Art is Family

One of the things I always tell my beginning animation classes is that their career has started as soon as they walk in the door of their first animation class. Look around you, I will say, you will see most of these people for the rest of your life. Some of them will work with you. Some on them will work for you. And some of them you will work for. Some of them you will have all three work relationships with.

Last week I got a call from one such person. John Bisson and I where students together at the Kubert School. We did special effects on grade Z and NYU film-student level slasher films together. We partied together. We were and are friends these 30 years and more.

Film, comics, animation, all very small fields. Everybody knows everybody. Keep your friends. Don`t burn your bridges. When all is said and done. Your art family is your real family. Your family of choice.

I am saddened to hear of the passing of John`s mother so soon after the death of his father. Mrs. Bisson put up with our madness casting latex monsters and body parts out in her garage. She was a fine lady who was always kind to me. She would bring us Pepsi in the hot afternoons. And she put up with us taking over her kitchen, mixer and oven for foam latex. (and if you burn latex in an oven you never get the taste out again)

I wouldn`t have gotten into doing stop motion if I hadn`t worked with John on go motion and I wouldn`t have been able to work with John if his mother had put her foot down and done the sensible thing and kicked us out of her garage. God bless you Mrs. Bisson. You were always a kind soul.

John Bisson and some of his designs for Trancers