Gardner Area League of Artists Newsletter
September 2021
GALA Events/Announcements
Call for Artists: Holiday Art Sale
This is one of our most popular shows!

Deadline to Enter: Sunday, October 17

Holiday Art Sale
November 6 - December 18
GALA Arts Gallery
135 Front Street, Winchendon, MA 01475

Each piece of artwork must be $500 or Less. Used to be called, "Small Works;" we are now accepting larger pieces

We are also accepting hand-made Christmas ornaments to sell on the tree! Make and bring your ornaments to Drop Off! All ornaments on the tree will be For sale! Mark your prices before you arrive.

Two options for entering the show:
  • Option 1: Online Entry which submits your information & payment to GALA electronically.
  • Option 2: Paper Entry Form. A PDF Call for Entries which includes a form that you print & mail with payment to: GALA, PO Box 664, Gardner, MA 01440
* Please allow enough time for mailing so that your entry is received by the deadline. *

With either option, entry is due by Sunday, October 17th

Entry Deadline: Sunday, October 17th
Art Drop Off: Saturday, October 23, 12 - 3 pm
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 6, 10 - 4 pm
Art Pickup: Sunday, December 19, 12 - 3 pm

You will need to renew your GALA membership on your entry form unless you are a current member for the duration of the show. If in doubt, please email [email protected]

We Need Tree Ornaments
Handmade Christmas Ornaments

This year we will be selling handmade tree ornaments during our Holiday Art Sale!

Everyone loves ornaments! Start making your one-of-a-kind ornaments! You have a few months.

Everything on our Christmas tree will be for sale. Ornaments must be handmade.

Bring your ornaments during the art drop off.

GALA receives 20% commission and you must be a member.

If you would like more information, email [email protected].
Art Critiques Are Back!
10:00 - Noon
Saturday, September 25th

Located at the GALA Gallery at 135 Front Street, Winchendon
Free to all GALA Members
New artists: First class is free

This popular critique class is back with Janet Dupuis as our leader. Mark your calendar! There may even be an art challenge given to interested artists. If you would like a challenge let Janet know in your email.

Email Janet to let her know that you will be joining us.

A great way to receive feedback from your artists friends. Come and bring up to 3 pieces of your art work to share with the group. Come join us with coffee, tea, cookies and laughs.

Together we can achieve our goals.
Water: A Juried Art Exhibit
Water is a juried exhibition organized by GALA. The exhibition will be held at the Fitchburg Art Museum during the month of January 2022

Call for Artists Entry Form will be available in July 2021.

We are notifying you now so you may prepare for this exhibit. In July we will send out an email for you to register with more detailed information.

Awards and ribbons will be given, following a reception

All visual artists are invited to submit their best artworks on the theme for inclusion in the exhibition. All types of art styles may be submitted, including both 2D and 3D works, painting, sculpture, digital, printmaking, fiber, photography, graphic, mixed media.

The theme is Water. Intimately familiar to us all, we emerge from the womb clinging to it, and spend a lifetime wading through it at every turn. Even life forms that don't need oxygen for their survival absolutely need water, such is its preciousness. The visual representation of water, in any of its myriad forms, is acceptable for this exhibit. Artists are free to apply their own interpretation in representing the overall theme. Representational and abstract ideas based broadly on this theme, in any media, will be considered.
Member News & Exhibits
Alicia Drakiotes
Alicia Drakiotes of Marlborough, NH has been designated the chair person for the upcoming Historical Society of Cheshire County (Keene, NH) upcoming exhibit by contemporary artists.

Man and Nature in the Monadnock Region has issued a call for entry of local area artists who are interested in entering the upcoming event which will open June 3rd 2022 through Sept 2022.

This will be the fourth cooperative exhibit that Drakiotes has chaired for HSCC, the first was "64 Miles: The Ashuelot River" in 2013. All works entered in the upcoming exhibit should be based on the footprint of the Monandock Region. Drakiotes can be contacted for further information by email: [email protected]
Bob Jordan
September 2021 Bob Jordan Musical Offerings

Sept 4: Keene Music Festival
Sept 7: Holden Farmer’s Market
Sept 8: Peterborough Nh Farmer’s Market
Sept 9, 3PM: Jaffrey, NH Farmers Market
Sept 10, 9:30AM: Keene, NH Farmers Market
Sept 12, 2:30PM: Reunion Tap & Table, Grafton, MA
Sept 14, 3PM: Holden, MA Farmers Market
Sept 17, 3PM: Jaffrey, NH Farmers Market
Sept 18, 10AM: Milford, NH Farmers Market
Sept 21, 11:30AM: Murdock Senior Center Lunch, Winchendon, MA
Sept 21, 3PM: Holden, MA Farmer’s Market
Sept 22, 3PM: Peterborough, NH Farmers Market
Sept 24, 3PM: Jaffrey, NH Farmers Market
Sept 25, 10AM: Ashburnham, MA Farmers Market
Sept 28, 3PM: Holden, MA Farmers Market
Sept 30, 3PM: Orange, MA Farmers Market
Shows & Exhibits
Now in Technicolor // Madge Evers
ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA
Now in Technicolor // Madge Evers: The New Herbarium
on view through September 19

