Our Seventh Annual BVAA Sunflower Show is the lucky way to enjoy golden beauty! Our Sunflower art show is held at the amazing local bookstore / gift shop / cafe Booklovers’ Gourmet.
Where? The sunflower art show is held at the: Booklovers’ Gourmet 72 E Main Street Webster, MA 01570
About the Show If there ever was a flower which symbolized glorious summertime, the sunflower is the one. Did you know that nearly all of the 70 species of sunflowers are native to North America? They can grow to be up to six feet tall and they even tilt as the sun moves so they always face it!
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is celebrating this sun-shaped delight with a sunflower show throughout the month of August at the Booklovers’ Gourmet in Webster. Come on out to appreciate the artistic visions and explore the shop’s offerings!
Submissions The submission deadline for the sunflower show is Wednesday, July 26th, 2023. We have limited wall space here for 18 items sized 16×20 so what we’ll do is have each member submit two JPGs of artwork via email to info@bvaa.org they’d like to include. If we get too many for the wall space we’ll do a Facebook vote. All submissions will be in the virtual version of the show.
This show is open to all BVAA members and is FREE to participate in. This is not a judged show – it is primarily a visibility and sales opportunity. Any sales will include a 30% commission taken by the shop. The BVAA takes no commission on this show. Full BVAA terms: BVAA Show Terms and Conditions
Drop-Off The drop-off for the Sunflower Show is Friday, July 28th and Saturday July 29th between 10am-5pm. If you can’t make either date, contact Lisa Shea and she’ll arrange something. The Booklovers’ Gourmet shop will take care of hanging the items.
Public Reception Reception is Thursday August 17th from 4-6pm. Invite family and friends! Share the news!
Pick-Up Pick-up for the show is Friday, September 1st and Saturday, September 2nd from 10am to 5pm.
Theme This show is all about sunflowers! Anything related to sunflowers is fair game. Photography, paintings, drawings, sculptures, mosaics, you name it!
Here’s a virtual walkthrough of our 2023 Sunflower Art Show –
Here’s a look at previous shows, to give you some ideas!
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. 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!
Our July 2023 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 18th 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 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.
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. 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!
Our June 2023 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 20th 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 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.
In this amazing workshop with Sue Dion, artists of all styles can learn more about color hue and chroma. This knowledge elevates watercolors, acrylics, oil paintings, colored pencils, pastels, and more. Understanding how your personal set of colors work and how to mix / blend them can be critical to creating a cohesive final painting. In addition, learning how to ‘dull’ your colors with their complements can be the key to creating rich depth in your images.
To begin with, you’ll want to trace / draw two templates onto whatever type of paper or canvas you use for your medium.
First, trace or draw this color wheel. It doesn’t need to be “exact”. It just needs to have these general wedge areas.
Next, draw out these trios of squares on your chosen type of paper / canvas. Again, the squares don’t need to be any specific size or shape. It’s just about making places to put your colors together.
You’ll be guided through how to use these templates in the video workshop.
Here’s the color wheel Sue shows in the video:
Here is the hour-long workshop, supported in part by the Uxbridge Cultural Council.
For Primary Yellow, Sue suggests using something close to: cadmium yellow light / hansa yellow / lemon yellow
Here are some of the items that Sue recommends during her workshop:
It’s our fifth annual Carbon Copies show! The Blackstone Valley Art Association is sponsoring a delightfully fun art show all about fakes, forgeries, and parodies!
Carbon Copies – Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery
This Carbon Copies show is for all BVAA members to participate in. The idea is to find a famous work of art and then duplicate it! You can duplicate it exactly or you can add your own fun twist to it. You can paint a version of a Roger Fenton photo. You can stage a photo which resembles a Vermeer painting. Maybe you paint Mona Lisa as a cat.
The sky’s the limit!
The submitted artwork doesn’t have to be a painting. You can use digital art to poke fun at a famous photo. You can stage a model to resemble a historical sculpture. You can arrange a photo scene of Legos to mimic a Japanese woodblock. It’s up to you.
Note that the source art needs to be in the public domain. In general that means it needs to have been created before 1927. Art which is under copyright, after 1927, has its rights controlled by that artist. You would need to ask that artist for permission to use their work in any exhibit.
When: July 8th to August 5th, 2023
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.
Each BVAA member may exhibit up to three artworks.
Entering the Show The entry fee for the Carbon Copies show, open to all styles of artwork, is $8/piece or $20 for three. You can submit up to three pieces.
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 art must be family friendly and properly wired for hanging. Our hanging system does not work with saw-tooth or triangle hangers. If you are new to preparing art for shows, read our page on How to Mat and Frame a Photo. Please also check out our Show Terms and Conditions. This includes all details including the 25% commission for any sales of exhibit artwork in the gallery. You may also choose to have your artwork listed as not for sale.
All art items which are entered are hung. There is no “pre-selection” process where some are accepted and others are rejected. If you submit artwork, and it is family-friendly and wired properly, it will be part of our show.
