Stay in the Wagon

My older brother is an Eagle Scout. I think he really enjoyed being a Boy Scout. His younger brother did not, which I think disappointed my parents. The adult leaders in the troop who knew my brother seemed surprised that I wasn't like my brother. Before I was a Boy Scout though, my brother and I embarked on an adventure that lives on in our family lore to this day.

I don't know how old I was the day that he and I set out on a hike into the woods, but I was young enough that he was pulling me behind him in a red wagon. In those days, if you were to cross the road in front of our house and start walking into the brush, it would have been a straight 2-mile shot through the woods to where our grandparents lived. I'm not sure what his intent was, but after a while, I felt like we were lost. I think he would say that we were simply late in arriving, but I'm not sure we were even expected at our grandparents. And for a while on that hike, he was pulling me and the wagon through some fairly deep, muddy water, admonishing me to "stay in the wagon!".

Our front yard in the 1970s

I don't know how old I was, and it's quite likely that my memories of that adventure contain more than a few embellishments. I do know that our absence was noticed, causing quite a bit of concern on both sides of that wilderness. Maybe panic is a better word. We eventually popped out of the woods on the other side, only a few yards from our grandparents' house, who by this time were waiting anxiously. The ride home was probably pretty uncomfortable for one of us.

"The lawn was like a hay field" at the ALL's Greenwald Gallery

Exciting news! My project, "The lawn was like a hay field," will be showcased at the Arts League of Lowell's Greenwald Gallery starting on April 24th! Join us for the opening reception on Saturday, April 27th, at 3pm. The reception is of course free and open to the public. 

I'm presenting photographs that I created when I was a teenager in the small town in which I was born and raised, juxtaposed with ones that I made there in the last couple of years. It’s a story filled with memories of growing up in that time and place, and how we've both changed and stayed the same.

As I was working on my book, "The lawn was like a hay field", I knew that I would eventually want to show this work in a gallery setting. So when the Greenwald Gallery opportunity presented itself I knew that it would be a perfect fit. The Greenwald, an intimate space within the encompassing Arts League of Lowell's bright and airy coop gallery, allows the viewer to interact with the art on a very personal basis.

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At the reception, and for the run of the show, the soft-cover edition of my book, The lawn was like a hay field, will be available from the gallery. It’s also available here.

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Where is the Arts League of Lowell?

307 Market Street, Lowell, MA 01852

From Route 3 North or South, or from I-495: Take the Lowell Connector to Thorndike Street. (Exit 5B). Follow Thorndike and continue on Dutton Street. Turn left on Market Street.
The ALL is on the right in the red brick Gates Block building. The gallery is just inside the main entrance. 

 (click here for a map)

Parking

There is some on-street, metered parking near the gallery, but the HCID Parking Facility, at 350A Dutton Street is a 6 minute walk. To get to the gallery from there, follow the signs toward, and past the National Park Visitor's Center, then turn left onto Market Street. Cross Dutton Street at the light and the ALL is the second building on the right.

(click here for a map to this garage)

About ALL

ALL was founded in the Fall of 2003 and held its first monthly meeting in January of 2004. With the help of its members, sponsors, and patrons, ALL fosters and celebrates creativity and artistic expression in Lowell and the surrounding areas. Click here to learn more.

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The Book. Available in Softcover!

The softcover version of my photography book, The lawn was like a hay field, is now available through my online store. Click here to go to the store!

I was both happy and sad when I announced my first edition, as it was a limited one, and while it sold out in the first day, there were also people who missed out. This new softcover edition is commercially printed so I anticipate having plenty of copies available.

The lawn was like a hay field is my photography book recalling life growing up in a small town in New Hampshire. It is a project that has been a long time in the making. It began in 2022 with my revisiting old photographs from my archive, making new ones in that town, and writing some of my memories from that period in my life. It’s a story of my growing up in that time and place, and how we both have changed in some ways, and both have stayed the same.

You can read about the story of my book’s creation in the last few editions of my blog:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

It's a sort of (very) good news, (not so) bad news thing...

First the good news: The hand-made, first-edition of my book, "the lawn was like a hay field", sold out on the first day that I announced its availability!

I am extremely grateful for all of the interest!

So the bad news is that they're gone. I am truly sorry if anyone was disappointed because they were not able to snag a copy.

The news may not be SO bad though. I am actively researching commercial printing options for a 2nd edition. I really enjoyed printing and hand-binding each of the books in the 1st edition, but it is really an investment in time and materials, so “limiting” the number is essential. A commercially-printed edition would obviously be more like a mass-produced art book than a hand-made one, but it would not be a limited one.

This idea is currently just that, an idea. A 2nd edition doesn't yet exist, so my ramblings here are not a commitment. Today though I would like to conduct an extremely unscientific survey. As many of you know, my blog posts feature a "like" button at the bottom of each post (it looks like a heart). You don't have to log into anything to register your opinion and I cannot see who presses the button. I only see a number of clicks. (You can always leave a comment for me though) But if you like the idea of more books being available, especially if you think you would like to purchase one, I would ask that you press the "like" button in today’s blog (look for the heart). There would be no commitment on your part either, but the raw numbers would be a fairly useful data point for me.

