River Bend Farm in Uxbridge is a beautiful location. There’s the traditional red farm which has a visitor’s center within it. Then the farmland is right on the Blackstone Canal. This is one of the best locations on its entire stretch to see what the canal was once like.

Until the early 1800s, traveling around central Massachusetts was fraught with trouble. The woods were thick. There were wolves and other dangers. Either you were trudging through deep snow in the winter or dealing with swarms of bugs in the summer.

It was nearly impossible for any trading to get done.

Finally in 1823 the Blackstone Canal Company was formed. Its mission was to create an easy-to-navigate canal connecting Providence to Worcester. This would then open trade up to the entire world via the Narragansett Bay.

Construction went fairly quickly – they began in 1825 and were completely done with the first travel on October 7, 1828. It took two days for one of the slender canal boats to make its way from one end of the course to another.

They expected the canal system to last hundreds of years.

Unfortunately for them, the railroads saw the opportunity and quickly moved in. By 1848 the canal was shut down. The railroad had taken over that quickly.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history!

Talented, amazing artist Michael Graves has showcased his art in the Massachusetts State House as well as in countless galleries. He’ll be leading our adventure today! He’ll begin with a short demo, so you can see what plein air painting is all about. Then he’ll offer advice and suggestions as you all explore your painting skills!

If you’ve never done a plein air paint before, you might read: Plein Air Painting – Preparing for your First Outing. If you don’t have supplies, we’ll bring watercolors, brushes, and paper. Bring a water bottle and something stiff like a small cutting board to tape the paper to.

If you’d like to bring a beach chair to sit on, and snacks / drinks, feel free.

Please let us know via our contact form if you’re planning on coming, so we know to wait for you. It’ll be a great morning of learning about photography and exploring our Blackstone River history!

Location and Time
River Bend Farm
287 Oak Street
Uxbridge, MA

9:30am – 2pm (or so, feel free to leave earlier)

Michael Graves is a nationally-recognized landscape artist based in central Massachusetts. As a plein air artist, Graves paints on location, braving the elements, to capture the many moods and temperaments of the natural world. Over a 30 year career, Graves has received over 70 awards and medals, been featured in a variety of books and publications, and inducted into numerous national art associations.

Although Graves has taken painting trips throughout North America, and parts of Europe and Asia, his favorite subjects continue to be of the simple farms, bucolic vistas, and rugged coasts of his native New England. His artwork is and has been exhibited in dozens of galleries throughout the U.S. and is included in the permanent collection of the Butler Institute of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio. His paintings have also been selected eight times for inclusion in the national Arts for the Parks competition of the Top 100 Paintings of National Parks.

Born in 1952, the son of a local tree warden, Graves grew up with a love of painting and a deep appreciation for the outdoors. In the late 1970s, Graves met the renowned Cape Ann artist Bernard Corey (1914-2000). Corey became a lifelong friend and mentor and the two painted together nearly every day for over two decades. Michael Graves is a member of the Rockport Art Association, the Guild of Boston Artists, the Hudson Valley Art Association, and the Old Lyme Art Association. He is a friend and frequent painting companion of some of the most well known plein air artists of New England.

Mike lives in Millbury, Massachusetts with his wife Pam. He has two sons.

Michael Graves Artist Website

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

It’s a fantastic photography workshop with the talented Al Weems!

The Millbury Bike Path is part of the plans for a long bike path / walking path / celebration of the entire Blackstone River from Worcester, MA to Pawtucket, RI. The stretch which is complete in the Millbury area starts at a parking lot near the Blackstone Shoppes mall complex and goes north along the river to the parking lot with the WalMart in Worcester.

It’s quite an interesting bike path. It wends along the Blackstone River quite a lot, so you get good images of the ducks, turtles, beavers, and other creatures. There are a number of train bridges and walking bridges to get photos of.

Plus, the Blackstone River goes right along the train lines here, so there’s ample opportunity to get cool photos or drawings of the trains in various configurations.

Directions and Time
We’re meeting at the bike path parking lot. It’s immediately across the highway from the Blackstone Shoppes, on that same road that leads into the Shoppes. So if you look on Google for:

206 North Main Street
Millbury MA

That house is right across the street from the parking lot for the bike path.

We’ll meet there at 10am to gather up everyone, and then go for a gentle walk to explore photography and the path!

Please let us know via our contact form if you’re planning on coming, so we know to wait for you. It’ll be a great morning of learning about photography and exploring our Blackstone River history!

Be sure to check out the website of our amazing instructor Al Weems for more information about him!

https://www.alweemsphoto.com/

Here’s the details on the bike path itself:

Blackstone Valley Bike Path Photos

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

FRESH DATE DUE TO RAIN! NOW SUNDAY SEPTEMBER 2 2018!!

We’ll meet at 10am and paint for an hour or two. If you want to stay longer, or show up later for light reasons, that’s quite fine! This is a casual, relaxing painting and photography day.