Submissions To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. The deadline to submit is midnight on Saturday, July 15th, 2023. To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. Work must be dropped off on either Saturday, July 8th, 2023 or Saturday, July 15th, 2023 between 10am and 3pm. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly). If you have one, please bring along a printout of each of your source artwork items, so we can hang those alongside your artwork. That way visitors can see what you were working with. If you don’t have printouts, let us know the artist & work title and we’ll track down and print those out for you.
IN ADDITION!!
We would love to feature previously seen fakes and forgeries to be a part of this show! It will let us demonstrate the full breadth of the fun of this process. Any previously seen art items are FREE to participate. They just won’t be judged for cash prizes. Please bring in as many of the previous items as you’d like! The more the merrier!
Judging Judge to be announced
Opening Reception The opening reception is at the Uxbridge gallery on Friday, July 21st, 2023 from 5-7pm. Please bring a snack or drink to share! All are warmly encouraged to attend!
If you missed this show, here is the video walkthrough!
Full 2023 BVAA Uxbridge Gallery Art Show Schedule – https://bvaa.org/2023/02/02/bvaa-uxbridge-show-schedule-for-2023/
To see what the Carbon Copies vibe is about, check out these videos from our previous shows!
Ask with any questions! We look forward to seeing your entries!
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!
We have a private room reserved for our group. This year we will have round tables, which should help with mingling and conversation. Also, we will be assigned 2-3 experienced servers so the process moves smoothly.
Each person can order whatever they want and will get their own bill, so it is wholly up to you what you want to eat or drink from that menu. If you want to save money, it’s fine to come, have some soda, and just hang out with us. There’s no up-front payments.
Please let us know if you are thinking about coming, so we have a rough headcount for the restaurant. You’re welcome to bring someone with you.
We would love to see you on May 16th.
There will not be any event in the Uxbridge gallery on Tue May 16th. We will only be at the Grill 122.
Ask if you have any questions, and have a great weekend!
Monochrome beauty is being celebrated for our May-June 2023 Show! Monochrome doesn’t have to be black and white. It can be an image done in shades of pink. In lush green. The featured color you choose is up to you!
This date is also the take-down for the existing “Spring Joy” show. If you’re not able to make it for this pickup date, please wait until after the reception to stop by and retrieve your art. That way the show is up for its full publicized period. I.e. don’t swing in before April 27th.
Note that we want ALL FORMS OF ART!! Sketches can be monochrome. Paintings can be monochrome! And of course photography can be monochrome. Just focus on one hue! This is a monochrome painting by Whistler.
All BVAA members are encouraged to participate!
Drop-Off (and previous show pick-up) Thursday, April 27th, 2023 6-8pm The public is warmly welcome and encouraged to attend the drop-off, to chat with the artists. Many artists hang out to chat during this period. Artists – please bring food or drink to share!
Show Details for the Artists The Milford TV Station employees create the labels and perform the hanging for us. There is no need to use the BVAA online submission form to indicate what you’re bringing. Simply be sure to label the back of each piece with its title, your name, contact info, and the price. This show is for BVAA members only and is free to participate in.
The Milford TV station does not take any commission on sales. Neither does the BVAA. This is an ideal sales venue, and we do see sales regularly at this venue.
Most artists bring in three to four items but if you have more which match the current theme that’s great! The items can be any size or shape – Milford has a great hanging system which can accommodate pretty much anything.
For our 2023 BVAA Art & Poetry Show pairing, one pairing was with poet Sue Lovejoy and artist Frank Robertson.
Here are the works they created!
Frank Robertson provided this artwork to Sue Lovejoy.
In response, Sue Lovejoy wrote the following poem:
Rocky Landing (response)
By Susan B. Lovejoy
Sitting across from you, my dearest friend on earth, we talk about the years we’ve shared and what we’ve seen. Your laughter makes me smile as sunshine lights your face. It always feels like we’ve gone back to being teens.
Our pond has dried up; exposed rocks now line the shore. Time slipped by unnoticed, and we still yearn for more.
Our lives felt mighty when the water touched the grass. Landing boats was simple when we had strength and mass.
The sun is setting low, and dark’ning skies give birth to newborn shadows that protect our weary eyes. But oars can’t hold back time, and we’re at steady pace to reach the rocky landing of our last goodbye.
…
The second half of this pairing involved Sue Lovejoy giving Frank Robertson a poem as a starting point. Sue Lovejoy provided this poem:
The Baby (source)
By Susan B. Lovejoy
A tiny child all full of smiles escaped one early morn. His sagging diaper was the only nightwear he had worn. Such early dawn, the birds were just awakening from rest. The human child at play disturbed the silence in their nests.
His large blue eyes looked everywhere, as early fog grew dim. A brand new world to such young eyes: the daybreak, life, and him. A high-pitched giggle rose above the sleepy, yawning birds. A nearby mother sparrow sang to him in lilting words.
An earthworm tunneled, exiting the earth by his small feet. His chubby fingers reached and missed the object he would eat. Excitedly he ran about, the wind racing his toes. He whirled and danced beneath the sun, which gently warmed his nose.
So full of joy, he had no bounds. His diaper fell to earth. His tribal dance was primitive, a legacy from birth. Alas, the celebration was cut short to say the least. Chastised, he was returned inside without his primal feast.
…
In response, Frank created this artwork:
To hear a reading of the poetry, and a discussion of the art:
