Category: BVAA Shows and Events

Come join us at the Willard House & Clock Museum in Grafton! All are welcome as we learn more about creating art outdoors! You can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. Talented artist Scott Nelson will be providing a demonstration of sketching the gorgeous historic structures. You can watch him or do your own art! FREE!

WHEN:
Friday, October 17th, 2-4pm

WHERE:
Willard House & Clock Museum
11 Willard Street
North Grafton, MA

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.

You’re also welcome to simply pop in and watch for a while!

This art 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!

Here’s more info about the Willard House & Clock Museum –

https://willardhouse.org

Our featured artist is the talented Scott Nelson – learn more about him here including a video about sketching a building –

Here you can see how Scott turns a sketch into a watercolor painting –

Scott teaches classes at the Two Bridges Art Academy –

https://www.twobridgesartacademy.com

Ask with any questions!

This event is supported by a grant from the Grafton Cultural Council, which is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Come join us at the Waters Farm in Sutton for their Farm Day celebration on Sunday October 19th, 2025. Farm Day runs from 10am to 4pm. We will be there sketching and taking photos from noon to 2pm! RAIN OR SHINE! All are welcome as we practice sketching and photography amongst the tractors, animals, farm architecture, and more! You can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. Talented artist Brandi Van Roo will give us an overview of the basics of sketching, and then we’ll be off!

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.

You’re also welcome to simply pop in and watch for a while!

Note that there is a LOT to sketch without going in to the Farm Day activities. The overlook of Manchaug Lake is gorgeous, and all of the farm buildings are visible from the road. If you do want to go in to see the animals and tractors up close, Waters Farm charges $15 per adult and $10 for seniors to participate. We will hold all of our training session outside the for-pay area.

If you choose to go in, they’ll have blacksmith demos, shingling demos, tractor pulls, animals, and more to work with.

This art 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!

Here’s more info about the Waters Farm Farm Day –

https://watersfarm.org/event/farm-days-day-2-sunday-2

Our featured artist is the talented Brandi Van Roo – learn more about her here including a video all about getting started in sketching –

Basics of Quick-Sketching at River Bend Farm with Brandi van Roo

Ask with any questions!

This event is supported by a grant from the Sutton Cultural Council, which is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Want to learn more about taking lovely photos? Join us on Friday October 24th 2025 from 1-3pm for our photography workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill! All levels of photographers warmly encouraged to participate. This event is open to the public.

NOTE THE UPDATED TIME! 1-3pm! We have a BVAA reception in Uxbridge at 5pm so I need to make it back in time to get ready for that.

The cost of the photography workshop is $5 each.

Note that because we are holding this month’s workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, YOU MUST SEPARATELY PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE TO TOWER HILL. That entrance fee is $20. You can find discount or free tickets at many local libraries. Check with your libraries to find an inexpensive way to get into the gardens. If you are a individual served by Open Sky, talk with Open Sky about being sponsored for this event. You pay that entry fee directly to Tower Hill when you arrive.

We will meet at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, past the entry gates, by the turtle fountain at 1pm. Photographer Lisa Shea will provide a brief introductory discussion of ideas for taking photos in an outdoor setting. Then we will explore the gardens from 1-3pm. You can roam on your own, stay with the group, and ask questions whenever you wish. Feel free to come early or stay late!

Location:
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill
11 French Drive
Boylston, MA
https://nebg.org/

Date and Time:
Friday October 24th, 2025
1-3pm

Please be sure to RSVP to join the group. Let Lisa know what type of cellphone or camera you plan on bringing. Lisa can then send you a PDF of ideas to get you started. If you don’t have access to any cellphone or camera, we have a few we would be able to lend for the afternoon.

Register for Photo Workshop

Let us know if you have any questions! And please make sure you research your New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill tickets beforehand. That way you can get discount tickets from your local library or from Open Sky (if applicable) to save on your entrance fee.