The Blackstone River is an incredibly powerful waterway, going 46 miles from Worcester to Pawtucket, RI. Over that length it drops a full 450 feet in height. This awesome power is what gave motion to the many mills which developed along its length. It’s also what carved out the beauty of the Blackstone Gorge.

The Blackstone Gorge, with the Rolling Dam right above it and the Tupperware Mill right below it, is right on the border of Massachusetts and Rhode Island. The Rolling Dam is in Blackstone, Massachusetts while the Tupperware Mill is in North Smithfield, Rhode Island.

Directions and Time
Parking is found at the corner of Staples Lane and County Street in Blackstone, MA.
To find that, search on:

66 County Street
Blackstone, MA

The parking lot is immediately across the street from that house.

Time is 10am to around noon, or you can stay longer.

Supplies
We’ll have tray watercolors, brushes, and paper available. Please bring a water bottle to wet your paints and a small cutting board or something similar to tape the paper to. If you’d like to bring a beach chair to sit on, and snacks / drinks, feel free.

If you’ve never done a plein air paint before, you might read: Plein Air Painting – Preparing for your First Outing.

Please RSVP via our BVAA Contact Form so we know how many paints to bring.

National Park Service page on the Blackstone Gorge

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

ASHTON MILLS EXCURSION SAT 8/4/2018 CANCELLING DUE TO RAIN! WILL RESCHEDULE!

You can of course go anyway – just wear a raincoat! :)During its heydey, the Blackstone River was the powerhouse behind the many mills which sprung up all along its length. Town after town boomed due to the jobs and products created at these mills. Many of these large brick structures represented prosperity for the entire town. The mill owners would often build smaller brick houses for their workers.

The Ashton Mill complex is a great representative of what these communities were like. The area was put onto the National Register of Historic Places on November 1, 1984.

Come on out with us to get a solid look at this amazing part of our history! What would it have been like living in the era of the mill? Where all your family and friends worked in the same place and could hang out together side by side on weekends?

ASHTON MILLS EXCURSION SAT 8/4/2018 CANCELLING DUE TO RAIN! WILL RESCHEDULE!

You can of course go anyway – just wear a raincoat! 🙂
Location and Time
The location is now apartments. The address to get there is:
Ashton Mills
51 Front St
Cumberland, RI 02864

We’ll start at 10am – this is a CASUAL event. Carol Frieswick will be on hand at 10am to greet people and answer any questions about the BVAA. Feel free to come whenever you wish and to stay for however long you’re entertained. Bring paints, cameras, notebooks – whatever strikes your fancy!

Across the street is the The Captain Wilbur Kelly House Museum which has great exhibits about the mills.

Note that we have permission to use the bathroom :).

There will be a kite and paper airplane making workshop there as well.

This is just one part of our month-long Celebrating the Blackstone artistic celebration. Be sure to check out all of our events!

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

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 an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

If the weather is nice out, we’ll also do an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready. We just need some sunshine!

Note there IS NO YOGA IN THE GALLERY THIS WEEK. So the gallery will close at 3pm.

When:
Saturday, July 28th, 2018
10am – 3pm

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

This is 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 to share.

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

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.

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

Here’s a selection of the art available at the Grafton Inn in July 2018! Let us know if you’re interested in a piece!

The artists include Bonnie Frederico, Bob Evans, Carol Freiswick, Bill Witherell, John Randall, Linda DeFeudis, Carol Dandrade, Bob See, and Lisa Shea.

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Visit the Grafton Inn at:
https://thegraftoninnma.com/

NOTE: This class will focus on still life. Bring what you’d like to paint and your light and Carol will see you there!

Oil paint has been the medium of choice for a wealth of famous painters. Leonardo da Vinci. Claude Monet. Pierre-Auguste Renoir. Paul Cezanne. There is just something spectacular about the beauty of oil paint which captures the eye and the imagination.

Whether you’re a raw beginner or an experienced painter, this oil painting class will take you to the next level. It’s full of personal hands-on advice and a warm, welcoming atmosphere!

Talented painter Carol Arnold teaches a monthly oil painting class at the BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Gallery! Carol is a member of Richard Schmid and Nancy Guzik’s Putney Painters! All levels of painters are welcomed with open arms. The focus will be on drawing, edges, values and color. These are areas which a beginner can practice and an advanced student can hone to perfection.

Carol makes these classes fun and inspiring, while supporting you to the next level of your growth!

This monthly class meets on the first Thursday of every month from 6-9 pm.

Cost:
The maximum class size will be 10 students, to ensure plenty of hands-on time for each one.
If there are only 1 or 2 students registered for a class, the class will be cancelled.
If there are 3 or 4 students, each student pays $20/hr for the class = $60 total.
If there are 5-10 students, each student pays $15/hr for the class = $45 total.

Invite your friends! Share the news! The more students which attend, the less you pay and the more fun it is to learn from each other.