Public reception: Thursday, September 2, 6:00-9:00 PM

Two new shows open in our galleries and online today! Sizzling in the West Gallery, thirty-four artists bring the heat for Now in Technicolor, a juried members' exhibition bursting with bold color. Discover a new side of nature in The New Herbarium, an exhibition of spore prints and cyanotypes by Madge Evers in the East Gallery. Join us for a public reception celebrating both shows on Thursday, September 2, 6:00 to 9:00 PM.

Both exhibitions are on view in our main galleries at 44 Portland Street and on our website through Sunday, September 19, 2021. Gallery hours run Thursdays through Sundays, 12:00-5:00 PM, and are always free.

All visitors must wear masks at all times inside the galleries. Thank you.

Now in Technicolor: A Juried Members' Exhibition

About this exhibition

How does color transform our world? How does dramatic color alter our emotional perception of an artwork? What memories are conjured through vivid cobalt, blazing vermillion, or radioactive yellow? In Now in Technicolor, thirty-four artists explore the power of bold hues in portraiture, sculpture, new media, and more. Selected works range in subject matter from abstract to the familiar, and everything in between. Some focus on a singular color palette, while others feature a raucous medley of hues. Audiences are invited to contemplate the powerful nature of color and reflect on the ways vivid color impacts our shared and individual experiences.


Madge Evers: The New Herbarium

About this exhibition

Evers reimagines the centuries-old process of collecting and preserving plants for science and art in our latest East Gallery solo show. As part of their reproduction process, mushrooms generate tiny aerosolized spores. Working with fungi cultivated for this purpose, Evers catches the spores and their pigment as they land on paper, filtering them with other plant materials and manipulating their powdery traces. In her New Herbarium series, Evers uses foraged plants to shape the light-colored spores on black paper. Inspired by early modern herbaria, in which plants were preserved for study, these works conjure a natural world both strange and deeply familiar.

Madge Evers is an educator, gardener, and visual artist. She uses foraged mushrooms and plants to make works on paper that focus on adaptation and regeneration. Her work has been shown in New England and New York, including at the D’Amour Museum of Fine Arts, and the Fitchburg Art Museum. In June of 2020, she began to work full-time as an artist after teaching for 25 years in Rhode Island and Massachusetts public schools. She conducts art-making workshops for people of all ages.


ArtsWorcester
44 Portland Street
Worcester, MA 01608
508.755.5142
Elizabeth Hughes
Bull Run Restaurant, Shirley, MA
From Sitka Gallery: During the month of September, we are presenting artist Elizabeth Hughes in the Artist Walkway located at The Bull Run Restaurant in Shirley, MA.

Artist's statement: "I began my adventure of artistic expression first as a dancer, then as a writer and poet. In my painting, I stay connected to the rhythm, form, and emotion that I first encountered dancing. Later on, my writing taught me how to let word influence my work as a visual artist.

I moved into visual art after visiting Mexico in 1993 to study Frida Kahlo on a Kinnicutt Grant from the Worcester Art Museum. I have studied collage, printmaking, drawing, and painting at The Worcester Art Museum. I continue to study, explore, and learn with each new piece — each new destination on my creative journey.

I am drawn to the exploration of the external and internal landscape. Using color and shape to interpret these landscapes — one of nature and another of the mind — I hope to convey a moment, a place, an emotion in time that edges toward the timeless. I feel the mystical in the landscape and in the creative process. It can be challenging to get this elusive quality down on paper or canvas within the confines of the chosen medium. I sometimes seem to lack the skill, the discipline, the faith to capture this feeling of timelessness. Yet I persevere toward communication with, and connection to, a sublime intimation of truth and beauty."

Elizabeth's studio is located in Newport, RI.

Venue: The Bull Run Restaurant - 215 Great Road Shirley, MA
Classes & Instruction
Mini-Grant Program
Arts Alive!, Keene, NH
Give Your Project a Boost!

Arts Alive! proudly announces new a mini-grant program aimed at artists and creative businesses in the Monadnock Region. Applications for mini-grants of $50-$250 will open September 1. Grants will be aimed at and awarded to projects that help artists or creative businesses expand their professional abilities or increase how many people they can reach with arts experiences.