Whether you participate in the field trip or not, please consider then sending in a few of your Beautiful Skies photos to participate in the free ValleyCAST virtual art show. This show has a deadline of Sunday, October 26th, 2025!

ValleyCAST Art Show

Supported by the BVAA, ValleyCAST, and Open Sky.

Come join us at the Triad Bridge in Millville, Massachusetts on Thursday, October 16th 2025 from 10am to noon! RAIN OR SHINE! All are welcome as we set up on site and paint a painting of the Millville triad bridge area! You can take photos, sketch, watercolor paint, draw, or whatever you’d like. You could watch talented artist Laura Cenedella as she paints plein air on site, showcasing the beauty of this location.

There is a large free parking lot at the corner of Central Street and Hope Street, Millville to get started. 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.

You’re also 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!

Our featured artist is the talented Laura Cenedella:

https://artistlauracenedella.godaddysites.com

Here’s some information about the Millville rail trail, which is how you get to this site – the Triad Bridge is item #3 –

Click to access Millville-Walking-Tour2020.pdf

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 in April, giving ideas how to prepare for plein air painting. Take a look!

Preparing for Plein Air with Dianne Panarelli Miller – April 2025

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.

Plein Air Painting – Preparing for your First Outing

You can celebrate this location in photography, in sketches, in watercolors, acrylics, oils, pastels – whatever appeals to you.

Ask with any questions!

This event is supported by a grant from the Millville Cultural Council, which is part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

We have a wonderful workshop for our October 2025 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 BVAA Uxbridge Art Gallery. 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 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. If we get a big turnout we may relocate to a larger location.

RSVP for Figure Drawing Class

Location:
BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge, MA 01569

When:
Tuesday October 21st 2025
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 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!

George Hancin’s website is here:

George Hancin Website

George Hancin teaches art classes at the Worcester Art Museum:

Adult fall classes

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

Congratulations to the winners of our 2025 “Green” Art Show! This show had the theme of “Green” – an artist could interpret this in any way they wished! The judge for this show was George Hancin.

First Place / Verne Thayer “Mystery Walk” oil painting

Second Place / Merilyn Rocks “Misty Irish Morn” oil painting

Third Place / Michele St. Pierre “Tropical Vibes” Acrylic

Honorable Mention / Mike Zeis “You Can Fight City Hall” photography

Honorable Mention / Michael Backunas “”Medieval Hideaway Sintra Portugal” photography

Honorable Mention / Carol Frieswick “Crystal Brook Farm” pastel

Honorable Mention / Ellen Gould “Tuscany” oil

Thank you to everyone who participated in our “Green” art show!

Here are the full show details:

Green Art Show 2025

We are celebrating our Eighth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest in historic downtown Uxbridge! Talented sketcher Yetti Frenkel will be our guide. We will walk short distances along Uxbridge’s main street and use the beautiful architecture to develop our 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 either with the online form on this site or by emailing info@bvaa.org 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 Yetti, you’ll then have the skills you need to participate in our Eighth Annual Uxbridge SketchFest, which runs from September 1st through November 30, 2025!

Our Sketching workshop will be held on Sunday, September 21st from 1-3pm. If it rains, we’ll hold the workshop in the BVAA Uxbridge Community gallery space. We will definitely post here and on social media, and email all RSVPed people, if we have rain concerns.

Initial Meeting Location:
BVAA Uxbridge Community Art Gallery
5 South Main Street
Uxbridge MA

The space is fully handicapped / disability accessible with no stairs. It has 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!

For more about the 2025 SketchFest event:

8th Annual Uxbridge SketchFest – Fall 2025

.

Yetti Frenkel teaches classes at the Worcester Art Museum!

Meet our faculty

You can learn more about Yetti’s art here –

https://yetti.com

This event is supported in part by grants from the Uxbridge Cultural Council, part of the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

We have a great workshop for our September 2025 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 BVAA Uxbridge Art Gallery. It is a ‘getting started’ tutorial so that you can then participate in our Uxbridge SketchFest community project over the coming weeks.