When:
Thursday, August 2, 2018
6pm – 9pm

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.

BVAA Alternatives Uxbridge Community Art Gallery Information

This class is open to the public. It is open to all ages and to all levels of painting ability.

Please make sure you register beforehand so we know how many to expect. Carol will send you a supply list to get you started.

To register, please make sure you email: carol@carolarnoldfineart.com

To learn more about Carol Arnold and to view her painting gallery:

https://carolarnoldfineart.com/

Follow Carol on Facebook!

Carol Arnold Fine Art on Facebook

Our July 2018 monthly meeting will be held on Tuesday, July 17th from 6:30-9pm at the Uxbridge Community Gallery, 5 South Main Street, Uxbridge, MA.

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.

The topic of this hands-on workshop is:

Topic: Boosting Creativity II
Moderator: Lisa Shea

Our meetings cover BVAA organization business from 6:30-7:00pm and then go into the workshop part of the evening.

This workshop will be a fun adventure. We’ll have a number of different items on hand for you to work with. You can play with whatever one you want. You could also bring paints / etc. to create in your own way.

We will have:

Scratchboard
These are the boards which are a solid color, often black, and then you scratch away that top surface with an Xacto blade. This reveals the color or colors beneath. The owl in the banner is an example of this style. Please bring an Xacto blade if you have one.

Calligraphy
We will have a collection of calligraphy pens – both the cartridge style and the dip-in-ink style – for you to explore with. We have four different books on calligraphy and several of us are familiar with calligraphy. We’ll show you how it’s done!

Illuminated Letters
These are the lovely initial-caps letters which are often at the start of a calligraphy manuscript. They also can be standalone works of art. We’ll have predone letters you can trace or you can be inspired by those to draw your own styles. You can then watercolor in the colors.

Japanese / Chinese calligraphy
I have a Japanese / Chinese calligraphy kit with two brushes. I can show you how it works and then people can take turns creating lovely letters.

String Art
String art is a ton of fun! You’ve probably seen the photos we’ve been posting from our workshops. If you’ve missed them, stop on by tonight to give it a try!

Monoprints
Monoprints are a mindful, meditative way of creating one-of-a-kind works of art. You do your “painting” – usually a abstract – on a Gelli plate with is a flat surface. Then you press a piece of paper onto it to create that painting. It lifts off much of the ink but not all. Then you can do a second work on the Gelli plate based on that left behind paint.

All are welcome – this 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.

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 an open paint! All are welcome, including the public, family, and friends! It’s free!

We don’t have a feature chosen for this Saturday. If there’s something you missed from a past workshop that you’d like to try, let us know!

If the weather is nice out, we’ll also do an Uxbridge sketch walk. We have the maps all ready. We just need some sunshine!

Note there IS NO YOGA IN THE GALLERY THIS WEEK. So the gallery will close at 3pm.

When:
Saturday, July 21th, 2018
10am – 3pm

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

This is 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 to share.

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

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.

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

Celebrating the Blackstone

a community artistic exploration of the Blackstone River

For hundreds of years the Blackstone Valley has been defined by its river. Native Americans treasured it for a safe means of travel through thick forest. The Industrial Revolution puts its currents to work powering mills all along its length. In modern times we can still see remnants of the Blackstone Canal and its many locks.

Throughout the month of August 2018 we’ll provide a wealth of ways for you to explore your creativity, get in touch with the history of our beautiful landscape, and have some fun.

Here’s just a few of the events we’re planning. Dates and times are subject to change as we finalize the schedules. Be sure to check back for more details as we get closer!

Sat Aug 4:
Ashton Mills Casual Plein Air / Photography
Ashton Mills, Cumberland RI – 10am

Sun Aug 5:
Photography Workshop with Bob Evans
Millville Canal Lock, Millville MA – 10am

Sat Aug 11:
Sketching Workshop with Jo Ellen Reinhardt
River Bend Farm, Uxbridge MA – 10am

Sun Aug 12:
Watercolor Plein Air Workshop
Blackstone Gorge, Blackstone MA – 10am

Wed Aug 15:
Light Painting Workshop
Millbury Bike Path, Millbury MA – 7:15pm

Sun Aug 19:
Millbury Bike Path Photography Workshop
Millbury Bike Path, Millbury MA – 10am

Sat Aug 25:
Painting Workshop with Mike Graves
River Bend Farm, Uxbridge MA – 9:30am

Sun Aug 26:
Millbury Bike Path Workshop 2
Millbury Bike Path, Millbury MA

Where else should we go along the Blackstone River? Let us know! What else should we do that is art-related and Blackstone River related?

Here’s a map to get you started:

Blackstone River Valley National Heritage Corridor

We then had an open art show, free for community participation, to celebrate all the art we’ve created.

This month-long celebration is sponsored by Constellation, an Exelon company.

To see what we’re doing in 2019, visit:

Celebrating the Blackstone – July 1 to 31 2019