Category: BVAA Shows and Events

Our November 2026 meeting at the Uxbridge gallery guides you on the relaxing path of art journaling. Whether you like to draw, sketch, paint, or doodle, art journaling is a great way to capture ideas and release stress.

This workshop is led by CJ Kennedy, who teaches at the Worcester Art Museum. CJ will help you hands-on get a sense of how art journaling can lift your spirits and calm your chaos. You can bring your own supplies or we’ll have some to share. The suggested supply list is at the bottom of this page.

Our November 2026 monthly meeting is open to the public. It will be held on Tuesday, November 17th, 2026 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 learn about new things we’ve never done before.

We open the gallery doors right about 6:30pm. Our meetings cover BVAA organization business from about 6:30-7:00pm. Then we transition into the workshop part of the evening. Feel free to come for whichever part interests you the most, but be aware that sometimes we go into the demo earlier than 7pm if we get done with the business section early.

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! There’s no need to RSVP. Feel free to simply show up.

Supply Notes:

The BVAA will provide basic supplies. If you want to add a specific style of personality to your journal, bring in whatever supplies you’d like to make it truly your own!

From CJ:

Look around the house to see what you have. Raid your kids’ or grandkids’ materials. These work just as well as student grade or professional art supplies.

Art journal:

Any kind of journal will do. There are many brands available in different sizes. You don’t need to purchase an expensive one, unless you really want one. You can even use an inexpensive Composition Notebook just like the kind you used in grade school. The instructor will be working on a Composition Notebook purchased from the Dollar Store. I have found some great stuff at the Dollar Store, so I shop there first.

Minimal supplies:

paper or notebook, pencil, pen, eraser

Basic supplies:

Pencil

Eraser: white plastic, gum, or kneaded eraser, any eraser except the Pink eraser on the end of a pencil or Pink Pearl used in school. Pink or other colored erasers may leave a colored stain on your paper.

12-inch, plastic T-square or ruler

Sharpie marker, Black, fine point or ultra fine point to be used to outline or write, Pigma

Colored pencils

Colored markers

Photographs, magazine pictures, text pages from old books or magazines.  If you use photographs make copies and save your original.

Glue stick

PVA glue like Elmer’s

Old paint brush or old credit card to spread glue.

Roll of wax paper or parchment paper

Ephemera: old greeting cards, postcards, junk mail, ticket stubs, magazines, etc.

Fun to have but not necessary: Whatever media you like to use or have: Micron Pigma Pen, or Pitt Pens, or other type of black permanent markers in various sizes, acrylic paints, watercolors, brushes for painting, watercolor pencils, brush markers like Tombow, rubber stamps, stamp pads, crayons, fountain pen and ink, gel pens, glitter, glitter glue, ribbon, fabric, decorative paper, gift wrap, tissue paper, stickers, Washi tape, buttons, brads, charms, Baker’s twine, yarn, envelopes, double-stick tape, glue dots, paper clips, tiny clothespins, double-sided foam tape

…

Artist’s Statement

CJ began teaching at the Worcester Art Museum in 2003. She works in ink and gouache using a variety of writing tools and enjoys the challenge of artistically interpreting text. For clients, CJ has addressed invitations, scribed poems/quotes, designed tattoos, personalized Christmas ornaments, written on sand dollars, and walls. CJ is a two-time winner of the Graceful Envelope Contest and has exhibited her work in juried art shows in New England. CJ is also left-handed.

https://cjkennedyink.com/index.html

Our September 2026 meeting at the Uxbridge gallery is all about animals! Talented artist Rose Wang will present a demonstration for us on how to create an animal portrait. Many of our BVAA artists paint commissions of animal portraits. Whether you want to try animal portraits, paint wild animals, or explore any other creation of animal images, Rose will help you learn new techniques!

Rose will be doing her demonstration with oil paints. She will guide us through all stages of the process – establishing the drawing, mixing clean colors, painting realistic fur, and capturing the animal’s unique personality.

Even if you aren’t interested in creating animals, Rose’s guidance on laying out a painting, mixing colors, and approaching a project will help any artist.

Our September 2026 monthly meeting is open to the public. It will be held on Tuesday, September 15th, 2026 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 learn about new things we’ve never done before.

We open the gallery doors right about 6:30pm. Our meetings cover BVAA organization business from about 6:30-7:00pm. Then we transition into the workshop part of the evening. Feel free to come for whichever part interests you the most, but be aware that sometimes we go into the demo earlier than 7pm if we get done with the business section early.

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! There’s no need to RSVP. Feel free to simply show up.

Artist’s Statement

Rose Wang is a classical oil painter based in Massachusetts, specializing in portraiture, still life, and landscapes painted from life. Her work is inspired by the traditions of classical realism and artists such as John Singer Sargent, with a focus on light, color, and atmosphere.

Art has been her lifelong passion. Before dedicating herself fully to painting, Rose worked as a physician in China and later served for 13 years as a PCA at UMass Memorial Hospital.

