Debra Disman

Artist

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Debra Disman

Monochrome = BLACK

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“Black Zip, or “Facing Darkness“, 2020, 19 x 18 x .5”, mixed media (canvas, lace, sipper, wood, hemp cord)


“Torrent and Tangle: Keep Your House In Order“, 2019, 10.5 x 25 x 18”, mixed media (book board, mulberry paper, lace, ribbon,
 hemp cord, watercolor paper, acrylic paint)


“In the Thicket of It“, 2018, 18 x 30 x 23”, mixed media (book board, canvas, hemp cord, wood, mulberry paper, watercolor paper)


“Maximum Security“, 2018, 15 x 18 x 10.25”, mixed media (book board, canvas, watercolor paper, hemp cord, acrylic paint, wood)


“Black Hang Out“,  2017, 10.25 x 25 x 8”, mixed media (book board, mulberry paper, watercolor paper, canvas, acrylic paint, hemp cord)

 

ZOOM In On Distance Learning 6

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As everyone keeps saying, 2020 was a year like no other. Well, no-one had seen 2021 yet.

2021 it seems, may also prove to be a year like no other, finding us teaching online, in my case through Zoom, engaging in what is called, “distance learning”. Well, you can’t beat the commute and clean-up time, and I found there are indeed ways to connect significantly with students and colleagues, and even teach some things!

In February 2021, I led an accordion book with pockets program at the Panorama City Branch Library,  part of my artist residency in bookmaking there, through the wonderful Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.

Using bright tag board and richly patterned origami papers,


participants learned the accordion/consertina fold,


how to create pockets in their books,


how to cover and embellish their covers,


and how to add hopes and wishes to their pockets!


Whole families, as well as Library staff, got into the act.


Pure Joy.

Gratitudes!

 

ZOOM In On Distance Learning 5

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As everyone keeps saying, 2020 was a year like no other. Well, no-one had seen 2021 yet.

2021 it seems, may also prove to be a year like no other, finding us teaching online, in my case through Zoom, engaging in what is called, “distance learning”. Well, you can’t beat the commute and clean-up time, and I found there are indeed ways to connect significantly with students and colleagues, and even teach some things!


As part of my artist residency in bookmaking at the West Valley Regional Branch Library through the  Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, participants learned the “double flower fold” technique, and created unique valentines with richly colored and patterned origami papers, which they then placed in paper boxes they unfolded, then folded, to house their creations.


After learning the fold, interestingly challenging over Zoom, the makers learned how to glue them together into an expanding and contracting chain,


which folded up into a 2.5 x 2.5″ square,


and was easily placed in their boxes, to create a one-of-a-kind gift. Participants could then embellish their boxes,


and add words and imagery to their folded “flowers”.


A diverse intergenerational group of enthusiasts worked together happily and supportively.


Branch Manager got into the act, carefully planning the colors of his flower-fold chain.


Children’s Librarian Kristin Peers also created stunning color combinations, and, what a background!

It looks like there may have been some very happy Valentine gift recipients, but maybe not as happy as their makers.
Because making, is the BEST!

MEDIA page

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I have been empowered by learning how to update my Site’s MEDIA page!

This is the page in my Site where I share, through word, image and link, everything that pertains to MEDIA that I have been involved in:

Print media
Digital/online media
Film/video
including
Press/listings across platforms
Exhibition catalogues, publicity and tours
Artist talks
and more.

Thank you beloved web and graphic designer Dianna Jacobsen, for the design, the tutalage, the support and the patience …

O, and, the sense of humor!

It has been fun, and enlightening.

Check it out….

M E D I A

“Home Sick”, or, Sick of Home?

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Home sick or sick of home? This international exhibition will present artwork that captures how the tumultuous events of 2020 have shaped personal experiences and artistic practice. Works will be shown that suggest how the phrase “Home Sick” can take on multiple meanings in today’s revolutionary climate. Home Sick will exhibit traditional and contemporary artwork across a wide array of media – painting, photography, drawing, pastels, printmaking, ceramics, textiles, wearable art, sculpture, film, artists’ books, and other new media. 

The Art Effect announces the launch of its new international juried exhibition series and pilot youth museum studies program in 2021. Home Sick will be The Art Effect’s inaugural national juried exhibition in its new 3,000-sq-ft gallery at the Poughkeepsie Trolley Barn in the heart of the City of Poughkeepsie. This exciting exhibition will be on display February 25 – April 1, 2021.

