Debra Disman

Artist

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Debra Disman

“Offal” is not so Awful

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I am thrilled to be included in the current exhibition at the Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, OFFAL

https://www.lamag.org/portfolio_page/offal/

Thank you Steven Wong, Curator, for putting this together.

Thank you Brianna Bakke, Assistant Curator, for your writing.

And, thank you to the whole curatorial and installation staff and any volunteers, for creating such a beautiful, immersive display of all the works.  “Throes of the Body” has never been lit like this before, and it made all the difference.

The detail of the piece could really be seen,

and made accessible to the viewers.

Gratitudes!

Fairy Tales…Make Your Own Books

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It was a gift to be able to work with students every day for five weeks this past summer, and introduce them to the book arts as well as other media. As a teaching artist, we often only see students once a week, so to be able to watch them learn and grow on a daily basis was a thrill!


Surrounded by scads of art supplies, tools and materials, 5-6 year old students in our “Fairy Tales” and “Make Your own Books” classes had an ideal situation for creating!


This outstandingly creative young student in “Make Your Own Books” certainly did just that, using her flag book to try out all kinds of drawing and painting media while exploring color, shape, line and texture.


Each flag page held a different combination of media, including acrylic and watercolor paints, pastels, crayons and markers.


Students created books large and small, including tiny ones that would fit in a (albeit rather large) matchbox!


Mixed media reigned supreme, such as combining letter stickers with markers and paint pens.


Oops! Markers on the project, not on your fingers!


Making and embellishing file folder portfolios was our first project. Some students created so many books they made a second portfolio to hold them!

A brilliantly bookish and imaginatively magical time was had by all!
Goodbye summer program, until next year!

Children Create Unique Handmade Books

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It was a gift to be able to work with students every day for five weeks this past summer, and introduce them to the book arts as well as other media. As a teaching artist, we often only see students once a week, so to be able to watch them learn and grow on a daily basis was a thrill!

In our “Creating Unique Handmade Books” class, students aged 6-8 learned and created a variety of book structures while exploring all sorts of materials. They learned about folding, gluing, sewing, and book structures including accordion, single signature, flag book, and side binding.

At the end of our time together, parents were invited to celebrate their bookish achievements, and a good time was had by all!


We used a wide variety of materials to create our books, including all sorts of papers, ribbon, stickers, washi tapes, feathers, glues, drawing and writing tools and more!


The accordion or concertina fold is primary in many bookmaking structures. Students learned this process then applied it to several projects.


Our wonderful TA wrote personal notes to all the students!


Single signature (a gathering of pages sewn together through the fold) structures were fun for the students to create, because they looked to them like “real” books.


We invited families to join us the second to last day of class to see all the students had created.


This student adores pattern and collage and had an impressive array of books featuring these by the end of our class session.


Mother and daughter peruse her handmade books together.


A young student shines as she shares her accordion-folded and flag books with her parents.


Sharing books with Dad…this student created so many books he made a second portfolio to hold them all!

It was hard to say goodbye after such storied adventures this summer, but it is my hope that these students will continue to exercise their imaginations as they make books and develop their skills and creativity.
They are well on their way!

Inspired By Great Artists: Keeping the Faith

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One of the Great Artists my students were inspired by this past summer was the amazing Faith Ringgold, inventor of the “Story Quilt“.

Inspired by Faith, students created a “quilt” through the combination of felt, textiles, fabric and painting on canvass, embellished with buttons, “pom poms”, ribbon and more, then painted borders to add to their quilts.

As a side project, some students created painted compositions using their names. It was fascinating to see that they used the same color combinations in both.

Our End of Class Show…a line-up of Faith Ringgold-inspired textile collages

Students had their own “color stories” as well, which repeated throughout their works.

The students employed a variety of materials in create an impressive amount of detail.

 

The students, all girls aged 9-11, seemed to pour their hearts into this project, working on it for twice the time planned.

Inspiring!

“Building A World” together

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Working in cardboard, wood, re-purposed materials and both found and decorative objects, my 2nd and grade “Building a World” students this summer created places and spaces of fantasy, invention and wonder. Worlds indeed! Here the “high” and “low” of materiality and culture collide, mix, match, dialogue, integrate and buttress up against each other in energized ways that only the imaginations of children could conjure up. A visual feast!

Collaboration, consideration, connection and creativity…we had it all this summer and more.

An inCREDIBLE experience.

The Art of The Book: Ages 11-14

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It was a rich and fascinating experience to work with 11-14 year olds in creating books this summer…in our class, “The Art of the Book“.

I had the opportunity to work with students every day for an hour, for 5 weeks straight, and it was joy!


Our 14 year old maker…loves PINK!


Flag book extraordinaire!


Pink accents painted on illustrations taken from book being altered.


Beautiful marbling work done on watercolor paper cover of this 11 year old maker’s side-bound book.

This same 11 year old (going into 6th grade) is an amazing painter, self-taught to some extent.


She spontaneously decided she would create this astounding painting on her multi-colored accordion fold book with terrific results.
Students created their own “book cloths” through painting with acrylic on canvas, and using it as a binding for their single signature books, done with real book board.

To teach this class was a real treat. I will be perusing these images, and pondering over what the students created for a long time to come…

Gratitudes!