After retiring due to health challenges, she returned to painting with renewed focus and determination, pursuing classical fine art with discipline and dedication.

https://rosewangfineart.com

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:
Thursday, August 27th to Thursday, October 22nd, 2026

Where:
ValleyCAST’s Heritage Gallery at the Alternatives Whitin Mill
50 Douglas Road
Whitinsville MA

There is 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. This show does NOT have to be about autumn. The show simply happens in the autumn. 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. While AI and other artists can be used to generate starting concepts for BVAA show artwork, all final work submitted must be wholly the personal creation of the individual BVAA member.

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 (that includes shows both BVAA shows at ValleyCAST as well as BVAA shows at the Uxbridge gallery). The deadline to submit the online forms, so we can make our labels, is end of day August 22nd.

Drop Off of Works
Work must be dropped off at the ValleyCAST’s Heritage Gallery at the Alternatives Whitin Mill on Friday August 21st during business hours 10:00am – 4:00pm. If you can’t make that, you have two other options:

1. Lisa Shea will be at the Sunflower Show reception at the Booklovers’ Gourmet that evening Fri Aug 21st from 5-7pm. Come out to enjoy the reception and Lisa can take your art from you there. That’s at 72 E Main St, Webster MA.
2. Lisa will be at the BVAA Uxbridge gallery that Sat Aug 22nd the regular 10am – 3pm hours. You can bring your art by the Uxbridge gallery and Lisa will bring that art all in on Monday morning to ValleyCAST.

All work which is brought in will be hung, as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly. We do not ‘pre-select’ art for the show.

Installation
August 25th to 26th, during business hours 9:00am – 4:00pm.

Judging
The show is judged for cash prizes. Those cash prizes are based on the money paid in to the show for entry fees. Each show is self-supporting in that sense. The shows don’t add money to the BVAA – the money we take in then goes to the prizes and judge. Generally we award first, second, third, and three honorable mentions. This depends on the number of overall entries.

Artist’s Reception
The artist’s reception is Thursday, September 3rd from 5-8pm. This is the final concert series evening! The concert runs from 6-8pm so aim to get there before 6 for easier parking! There is parking both alongside the mill buildings and also across the street in a larger lot. As always with events at the Whitin Mill, PLEASE park in the upper parking lot unless you have mobility issues. There are many people who really need the lower lot for serious mobility issues. If you have mobility issues and can come in with someone to drop you off by the stairs and pick you up there, that would be great. I am also happy to go up after the show, get my car, and ferry people between the plaza and the upper lot.

We will have HUGE crowds for this reception. The finale act is a Fleetwood Mac tribute band. It is well worth attending to meet visitors and discuss your art. I will have name tags available so that you can easily be identified as an artist. There will be a food truck on site. NOTE: We will NOT be providing free food or drink at this concert because it would be challenging to manage the volume of people present and to have free alcohol. No need to bring food or drink. The food truck is pretty tasty!

Pick Up
Pick up is Friday, October 23rd during business hours 9am to 4pm and Monday, October 26th from 9am to 4pm. If you aren’t able to make that timeframe, please contact Lisa for other arrangements. She can bring any non-picked-up art over to Uxbridge after Monday, for retrieval there during our regular Saturday 10-3 hours.

Address any questions via our BVAA Contact Information

Ask with any questions! We look forward to seeing your entries!

Here’s the walkthrough for the 2023 show, to give you some inspiration:

You can also enjoy our 2021 Fall Show!

Featured image: Blue Bottle Spring Water by Joop Vegter at the Worcester Art Museum

Every month the Blackstone Valley Art Association hosts a fun art challenge which is free and open to the public! The aim of this project is to encourage you to think creatively about your surroundings. Be mindful and observant – you never know what you might discover!

The theme for August 2026 is “Blue”. Is this the color blue? Feeling blue? Listening to the blues? You can interpret this prompt in any way you desire.

We will be creating an online YouTube slideshow out of the images you send to us. Every person can send up to five images. They can be cell phone photos, sketches, drawings, paintings, SLR camera photos, sculptures, digital art, you name it. The only things we want to avoid are non-family-friendly images and AI. These should be your own creations!

For each of your five images, please let us know the artist name to credit. It’s fine to use a pen name / pseudonym. You can send a title if you want. If it’s not a photo, you can let us know how you created it (watercolor, pencil sketch etc.) if you want. You don’t need to, though. It’s fine just to send the images.

This show has a deadline of Friday, August 31st, 2026!

Email up to 5 photos to slideshow@bvaa.org to participate. All are welcome! Free!

We will post the link to the YouTube video once it is created. It takes us a few weeks to create the video, so please be patient!

Here’s the field trip which goes with this project:

Summertime is a busy time for many of our artists, so we keep our summer workshops light and fun.