“Home Sick will serve as a core component of a pilot program to put youth in the “driver’s seat” leading exhibitions and programming at the Trolley Barn,” says Executive Director Nicole Fenichel-Hewitt. Youth at The Art Effect developed the exhibition theme to invite artists to capture how the concept of being “home sick” can take on multiple meanings in light of a tumultuous year such as 2020.

Curator Mary-Kay Lombino, Deputy Director and Emily Hargroves Fisher ’57 and Richard B. Fisher Curator at The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center, Vassar College, will work closely with The Art Effect youth to juror the show made up of submissions from around the world. ”We’re very excited to have youth work alongside established curators like Mary-Kay to co-create high-quality exhibitions and develop the skills needed to pursue careers in the art museum field” noted Fenichel-Hewitt.

I am thrilled to show “BedTime Story” in this innovative show, and support the young jurrors and experienced curator in their combined efforts.
“BedTime Story” 2018, 12 x 28 x 8.5″, mixed media/artists’ book: book board, repurposed textiles, cloth and fabric, hemp cord, ceramics with beads created by Judy Disman.

RECOVERY JUSTICE: Being Well

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I am thrilled to participate in:

RECOVERY JUSTICE: Being Well

March 8, 2021 – July 16, 2021
at
18th Street Arts Center (Airport Campus)

“Being Well” is what we seek together as neighbors, and recalls one of the central guiding principles of the City of Santa Monica, the notion of “wellbeing” as key to civic health. Recovery Justice: Being Well, aims to highlight the recent circumstances that have evolved during the pandemic (racial justice demonstrations and destruction, as well as social discontent and general disconnection) into a series of self-organized artist projects that merges the exterior and interior public spaces of City of Santa Monica property. 18th Street Airport Campus at Santa Monica Municipal Airport will be the site where artists reimagine the city and beyond in the midst of complex social unrest globally. Recovery Justice will recuperate through various means the digital and physical footprints left in a city that struggles to reclaim the seemingly peaceful environment it once had. Artists will develop a palette for making and sharing artworks responding to the street experience in safe, healing and expressive modes. This porous series is a point of departure to reconcile and redefine the concept of justice.

This collage of self-organized artist projects was organized around the common theme of Recovery Justice, facilitated as part of Sara Daleiden’s artist project and ongoing conversations nurtured through a series of online conversations with 18th Street’s artist community called “Creative Roundtables” over the past 8 months. These projects will manifest in outdoor presentations on the side of the building; sculptural, photographic, painting and video work in the galleries; and a series of online and drive-in events in Spring of 2021. The artists’ presentations will also be represented online and via a 360 tour for virtual viewing.”

Participating artists include: Sara Daleiden, Nicola Goode, Susie McKay Krieser, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, M Susan Broussard, Lionel Popkin, Yrneh Gabon Brown, Lola del Fresno, Debra Disman, Melinda Smith Altshuler, Gregg Chadwick, Luciana Abait, Deborah Lynn Irmas, Rebecca Youssef, and Dan S. Wang.

Sara Daleiden’s residency and facilitation work on these projects is generously supported by the Mike Kelley Foundation for the Arts. Bailiwik is also a supporting partner on this exhibition.

ABOUT THE FACILITATOR
(such a joy working with Sara)
Sara Daleiden is a Los Angeles-based artist who facilitates civic engagement within developing landscapes, exercising arts and cultural exchange strategies. She encourages local cultures to value neighborhoods, public space, civic art, land and racial and gender equity. Sara has an expertise in working with artists and other cultural entrepreneurs for civic engagement, creative placemaking, network development and small business development.

Her project at 18th Street Arts Center grows out of the placekeeping work that 18th Street has been engaged in over the past six years through our cultural asset mapping project (culturemapping90404.org) and the Commons Lab, which involves community voices to define, center, and connect cultural practices within their own neighborhoods. Her practice investigates the influence of location, scale, market, values and other regional factors on the production of the arts and cultural identity. Through methodologies involving partnership mapping, network building, and the facilitation of self-organizing and advocacy, Sara aims to enhance the advocacy power of artists in influencing neighborhood development in the city. Her durational engagement with 18th Street will spin off land-based activations with opportunities for neighbors, artists, city staff, and the broader public to participate. Sara has been collaborating with arts workers Nicola Goode, Susannah Laramee Kidd, Dorit Cypis and Kimberli Meyer for this artist project.

Pictured is “drift”, a collaboration between myself, and esteemed 18th Street colleague and artist, Luciana Abait.

More To Come!!!