung up all along its length. Town after town boomed due to the jobs and products created at these mills. Many of these large brick structures represented prosperity for the entire town. The mill owners would often build smaller brick houses for their workers.

The Ashton Mill complex is a great representative of what these communities were like. The area was put onto the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1984.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history! What would it have been like living in the era of the mill? Where all your family and friends worked in the same place and could hang out together side by side on weekends?

ASHTON MILLS EXCURSION SAT 8/4/2018 CANCELLING DUE TO RAIN! WILL RESCHEDULE!

You can of course go anyway – just wear a raincoat! 🙂
Location and Time
The location is now apartments. The address to get there is:
Ashton Mills
51 Front St
Cumberland, RI 02864

We’ll start at 10am – this is a CASUAL event. Carol Frieswick will be on hand at 10am to greet people and answer any questions about the BVAA. Feel free to come whenever you wish and to stay for however long you’re entertained. Bring paints, cameras, notebooks – whatever strikes your fancy!

Across the street is the The Captain Wilbur Kelly House Museum which has great exhibits about the mills.

Note that we have permission to use the bathroom :).

There will be a kite and paper airplane making workshop there as well.

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

BVAA Video Promotion Opportunities

We live in a Video world nowadays and lots of people hang out on YouTube learning how to watercolor paint, do macro photography, and all sorts of other topics. It makes sense to have our art in there so it’s found, appreciated, and hopefully purchased :).

Our BVAA YouTube channel is here –

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfta8AAPBA31YFrKmRqWxqg/

It has that long, complicated URL because we don’t have 100 subscribers yet. Please subscribe to us and ask all your friends/family to subscribe. The sooner we get to 100, the more quickly we can get a better URL!

If you have a YouTube channel for your artwork, please let us know so we can promote you.

If you do NOT have a YouTube account, we’re happy to make and promote videos for you. Take a look at our channel to see three recent examples.

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfta8AAPBA31YFrKmRqWxqg/

One video is a “full length” (about 10 minutes) of Laura Cenedella painting a lighthouse on a Gelli plate to make a monotype of it. While Laura was amazingly fast and finished it in the 10 minutes, you don’t need to do a whole painting for this type of video. You can show a section of a process like “how to paint a tree in watercolor” or so on. 

One video is a “short length” (about 2 minutes) of Betty Havens showing some details of her pet portrait. You could do something like that – do short videos to show stages of a process.

One is a “slideshow” (about 3 minutes) video of photography for Bob See. This is a way to showcase finished art in a way that is seen by the YouTube audience. It’s a way to get the word out there.

For the real-life-recordings, it’s easy enough for me to bring my camera and tripod out to the gallery on Saturdays to record any artists who can come to do art for a little while. You can just stop in for 15 minutes. Let me know you’re coming so I remember to bring the items with me. I advise not trying for right at 10am as I can barely get my eyeballs open in time sometimes :). It’s wiser to start for 10:30am or later.

If you’d like a slideshow video, that’s even easier. Just navigate on this site to look at your member gallery, and talk with me to make sure it’s got the images you want to feature in it. Once we get that set up, I can just plunk those images into a video with music and we’re all set.

Video is definitely the way of the world now. Having video on YouTube gets your art in front of millions upon millions of people. It’s quick, easy, free, and a great marketing tool.

Ask with any questions!

Sincerely,

Lisa Shea & the team at the BVAA

Bob See Photography

Bob See explores a variety of photography with both a digital Canon EOS 7D Mark II digital camera and a film camera. This collection of images includes photos from Ireland, Machias Seal Island in Maine, Tucson Arizona, Old Sturbridge Village, the Cape Cod Canal, Myrtle Beach SC, and more.

Ask for information about a particular image and in getting it in print or notecard form.

Please follow him at https://www.facebook.com/BobSeePhotography/

Free Fun Friday – Friday August 3rd 2018

Free Fun Friday on Friday August 3rd, 2018 includes Worcester! Hurrah!

Here are the options for a field trip:

Franklin Park Zoo• Boston
Cape Cod Museum of Art• Dennis
The Children’s Museum of Greater Fall River• Fall River
Davis Museum at Wellesley College• Wellesley
Naumkeag, The Trustees• Stockbridge
Worcester Historical Museum• Worcester
Osterville Historical Museum• Osterville
Historic Deerfield• Deerfield
Eric Carle Museum of Picture Book Art• Amherst
Paragon Carousel• Hull

Here’s where to find out all the details!

https://highlandstreet.org/programs/free-fun-fridays

Let us know where you’d like to go – Worcester is nice and close!

Open Paint – Sat July 28 2018


If you’re interested in painting, drawing, and illustrating, we have the perfect Saturday lined up! It’ll be a great time with laughter, conversation, creativity, and the space to stretch out! It’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

If the weather is nice out, we’ll also do an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready. We just need some sunshine!

Note there IS NO YOGA IN THE GALLERY THIS WEEK. So the gallery will close at 3pm.

When:
Saturday, July 28th, 2018
10am – 3pm

Where:
BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

This is an open paint session where all styles of art are warmly welcome. Whether you’re 12 or 102, whether you’re a new beginner or a seasoned artist, we would love to have you. It’s completely free to participate in the open paint. You can bring your own paints or we’ll have watercolors to share.

