Williamston artist honors late son with first book, ‘The Forever’

Bryan Brouwer’s first book, “The Forever: A Watercolor Journey Through Love, Time, and Memory,” can be described as a children’s book for adults.

“Many people assume that because it features teddy bears and is told in rhythmic verse, it must be a children’s book, Brouwer, 63, said. “Honestly, it can be read to children, and many of my readers have done exactly that. There are messages in it that celebrate children and resonate with them. However, children don’t have the life experience, hopefully, to fully understand all of the topics ‘The Forever’ covers. That understanding comes later.”

His son Christian’s death from cancer in September at age 29 served as the impetus for the book.

“Cancer is such an insidious disease,” Brouwer said. “Being there through that, watching him continue to push forward as the disease ravaged his body, watching him think of others before himself, it stayed with me. As I found out later, he had been protecting me from much of what he was truly experiencing. Coming to understand the journey he was on and the journey everyone who loved him was on, out of that pain came a clarity about how temporary the things and people we care most about truly are. After Christian’s death, I had to ask the harder questions: What is this for? Is there a point? A reason?

“When the light started to flicker back, I realized that the journey itself on a daily or even a minute-by-minute basis was exactly the point. To love, to cry and to hope,” he continued. “I thought that by sharing my experience in a loose, almost imaginary way, it might invite others to remember, to grow and to celebrate the very journey they are on. Because every parent — really anyone who loves someone deeply — aches watching them grow and wonders if they will find their place in the world. But under close consideration, most realize it was always about the one you love and the hope for their future.”

Brouwer spoke about what makes “The Forever” stand out from other books.

“Most books about this subject focus on grief, or they focus on children, or on celebrating children. ‘The Forever’ focuses on the experience of the parents as they celebrate their children: the tears, the apprehension, the joy as they watch them grow. It reminds you that time always moves forward, and that loving someone and having children is not an antiseptic experience. Hopefully, ‘The Forever’ raises the hair on your arms and allows you to cry without regret,” he said.

It was a deliberate decision to make the characters animals and not people.

“My work tries to respect the reader by giving them room to remember their own journeys, to focus on what matters today, without dictating the story to them,” he said. “I wanted to present the story in a way that respected the reader and gave them room to experience it on their own terms. If I had used actual people, it would have felt too intimate and too static. Using animals freed up the reader’s imagination, the same reason I chose rhythmic text. The bear family specifically felt right because most people grew up with a teddy bear of some kind, and everyone loves Winnie the Pooh. There’s just a natural connection there that opens the door before you even read the first word.”

Initially, Brouwer had no intention of writing and illustrating a book. However, he had to tell his story.

“It was almost not even a choice. The only real choice was whether to share it with anyone else,” he said. “What I don’t want people to lose sight of is that I was actively living many of the feelings I was writing about while I was creating it. This was therapy for me, a way to process and pass along my experiences in a real, raw way. I was trying to be less clinical and more intentional about every word and every image.”

The most challenging part about the project was confronting his own feelings.

“Then figuring out how to put them into a format that was real and helpful while honestly exploring where I stood at each point of that journey,” he said. “I promised myself I would remain hopeful throughout, and I think that comes through in the book. There were many tears throughout this process.”

The majority of Brouwer’s artwork is reflective.

“It looks at things that are hard and deserve that attention, but it also holds space for hope, for the possibility that a better future exists, that the way things are today is not how they were meant to be,” he said. “‘The Forever’ opened conversations I never anticipated. Readers cried because it reminded them of their own journey or a specific moment in their life. Readers are asking me to send copies to their friends because ‘they have to have this.’ And friends have told me it helped them through difficult times.”

SIDEBAR: About Bryan Brouwer

The eldest of three children, Bryan Brouwer was born in Grand Rapids and raised in Kalkaska. He has lived in Williamston for 30 years with Jenni, his wife of 35 years. They have a son, Alex, 33. (Their younger son, Christian, died last year.) 

Brouwer is an alumnus of Kalkaska High School. He earned an associate degree from Northwestern Michigan College in Traverse City and later completed coursework at Michigan State University. 

For 13 years, he has been a professional artist. 

“I’ve always been drawn to watching other artists work, not necessarily famous ones, but people who could create something from nothing,” he recalled. “In my early 20s, I was going through a difficult time emotionally, and I started expressing what I was feeling through drawing. The work was often dark and focused inward. But through that, I discovered something in myself: that no matter what was happening in my life, I could express it through art.”

Four years ago, Brouwer opened his first Etsy shop. Three years ago, he formally launched WilliamstonArt LLC. 

“That marks a serious and deliberate effort to build something with greater outreach. The years before that were focused on learning my craft and, more importantly, figuring out what kind of statement WilliamstonArt was going to make,” he said. “WilliamstonArt uses watercolor art — and now a book — to give people a moment to relive cherished memories. To remember, just for a moment, fishing with their grandpa. It also carries a deeper message, that people are truly worthwhile just as they are, that their true selves deserve to be expressed. That every child born is worthy of celebration, not just that one child, but every single child.”

Brouwer is hard at work on his next book, “The Goodbye,” featuring Baby Bear and Mother Bear from “The Forever.”

“It’s a heartbreaker, but I believe the story is told with the same love and compassion as ‘The Forever,’” he said. “I don’t want to give too much away, but it follows Baby Bear with his trusted companion, Ben. Ben is a stuffed toy who is always there for Baby Bear. Ben doesn’t have words or expressions, but Baby Bear can always depend on him being there. ‘The Goodbye’ is also fully hand-painted watercolor. I wanted that approach to help express the feeling in a more natural, personal way.”