“We’re going to be really flexible with how this money can be used,” says Executive Director Jessica Getler. “Supplies for a project, marketing your work, a short term studio rental, getting work framed, booking time in a recording studio or performance space, hiring a babysitter and ordering takeout for several nights so you can focus on a project, gas for your car to get to a series of gigs, attending a workshop - whatever it is that will help you move towards the next level.”...


Arts Alive!
15 Eagle Court
Keene, NH
603-283-0944
Art Matters
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
A monthly interview series hosted by the Fitchburg Art Museum, featuring artists, staff, and community members discussing the power of art and its role in our everyday lives.

Belly Dance Classes
Magnolia Studio, Winchendon, MA
With Shri Rajuli

Drills and Strength
Tuesdays, 6-7:15pm

Drills and Choreographic Phrases
Thursdays, 6-7:15pm

Social Dance Practice—Hafla
BYOB
Thursdays, 7:15-9pm

$50 for a five class card
$15 Drop In
Social Free for students
$5 for guests

286 Front St.
Winchendon, MA
Hands-On Fun!
Fitchburg Art Museum, Fitchburg, MA
Create with us from home!

Art Projects Inspired by Our Permanent Collection

Explore the artistic techniques, concepts, and themes behind Fitchburg Art Museum’s permanent collection artworks through these fun creative projects. Explore the full list of tutorials.

Art Activities with Household Materials

These open-ended activities can be adapted for a wide range of ages, and require things found around the home as well as some common, inexpensive art supplies. Explore supplies lists and guidelines for creation.

Fitchburg Art Museum
185 Elm Street, Fitchburg, MA 01420
Phone 978.345.4207
Call for Artists
Call for Submissions: Virtual Community Flowcase
ValleyCAST, Whitinsville, MA
ValleyCAST invites you to be part of a virtual community exhibition where artists of all kinds can share the creative practices that help them tap into a sense of flow.

Join us in sharing the everyday art habits that help you get into a flow, whether that’s automatic writing, doodling, improv music making, free writing, or even crocheting. This project is our way of encouraging regular art-making as a practice for mental wellbeing.

The exhibit will launch in mid-September, with rolling submissions accepted through October.

Learn more and read the full call for submissions here.
ArtsWorcester Design Competition
ArtsWorcester, Worcester, MA
In partnership with Worcester Wares

Calling all artists and designers!

Deadline: Friday, September 17, 2021

ArtsWorcester is holding a design competition for limited editions of die-cut stickers and tote bags to be sold at Worcester Wares. We seek an original design that involves one or more of these ideas, or your interpretation or combination of them:

  • the 300th anniversary of the City of Worcester
  • future Worcester
  • your view of Worcester, or a view of Worcester

The winning design will be:

  • original, and not a treatment of any existing logo or design
  • legible at different scales and distances
  • full of positive energy, happy anticipation, and/or hope
  • enjoyable and appealing for all ages

One design will be selected and the artist will receive $250. Stickers and bags displaying the winning design will bear the artist’s name, signature, or Instagram, as desired. The competition and the winning designer will also be featured in regional press releases, and the designer will be the subject of an interview and feature article on ArtsWorcester’s publicity platforms. Two honorable mentions will receive $50.

ArtsWorcester membership or previous professional design experience is not required.

The items bearing the winning design will be available Thanksgiving 2021 through Valentine’s Day, 2022, or until supplies are gone.

Designs should be submitted as a .jpeg file by Friday, September 17, 2021. Designs should fit within either a 2:3 (or 3:2) or 1:1 (square) aspect ratio, but are not constrained by a specific shape.

Questions? Email Allie at [email protected] or call 508-755-5142.


ArtsWorcester
44 Portland Street
Worcester, MA 01608
508.755.5142
Call for Entries: Man and Nature
Keene, NH
Man and Nature in the Monadnock Region

Artists are encouraged to enter 2 original pieces of art created within the last 18 months which convey the relationship between mankind and nature in the Monadnock Region. When appropriate, “gallery edge” is acceptable. 2D artwork must be properly framed and wired for hanging and not exceed 18×24 in. 3D art is accepted, but artists must supply a base. 3D art not to exceed 432 sq. inches. Please contact the exhibit committee with specifics about 3D art.

$25 registration fee. Save $5 if you register before 1/1/2022. For more information: [email protected]
Artist compensation: Artists agree to contribute 25% of sale proceeds to the Historical Society of Cheshire County, but artists may designate more.

All proceeds contributed to the Society are tax deductible.