There is a TON of free parking immediately next to this building. It is fully and easily handicapped accessible.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

Feel free to show up for some or all of the day to paint. Some come for just the morning, some for the afternoon, and some for the entire time. There are several options on the same block to grab lunch if you’d like. We also bring in a pizza and those who want slices chip in a few dollars.

Ask with any questions – we’d love to have you join us!

Carol Arnold Oil Painting Class – August 2018

NOTE: This class will focus on still life. Bring what you’d like to paint and your light and Carol will see you there!

Oil paint has been the medium of choice for a wealth of famous painters. Leonardo da Vinci. Claude Monet. Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paul Cezanne. There is just something spectacular about the beauty of oil paint which captures the eye and the imagination.

Whether you’re a raw beginner or an experienced painter, this oil painting class will take you to the next level. It’s full of personal hands-on advice and a warm, welcoming atmosphere!

Talented painter Carol Arnold teaches a monthly oil painting class at the BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Gallery! Carol is a member of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik’s Putney Painters! All levels of painters are welcomed with open arms. The focus will be on drawing, edges, values and color. These are areas which a beginner can practice and an advanced student can hone to perfection.

Carol makes these classes fun and inspiring, while supporting you to the next level of your growth!

This monthly class meets on the first Thursday of every month from 6-9 pm.

Cost:
The maximum class size will be 10 students, to ensure plenty of hands-on time for each one.
If there are only 1 or 2 students registered for a class, the class will be cancelled.
If there are 3 or 4 students, each student pays $20/hr for the class = $60 total.
If there are 5-10 students, each student pays $15/hr for the class = $45 total.

Invite your friends! Share the news! The more students which attend, the less you pay and the more fun it is to learn from each other.

When:
Thursday, August 2, 2018
6pm – 9pm

Where:
BVAA Alternatives 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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

This class is open to the public. It is open to all ages and to all levels of painting ability.

Please make sure you register beforehand so we know how many to expect. Carol will send you a supply list to get you started.

To register, please make sure you email: carol@carolarnoldfineart.com

To learn more about Carol Arnold and to view her painting gallery:

https://carolarnoldfineart.com/

Follow Carol on Facebook!

Carol Arnold Fine Art on Facebook

Forgotten Art in the BVAA Uxbridge Gallery – July 2018

The following items of artwork have been left behind at the Blackstone Valley Art Association Uxbridge gallery from previous shows. We have made numerous attempts to contact these artists to have them pick up their artwork. If you recognize any artwork or name from this list, please let us know!

If we cannot have someone pick up their artwork by July 31, 2018, we will be planning on raffling off this artwork with proceeds to support the Alternatives community. This will be done online on our Facebook page.

Christina Brown – black and white architecture
unknown
These were part of the 2016 Tapestry Show

Mary Melzar – Fun Paintings
unknown
These were part of the 2016 Tapestry Show

Sam Tomasiello – Painting
unknown

P. Bilodeau – Painting
unknown

Sandy Bjorkman – Trio of Paintings
Tapestry 2017 – cannot find any contact info

Sandy B – Irish Owl Painting
unknown

Unknown – No Marks at All

Please let us know if you recognize any of these.

These ones are all set:

Anne Clay – large Photomontage
Elaine S. has taken these to give to Anne
These were part of the 2016 Tapestry Show

Sarah Radford – photography
picked up

Rudd Redding – monochrome architectural photography
will hopefully pick up on Saturday 8/3

Linda Farrington – bird photography
Linda is graciously donating her art to the Alternatives Art Auction!
These were part of the 2016 Tapestry Show

July 2018 Monthly Meeting – Boosting Creativity II

Our July 2018 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 17th from 6:30-9pm at the Uxbridge Community Gallery, 5 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA.

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.

The topic of this hands-on workshop is:

Topic: Boosting Creativity II
Moderator: Lisa Shea

Our meetings cover BVAA organization business from 6:30-7:00pm and then go into the workshop part of the evening.

This workshop will be a fun adventure. We’ll have a number of different items on hand for you to work with. You can play with whatever one you want. You could also bring paints / etc. to create in your own way.

We will have:

Scratchboard
These are the boards which are a solid color, often black, and then you scratch away that top surface with an Xacto blade. This reveals the color or colors beneath. The owl in the banner is an example of this style. Please bring an Xacto blade if you have one.

Calligraphy
We will have a collection of calligraphy pens – both the cartridge style and the dip-in-ink style – for you to explore with. We have four different books on calligraphy and several of us are familiar with calligraphy. We’ll show you how it’s done!

Illuminated Letters
These are the lovely initial-caps letters which are often at the start of a calligraphy manuscript. They also can be standalone works of art. We’ll have predone letters you can trace or you can be inspired by those to draw your own styles. You can then watercolor in the colors.

Japanese / Chinese calligraphy
I have a Japanese / Chinese calligraphy kit with two brushes. I can show you how it works and then people can take turns creating lovely letters.

String Art
String art is a ton of fun! You’ve probably seen the photos we’ve been posting from our workshops. If you’ve missed them, stop on by tonight to give it a try!

Monoprints
Monoprints are a mindful, meditative way of creating one-of-a-kind works of art. You do your “painting” – usually a abstract – on a Gelli plate with is a flat surface. Then you press a piece of paper onto it to create that painting. It lifts off much of the ink but not all. Then you can do a second work on the Gelli plate based on that left behind paint.

All are welcome – this 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.