Thank you again for all of your interest in, and support of my work!!!

Adrien

The Book. It's available!

My book is now available for purchase!

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The book, "the lawn was like a hay field", is a limited, first-edition, hand-made photography book recalling my life growing up in a small town in New Hampshire.

Each copy of this hand-crafted book has been designed and hand-sewn by me. All of the book's 72 pages of my photographs and writings are archival ink-jet-printed, so the images in the book are actually high-quality photographic prints; the images are not reproductions.

Currently available as a limited first-edition of 18, each book has been numbered and can be signed by the artist.

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This project has been a long time in the making. It began about a year ago with selecting old photographs from my archive, making new ones in the town, writing my recollections, designing the layout of the book, studying how to make the books, practicing, sourcing tools, and the materials for the books themselves. Even launching the online-store has been an adventure.

If you’d like to see the progress, from early December, please see my previous 4 blog posts. (click on any of these 4 images to read more)

The Book, Part 1

The Book, Part 2

The Book, Part 3

The Book, Part 4

The Book, Part 4

All 18 copies of my limited edition, hand-made photo book, "the lawn was like a hay field", are finished!

The books are 8.5 x 8.5 inch, 72-page, hand-made, hard-cover books, and the pages are all ink-jet-printed, so the photographs are just that, not reproductions.

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The content, design, and printing of this piece is something that I have been working on for more than a year; in a way, actually for 55 years. Some of the photographs in the book are ones that I had created when I was a teenager in the small town in which I grew up, sequenced along with ones that I made there in the last couple of years. It’s a story of my growing up in that time and place, and how we both have changed in some ways, and both have stayed the same.

I have a few more logistical details to work out, but in the coming days I will have some of the edition available for purchase through my web site.

I will post the link once the page is live.

Today I am also publishing a new gallery containing some of the images from the project here on the web site. You can view the gallery here: https://adrienbisson.com/the-lawn-was-like-a-hay-field

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The Book, Part 3

When I embarked on this project I don't think I was thinking that creating a book would be easy. But I don't think I knew how big this project would end up being either. The process of creating the content of the book, from making the photographs and writing the text, to working with Emily Belz to select and sequence the photos, to working with Doug Sparks to get the text right, to ink-jet printing the entire 72 page book - 16 times, and now to actually making the hand-made books...has taken me about a year to get to this point. I still have a lot of book binding work to do, but the completed work is in sight!

I have one completed "artist proof", which is a prototype book. There are a couple of things that I learned from doing the AP that will help going forward, but the AP is effectively like the final product. I just completed the sewing of the other 15 book bindings and will be gluing the bindings this coming week. Then on to Middlesex Bindery, where Todd Davis has graciously shown me how to use his guillotine, and is allowing me to trim all 15 books. There is still a lot of work to do, specifically "casing in", but I am enjoying the process and the results are pretty gratifying.

In my next post I will include a page-turning video of a finished book, so I hope you'll stick with me!

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The Book, Part 2

The journey continues.

There are still places where you and I can buy, or borrow books; the kind of books made of paper. I have a much better appreciation now for the work that goes into making such creations. My journey through this process is one that involves mere photographs, and a few words. But I know now that the making requires more than just a concept, an idea, or even the raw material. It requires persistence and dedication; almost obsession.

The past couple of weeks I have been trying to finalize the content and the form of what I want to create, with the invaluable help of my mentor and my collaborators. The final selection and sequencing of the photographs has been made, my writing has been translated into grownup English, and I have begun the printing, stitching, and binding of the books. There's much more to do, but there's also progress!

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The Book, Part 1

Hello again!

In previous years I used to blog at the end of a calendar year in order to list the things that I had accomplished professionally in that year. But I’m finding that resuming my blogging especially challenging now, after a long pause, and after experiencing so many changes in the last couple of years. I no longer do client work. I am still making photographs, but ones that are of a different sort; for me.

For the last year I have been working on a personal project that may have been waiting in the wings, ready to be made for decades. It took serious talk and guidance from an incredible mentor to draw this out of my subconscious, and literally, out of my archives. I have been reluctant to even speak of this project to most people while I was developing the idea, mostly because I was hesitant to mention something that I worried I could not finish.

The body of work in this project consists of black & white photographs that I had made in the late 1960s and early 1970s, along with ones made in the last couple of years, of the town in which I was born and grew up. It’s about memories, family, who I was, and who I am now.

I decided to begin talking about it now because I am about to begin the process of making this story into a self-published, and limited edition hand-made photo book. I plan to document my progress as I build this physical manifestation of my project. I hope you find the process and the result worth checking out!

Lost & Found

I’ve collected a series of images that I have created over the course of several years that tell a little story about loss. As with a lot of my projects this is a work in progress, but I thought I would let you see it now as I think loss and finding things is especially close to us now after a year that we probably would rather forget.

Please click through to the project gallery and feel free to leave your comments.