Call for Artists
Townsend Artisan Market, Townsend, MA
Townsend Artisan Market is looking for artists, photographers, and crafters to exhibit and sell their work in their new shop on Route 119 in West Townsend (the former Settle Shop). Spaces are available for rent on a monthly basis for craft items and wall space for artists at a 30% commission on sales. Contact Melissa Wison at [email protected]
The Little Gallery at Town Hall
Westminster, MA
Westminster now has a public art gallery open for showings by Westminster artists. "The Little Gallery at Town Hall" is now accepting applications from artists or artist groups who would like to exhibit 2-D work for a month-long show. For more information, visit the Town of Westminster website.

"The Little Gallery at Town Hall" is sponsored by the Westminster Cultural Council and the Massachusetts Cultural Council.

Resources for Artists
The Fitchburg Cultural Alliance
Go to our website to sign up for our newsletter and check out our calendar of events in the North Central region.

A vibrant force advancing arts and culture in the Fitchburg community and in the North Central Massachusetts region.

Art Support & Other
Art Support is a website dedicated to providing support and resources for artists of all types.

The following is just a small list of support provided to artists: Organizations Helping Visual Artists, US Government Art Organizations, State Agencies and Art Commissions, Non Governmental Art Organizations, Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts, Laws Regarding Visual Arts, Artist Consultants, Grants for Artists & Grant Assistance, Artist Health Insurance, and many other legal support and resources for Massachusetts artists.

________________

Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC) and check out the MCC blog ArtSake

The Painter's Keys where you can subscribe to twice weekly letters from artist Robert Genn.

Visit the Arts Marketing Project website for info, ideas, tools and training on marketing art.


Mini Grants for Professional Development are available through NewVue Communities. More information.
Ongoing Opportunities for Artists & Musicians
Exhibit Opportunities
Heywood Hospital Wound Care Center  Gardner, MA  (GALA Sponsored Venue)
Contact Vicki Heidorn at  [email protected]  or 978-630-2340

Contact Alice Struthers at [email protected] or 978-597-2057

The Arts Alliance has quarterly exhibits at the Hudson Town Hall, so if you are interested in a solo exhibit of your work, contact Danielle Moskowitz at (978) 562-1646 or [email protected].

Falmouth Artists Guild Falmouth, MA

Post Road Art Center  Marlborough, MA
 
The Library is always looking for exhibitors to show their work in the Art Gallery. If you are interested in exhibiting as an individual or a group, please contact the Library Director, Kathleen D. Leslie at 978-632-5298 or [email protected]

Workers' Credit Union  Gardner, MA
The bank offers the opportunity for a small display of artwork at the 171 Main St. branch in Gardner. For more info, contact Monica Whitehouse at 978-632-9207.

Art & Music Instruction Opportunity

The West Boylston Arts Foundation (WBAF) is always looking for artists, crafters, or musicians that would like to offer workshops or classes.

Donating a portion of the course fee to the WBAF to support school arts & music would be most welcome.

If interested, please contact Mark Baldi (508) 767-2803 - work (508) 835-6489 - home

More Classes & Exhibits
Volunteer Opportunities
We Need Your Help!
There are many ways to volunteer! Please email [email protected] to express your interest in helping out with our organization.
Newsletter Submissions
Have news about exhibits, awards, events, classes, call for artists or other art info?
Please send your news "publication ready" to [email protected]. See previous newsletters for example formats and the type of info to provide. We strongly recommend that you include a digital image related to the news as well as your website address & links to any venues. Image filenames should include the name of the artist and the work. Please post your press releases online whenever possible and submit a link.

Submission deadline is the 23rd of each month for publication on the 1st of the following month.

Inclusion of items/announcements is always at the discretion of GALA, but inclusion of submissions from non-members is limited to information deemed to be of benefit to GALA members.
Ads
If you would like your business logo inserted into our monthly newsletter for only $50 per year, contact us at [email protected].

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HEAL Winchendon is more than a project, it is a community movement for long lasting, “up-stream” change to improve the health and quality of life of Winchendon’s residents.We work hand in hand, building on our shared strengths and knowledge to address the daily struggles and needs of Winchendon residents. We strive to bring all people to the table to make change, connecting those who traditionally hold power with those who may have been excluded in the past. We hope to bring to life the Winchendon town motto: WINCHENDON WORKING TOGETHER!
All Star Award
GALA has achieved Constant Contact's All Star Award for 10 years in a row (2009-2018) for demonstrating best practices in the use of email marketing.

Award winners were selected from over 500,000 organizations in recognition for setting the standard of being a responsible, engaged, professional, and successful online marketer.

GALA continues its efforts to put out an informational, entertaining newsletter every month to inform its members of recent, current and future art news.