Len Emery 

Working Artist Program

Len Emery Joins the Working Artist Program at Canal Street Art Gallery

Canal Street Art Gallery, in Bellows Falls, Vermont, is pleased to present: Len Emery, the newest artist to participate in the Working Artist Program. Emery is on view from July 7th through September 29th. The Working Artist Program now provides two artist studios and exhibition spaces within the Canal Street Art Gallery. Artists process their own sales and curate their own space, all during regular gallery hours.

Join the gallery on 3rd Friday Gallery Night from 5-7pm on July 21st to welcome two artists in the Working Artist Program, including Judy Forman. Forman has completed three installments exhibiting as a Working Artist at the Gallery, and is a metal artist creating one-of-a-kind artist jewelry. 

Len Emery, based in Springfield, Vermont, is an aerial, photojournalism, and fine art photographer. Emery continues his darkroom practice on a small, environmentally friendly scale, and has fully embraced the digital technology available for photography. Emery has built a digital workstation in the Working Artist studio space, including a custom built copy stand, and scanner. At his studio in Springfield, Vermont, the artist produces and prints all his own work on archival inkjet printers. While in the Working Artist Program, Emery is offering new services: Artwork Photography and Fine Art Printing. Please email lenemeryphoto@gmail.com for more details.

Len Emery began work in the second Working Artist space at Canal Street Art Gallery while photographing and digitizing Thunder Basin, a 71 page graphic novel written and illustrated by Charles W. Norris-Brown. This was during the late artist’s first posthumous solo show at the gallery. The show presented the full collection of finished, first draft, and rough draft pages, including a manuscript, created by the artist from 2016 through 2022 for the Thunder Basin project. Produced by Len Emery Photography, The Charles W. Norris-Brown Estate is now offering archival pigment prints on uncoated Arches 100% rag paper of a growing number of artworks from Thunder Basin. 

During Emery’s time as a Working Artist he is sharing his process of book binding while continuing to produce hand made copies of his own books. Currently using the relatively straightforward method of stab binding, in development is the much more complex way of case binding. Emery is working to produce more copies of an 89 page, stab bound, 11.5 x 8 inch photo essay, called Down East Journal, The Fishermen of Washington County Maine. The second book is Vermont From One Thousand Feet an Aerial Photo Essay Volume 1: Orange, Windsor and Windham County, 2022, 80 pages. There are four more volumes to follow encompassing the remaining counties in Vermont. 

About the Working Artist Program

The goal of the Working Artist Program is to provide artists with an affordable space to complete a project, explore a new body of work, gain exposure and sales, or prepare for a solo show. Visitors to the Gallery now also have a unique chance to engage with an artist as they create their art. The public is welcome to come in to learn about and experience the process of art making. By offering a working and exhibiting space which is open to the public, with new artists every one to three months, the program contributes opportunities for dialogue, events, and classes to the community. 

The Working Artist Program is open to all artists with priority for local artists. Working Artists are expected to interact with gallery visitors, discuss their artwork, process and practice, and answer questions. Artists process their own sales and curate their own space. Upon completion of the program, artists present a self-curated solo show within their space to coordinate with a Bellows Falls 3rd Friday Gallery Night event.

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