In this demo, Diane will offer a show-and-tell of her urban sketching set up and will share techniques for overcoming the anxiety of sketching in public, staying loose on the page, and simplifying reality into an interesting composition. She will guide participants through several exercises that she regularly uses as part of her urban sketching and plein air painting practices. Bring your sketchbooks and try the techniques for yourself!

If you don’t have materials, we will have sketchbooks, pens, pencils, and watercolors for you to practice with.

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!

You can learn about our 2025 Uxbridge SketchFest community project here –

8th Annual Uxbridge SketchFest – Fall 2025

Dianne Mulligan teaches art with the Two Bridges Art Academy. Learn more about Dianne’s art here –

https://www.dvmulligan.com/art

Here’s a link to the Two Bridges Art Academy –

https://www.twobridgesartacademy.com

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

Want to learn more about taking lovely photos? Join us on Friday September 26th 2025 from 2-4pm for our photography workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill! All levels of photographers warmly encouraged to participate. This event is open to the public.

The cost of the photography workshop is $5 each.

Note that because we are holding this month’s workshop at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, YOU MUST SEPARATELY PAY AN ENTRANCE FEE TO TOWER HILL. That entrance fee is $20. You can find discount or free tickets at many local libraries. Check with your libraries to find an inexpensive way to get into the gardens. If you are a individual served by Open Sky, talk with Open Sky about being sponsored for this event. You pay that entry fee directly to Tower Hill when you arrive.

We will meet at the New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill, past the entry gates, by the turtle fountain at 2pm. Photographer Lisa Shea will provide a brief introductory discussion of ideas for taking photos in an outdoor setting. Then we will explore the gardens from 2-4pm. You can roam on your own, stay with the group, and ask questions whenever you wish. Feel free to come early or stay late!

Location:
New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill
11 French Drive
Boylston, MA
https://nebg.org/

Date and Time:
Friday September 26th, 2025
2-4pm

Please be sure to RSVP to join the group. Let Lisa know what type of cellphone or camera you plan on bringing. Lisa can then send you a PDF of ideas to get you started. If you don’t have access to any cellphone or camera, we have a few we would be able to lend for the afternoon.

Register for Photo Workshop

Let us know if you have any questions! And please make sure you research your New England Botanic Garden at Tower Hill tickets beforehand. That way you can get discount tickets from your local library or from Open Sky (if applicable) to save on your entrance fee.

Whether you participate in the field trip or not, please consider then sending in a few of your Beautiful Skies photos to participate in the free ValleyCAST virtual art show. This show has a deadline of Sunday, September 28th, 2025!

ValleyCAST Art Show

Supported by the BVAA, ValleyCAST, and Open Sky.

Congratulations to the winners of the 2025 Fall Art Show, held at the ValleyCAST Spaulding R. Aldrich Heritage Gallery at the Whitin Mill in Whitinsville, Massachusetts! Cristi Collari was the judge for this show.

Congratulations to Lynne Randolph for winning first place in our BVAA Fall Art Show at ValleyCAST! This beautiful pastel painting is “Family Stroll” $325.

Congratulations to Karin Cloutier for winning second place with “Silence to Bloom” acrylic painting $215.

Congratulations to Joanne Zeis for winning third place with her photo “Long Way Down” $175.

Congratulations to Carole Plante for winning an honorable mention in our BVAA Fall Art Show! This is stained glass “Kiss Me” – not for sale (sigh Carole you are so cruel!!).

Congratulations to Michael Backunas for winning an honorable mention in the BVAA Fall Art Show! This is “Abandoned Whaling Ship West Iceland” photography $300.

Congratulations to Bonnie Frederico who got an honorable mention for “Sunflowers and Peaches” oil painting $475.

Here’s the information on this 2025 Fall Art Show!

2025 Fall Show by the Blackstone Valley Art Association