The Blackstone Valley Art Association is gathering together a plein air group, to enjoy the delights of painting out in the open air! All abilities and interests are welcome to participate. Please bring along your own paints, pens, sketchbooks, or whatever else you’d like to create with!
The previous events at River Bend Farm were such a success that we’re going back again!
WHERE: River Bend Farm 287 Oak Street Uxbridge, Massachusetts
WHEN: Thursday, July 31st 2025 9pm – to whenever you want!
There are bathroom facilities on the property. It is a public park so no time limits!
Come choose whatever location you’d like, chat with other painters, and enjoy a relaxing morning of creating artwork!
For more information please email Carol at csf@meganet.net. You can just show up – there’s no RSVP necessary for this. There is no instruction provided. We simply hang out and paint! That being said, you can watch this video to get ideas about how to approach a plein air painting projects:
This video shows Dianne Panarelli Miller painting on site in Uxbridge, to show how plein air painting works:
Here are some photos to inspire you from Carol Frieswick.
Here are the images which we have so far for our 2025 Sunflower Art Show, to be held at the Booklovers Gourmet in Webster MA! Please let me know if you have an image for this show and it’s not yet in this online gallery! Thanks!
This online gallery shows thumbnails of the images – be sure to click on each one to see it in its full proportions.
Thank you to everyone who participates in this fun show!
Bob EvansJanice FortinBonnie FredericoBonnie FredericoWendy FuglinitiSue GomesBetty HavensBetty HavensTory KohnMary LaliberteMary LaliberteJudy MurphyJudy MurphyCarole PlanteJayne SarkisianJayne SarkisianBob SeeBob SeeLisa SheaLisa SheaClaire SilveriBrandi Van RooBrandi Van RooNancy WrightNancy WrightJoanne ZeisMike Zeis
Cheri Holland is away but her sunflower (photographed while submerged underwater!!) was available as filler, to replace a sold item, once the show was underway. And the it sold!!
Here’s the full walkthrough video from this sunflower art show –
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is gathering together a plein air group, to enjoy the delights of painting out in the open air! All abilities and interests are welcome to participate. Please bring along your own paints, pens, sketchbooks, or whatever else you’d like to create with!
The first event at River Bend Farm was such a success that we’re going back again!
WHERE: River Bend Farm 287 Oak Street Uxbridge, Massachusetts
WHEN: Thursday, July 24th 2025 9pm – to whenever you want!
There are bathroom facilities on the property. It is a public park so no time limits!
Come choose whatever location you’d like, chat with other painters, and enjoy a relaxing morning of creating artwork!
For more information please email Carol at csf@meganet.net. You can just show up – there’s no RSVP necessary for this. There is no instruction provided. We simply hang out and paint! That being said, you can watch this video to get ideas about how to approach a plein air painting projects:
This video shows Dianne Panarelli Miller painting on site in Uxbridge, to show how plein air painting works:
Here are some photos to inspire you from Carol Frieswick.
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: Saturday, September 4th to Friday, October 24th, 2025
Where: ValleyCAST 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. It 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. The deadline to submit the physical artwork is Saturday, August 23rd, 2025 at 1pm EST.
Drop Off of Works Work must be dropped off at the Whitin Mill during the period of August 22-23, during business hours 9:00-4:00 & Saturday 10:00-1:00. 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 27-30, during business hours 9:00-4:00 & Saturday if needed.
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.
Opening Reception The reception is Thursday, September 4th 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.
Pick Up Friday, October 24 during business hours 9:00-4:00. If you aren’t able to make that timeframe, please contact us for other arrangements. We need to have a BVAA person on hand for an art pickup.
Want to learn more about taking interesting photos with your camera or cellphone? Join us on Friday July 25th 2025 from 2-4pm for our photography workshop at River Bend Farm in Uxbridge! All levels of photographers warmly encouraged to participate. This event is open to the public.
The cost of the photography workshop is $5 each.
We will meet at River Bend Farm, in front of the red farmhouse, at 2pm. Photographer Lisa Shea will provide a brief introductory discussion of ideas for taking photos of water. Then we will explore the River Bend Farm canal / waterfall area 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!
Event is RAIN OR SHINE. If it’s rainy we’ll go inside the barn and work on camera techniques for slowing down or blurring water motion. If you have a cellphone, this is a workshop to consider downloading an app that lets you control shutter speed. Shutter speed (freezing time) can be really fun when shooting water drops or waterfalls. Contact Lisa if you need help finding an app. You don’t need an app, it just adds to your ability to tweak how you take your photos of water.
Location: River Bend Farm and Visitor Center 287 Oak Street Uxbridge, MA 01569
Date and Time: Friday July 25, 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.
Please consider then sending in a few of your water photos to participate in the ValleyCAST virtual art show. This show has a deadline of Sunday, July 27th, 2025!
Summertime is a busy time for many of our artists, so we keep our summer workshops light and fun. The public is warmly encouraged to participate!
The FREE 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!
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 2025 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 15th 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. 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.
