Category: BVAA Shows and Events

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 all FREE!

This is also Uxbridge First Night celebrations! At 4:30pm the parade starts and it goes right past our gallery. There is music, food, crafts, and much, much more. There’s even fireworks at 6pm! Come out and enjoy the day!

Open Paint 10am-6:30pm
For the entire day, it’s an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free! We have watercolors and acrylics on hand, or bring your own if you wish.

If the weather is nice out, visitors can also embark on an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready.

When:
Saturday, December 4, 2021
10am – 6:30pm

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

Our Saturdays at the gallery include 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 and brushes to share.

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

BVAA Open Sky 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.

Our Saturday events are free, casual, relaxed, and fun! All levels are welcome.

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

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 Open Sky Community Services. Open Sky uses this space for client activities during weekdays. They allow the BVAA use of the space – and its gallery walls – on evenings and weekends.

Uxbridge First Night information:

https://www.facebook.com/uxbridgefirstholidaynight

All are warmly welcomed! FREE! Come join us on Wednesday November 10th 2021 at 1pm as talented local artist Verne Thayer showcases how to paint the Little Red Shop Museum in Hopedale, Massachusetts!

A local historian will be present to talk with us about the background of the Little Red Shop.

This event is FREE and open for all level of painters, photographers, etc. It is supported by the Hopedale Local Cultural Council. Thank you to the Hopedale LCC!

Verne will be painting with oil paints. You’re welcome to hang out and watch as he paints, or if you want to, you can paint along! You can also simply paint anything in the area that intrigues you. You can take photos!

It’ll be a creative, relaxing celebration of the beauty and architecture of Hopedale.

The location is right on the water, so you can paint the foliage over the water, the nearby buildings, or anything else that catches your fancy.

Location:

12 Hopedale Street

Hopedale Massachusetts

Ask with any questions!

About Verne Thayer:

Portfolio

Try something new! Think outside the box! Our October 2021 monthly BVAA meeting will be a hands-on workshop on creating 3D sculptures with black foam core! All are welcome. It’s free to participate! We will also stream this LIVE on Zoom so people can play along and chat from home.

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

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.

Ask with any questions!

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

Just what might a foam core sculpture look like? This image is from an exhibit Bob Collins held at the Post Road Art Center. 

Here’s one done by Danielle Redden:

A 3D foam core sculpture by Lisa Shea, then spray painted:

You can see a full 3D video of Danielle and Lisa’s sculptures in this video of the BVAA 2018 Spring Show. The sculptures are shown at 5:26 into the video:

We have the black foam core and pencils. So that part is set. I’ll bring some spray paints in case anyone wants to try that. That will be done OUTSIDE :).

What we NEED for you guys to bring if you have them, are:

• cutting boards
• exacto knives / box cutters
• hot glue guns

Let me know if you have any of those things to bring along with you.

We look forward to seeing you on Tuesday! If you try this at home, send photos in of your results!

Here are videos from our workshop!

Thank you to all of the artists who participated in the Blackstone Valley Art Association 2021 Uxbridge SketchFest! Throughout the month of September we sketched and drew a variety of scenes around Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

Here are the artists who have chosen to participate in our online virtual show. Thank you so much to everyone who joined in!

If you prefer to watch a video version:

Details of our 2021 Uxbridge SketchFest:

4th Annual Uxbridge SketchFest – September 2021

The Blackstone Valley Art Association is proud to host the 2021 Community Tapestry Art Show! The public is warmly invited to participate! This show is open to all forms of artistic expression. We would love to see watercolors, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, sculptures, pottery, mixed media, drawings, pastels, photography, cyanotypes, and other forms of art.

When:
October 23rd to November 20th, 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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

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. This show is free to participate in. Each artist may submit up to two items. The deadline to submit is October 23, 2021 at 3pm EST.

Drop Off of Works
Work must be dropped off Saturday, October 23rd between 10am and 3pm. All work which is brought in will be hung (as long as it is properly wired and is family-friendly).

Online Video
Due to COVID restrictions, we will not be having an in-person reception. We will post announcements when the online video version of the show is ready.

Pick Up
Pick up is on Saturday, November 20th from 10am to 3pm. If you aren’t able to make that, please contact us for other arrangements.

Address any questions via our BVAA Contact Information

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

Update:

Here is the show!

Here are photos and videos of the previous show!

Tapestry 2018 Art Show Photos and Videos

Congratulations to all the winners of our Blackstone Valley Art Association Fall Show in 2021! This show was held in our Uxbridge art gallery. Here’s the full walkthrough video of the show:

The judge for this show was artist George Hancin, who teaches at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and the Worcester Art Museum. Here is his website:

About

Here are his notes on the winning artwork items:

First Prize – Carol Frieswick / “Low Tide In The Marsh”

This pastel creates a soft atmospheric look which takes you into the distance. There’s a fine interplay between the distant trees and textured foreground.

Second Prize – Beverly Tinklenberg / “Beach Houses”

This is painted in a loose, carefree style which still preserves structure and space. The geometric shapes of the houses work well against the organic shrubs of the middle ground.

Third Prize – Al Weems / “The Traveler”

The photograph creates a gloomy, surreal, ambiguous atmosphere.

Honorable Mention 1 – Steve Paulson / “Butterfly Farm”

A pleasant use of color also creates three-dimensional forms in the silos and barns.

Honorable Mention 2 – Laura O. Cenedella / “Autumn Creek”

This painting is of a shady spot in the woods alternating between dappled light and darker colors; it becomes almost pointillism.

For all the details about our Fall Show 2021 visit:

2021 Blackstone Valley Arts Association Fall Show

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.

https://www.densmith.com/Sketch-Walk/

What Is A Sketch?

Just what is a sketch? We’re glad you asked!

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.

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.

Here’s Laura’s website which has all sorts of great information and advice:

https://belleartwork.wordpress.com/

Here’s a video of the afternoon session with Laura, which focused more specifically on portrait sketching.

Portrait Sketching by Laura Sfiat using Reilly Method

 

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!