The workshop will involve Carol Frieswick’s book and card set “The Artist’s Muse – Unlock the Door to Your Creativity”. There are bunches of cards with all sorts of challenges and prompts to get you thinking out of the box with your art. We’ll have watercolors, paper, and brushes on hand. We’ll have acrylic paint, cyanotype paper, and more! If you have a preferred medium feel free to bring along your own paints, pencils, or camera. We will tackle the creative challenges with whatever we like to work with. Or, heck, if you normally work in one media, try changing over to another to see how it goes!

If you’d like to bring in a few of your works in progress, we’re happy to offer friendly ideas and suggestions on them!

Our summer meetings are casual and drop-in. Come and leave whenever you want, and work on whatever projects you’d like. 

Our August 2026 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, August 18th from 6:30-8:30pm.

Location:
BVAA 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. There is a bathroom.

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.

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 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.

Here are the sunflower images which will be part of our 2026 Sunflower Art Show at the Booklovers’ Gourmet in Webster, Massachusetts! These are all available for sale. They will be on display for the month of August 2026. Ask with any questions!

Here’s the full details about our 2026 Sunflower Art Show!

Here are the static images of the artwork from the 2026 Carbon Copies / Fakes and Forgeries Art Show. Please vote for your 1st 2nd and 3rd favorite pieces! The winners are announced on Fri July 31st 2026. You can vote in the comments, by email to info@bvaa.org, or by visiting the Uxbridge gallery in person!

“#1 RAINY DAY VIOLETS”
ANN WAGSTAFF
WATERCOLOR
NFS

Contact us if you’d like to have a print / notecard version of Ann’s painting. The original painting was done by BVAA member Sue Dion and was copied with permission.

“#2 S’MORES GOTHIC”
CAROLE PLANTE
ACRYLIC
NFS

“#3 FLOWERS IN A VASE 1866”
LAURA CENEDELLA
ACRYLIC
$1200

“#4 ARISTID(A) BRUANT”
KELLY O’BRIEN
ACRYLIC
$50

“#5 WHEAT FIELDS AND CYPRESSES”
JAYNE SARKISIAN
ACRYLIC
$200

“#6 GUSTAV KLIMT PORTRAIT OF FRAULEIN LEISER”
JUDY MURPHY
WATERCOLOR
$250

“#7 GUSTAV KLIMT LADY IN GOLD”
JUDY MURPHY
WATERCOLOR
$250

“#9 LETS CHANGE THE VISUALS”
DEB BOTTOMLEY
WATERCOLOR
$425

“#10 CAT 1”
LISA SHEA
ACRYLIC
$50

“#11 CAT 2”
LISA SHEA
ACRYLIC
$50

“#12 CAT 3”
LISA SHEA
ACRYLIC
$50

“#13 THE GOLDFINCH”
MERILYN ROCKS
ACRYLIC
$150

Merilyn’s notes: “The Goldfinch” was painted in oil in 1654 by Carel Fabritius, a 32 year old man who lost his life that same year during an explosion in a nearby factory. “The Goldfinch” survived, however. No one knows why he chose to paint it on a 9″ x 13.2″ thick piece of old wood but it can still be seen today in the Mauritshuis in the Hague, the Netherlands. The little bird is tethered to his perch by rings and chain which lend a sadness to his story.

“#14 ON THE WAY TO LANDHOLM FARM”
NANCY RUSSELL
WATERCOLOR
$150

Nancy’s notes: Started with Ryder House by Edward Hopper (1933) that hangs in the Smithsonian. For the purposes of the “Copies Show” I adapted the style to a photograph taken last year on the road near Laudholm Farm Wells, Maine.

“#15 DREAMING OF ROTHKO”
LYNNE GALLUZZO
ACRYLIC
NFS

Please vote on your choices for 1st, 2nd, and 3rd place. The winners will be announced on Friday July 31st 2026 at the show reception!

July is extremely busy for the Blackstone Valley Art Association! We just finished our huge Hot Night in the City festival appearance at the Worcester Center for Crafts. THANK YOU to all the artists who helped with that! And now this is the next two weeks!

Print this for your fridge! Save it on your phone!

Ask with any questions – all details should be here on the BVAA.org website!

Summertime is a busy time for many of our artists, so we keep our summer workshops light and fun.

The workshop will involve Carol Frieswick’s book and card set “The Artist’s Muse – Unlock the Door to Your Creativity”. There are bunches of cards with all sorts of challenges and prompts to get you thinking out of the box with your art. We’ll have watercolors, paper, and brushes on hand. We’ll have acrylic paint, cyanotype paper, and more! If you have a preferred medium feel free to bring along your own paints, pencils, or camera. We will tackle the creative challenges with whatever we like to work with. Or, heck, if you normally work in one media, try changing over to another to see how it goes!

If you’d like to bring in a few of your works in progress, we’re happy to offer friendly ideas and suggestions on them!

Our summer meetings are casual and drop-in. Come and leave whenever you want, and work on whatever projects you’d like. 

Our July 2026 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 21st from 6:30-8:30pm.

Location:
BVAA 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. There is a bathroom.

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.

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 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.