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.
Our Ninth 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 JPG email submission deadline for the sunflower show is Sunday, July 27th, 2025. We have limited wall space at the Booklovers’ Gourmet for 18 items sized around 16×20. The art doesn’t have to be exactly that size, but in that general range. Smaller is fine; massive 4′ by 8′ murals will not fit.
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 available 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. We pretty much sell artwork every year we hold this show. Please submit sunflowers intended for sale :). The Booklovers’ Gourmet is a book and small gift shop. The art that sells tends to be in the $40-$80 range, not the $300-$500 range. That being said, feel free to enter whatever art you’d like that is sunflower-themed. You never know what will catch a buyer’s eye!
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 Wed July 30th and Thu July 31st between 10am-5pm. Items should be dropped off directly at the Booklovers’ Gourmet shop. If you can’t make either date, contact Lisa Shea and she’ll arrange something. The Booklovers’ Gourmet shop will take care of hanging and labelling the items. Please make sure that the back of EVERY art piece is labelled with your name, the artwork title, its medium, and price. That way Deb knows what labels go with what pieces.
Public Reception Our sunflower show Artist’s Reception will be on Wednesday, August 13th from 5:30-7pm. Please plan on attending! Invite family and friends! Share the news!
Pick-Up Pick-up for the show is Saturday August 30th from 12 noon to 5pm. If you can’t make it, let Lisa know and she’ll get your art for you. Note that Booklovers’ Gourmet will be CLOSED August 31st through Sept 5th so we need to have all of our art out of the store before that vacation. Please leave your art in the show through Sat Aug 30th. We are doing heavy publicity for this show and want to make sure all art is available wholly through that ending date. Some people wait until the last minute to buy. We’ve had multiple people buy art on the morning of the pickup date! Also, we create a video at the end to promote any unsold art, so people know it’s available.
Theme This show is all about sunflowers! Anything related to sunflowers is fair game. Photography, paintings, drawings, sculptures, mosaics, you name it! Look through the artwork from previous years to see how other artists have tackled this theme.
The Blackstone Valley Art Association is sponsoring our seventh annual “Show of Hands” open art show! The public is warmly invited to participate in this art show! The theme is completely open. Your art can represent anything. This show is open to all forms of artistic expression EXCEPT photography / digital art. It is the counterpoint to our photography-only show in January.
We would love to see watercolors, acrylic paintings, oil paintings, sculptures, pottery, mixed media, drawings, pastels, colored pencils, sketches, and other non-photographic / non-digital forms of artwork.
All levels of artists are enthusiastically encouraged to participate. This is a community show. You do not need to be a BVAA member to enter artwork into this show.
We award cash prizes!
When: August 2 to September 6, 2025
Where: BVAA Open Sky Uxbridge Community Gallery 5 South Main Street Uxbridge, MA 01569
There is a LOT of free parking immediately next to this building. It is fully and easily handicapped accessible.
Entering the Show The theme is wide open. You can represent ANYTHING with your art. Any topic can be addressed as long as it is family-friendly and is not photography / digital art. 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. The fee to participate is $15 for members and $20 for non-members. You can submit up to 2 pieces for that fee. The deadline to submit the online form for labels is Saturday August 2nd at midnight.
Drop Off of Works Work must be dropped off on Saturday, August 2nd between 10am and 3pm. Please only drop off at that specific day and time – it is when BVAA volunteers are at the gallery. All work which is brought in will be displayed in the show (as long as it is family-friendly and, if hanging on a wall, has proper wiring).
Opening Reception The show reception will be Friday, August 8th, 2025 from 5-7. Invite family and friends – all are welcome! We tend to announce the prize winners at 6pm, right in the middle. We award cash prizes based on the amount of entry-fee money the show brings in. All the money that comes in for the show goes right back out to the people who win awards in that show.
Pick Up Saturday, September 6th, 2025, from 10am to 3pm. If you aren’t able to make that, contact us for other arrangements.
It’s our seventh 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 1929. Art which is under copyright, after 1929, has its rights controlled by that artist (or their estate). You would need to ask that artist (or their estate) for permission to use their work in any exhibit.
When: July 12th to August 2nd, 2025
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 13th, 2025. To submit your entries use our BVAA Online Submission Form. Work must be dropped off on Saturday, July 13th, 2025 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 We are doing this as a PEOPLE’S CHOICE voting! Get your votes in!
Please vote on 1st 2nd 3rd place! Your votes choose the winners! Please share the video so more people can vote!
Awards Reception The awards reception is at the Uxbridge gallery on Friday, August 1st, 2025 from 5-7pm. That way everyone has a chance to vote! Please bring a snack or drink to share! All are warmly encouraged to attend!
Pickup The pickup for this show is Saturday August 2nd from 10am to 3pm. Please don’t pick up art before that point – Open Sky doesn’t want to be responsible for knowing who is allowed to take art out of the gallery. Thanks!
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!
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!
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 June 2025 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, June 17th 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. 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.
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.
