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Debra Disman

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THE INTERSECTION-Where Art and Community Meet: Flag Bookmaking at 18th Street Arts Center

April 7, 2025 By Debra Disman


Working with the 18th Street Arts Center Community.
Making Flag Books.

On April 1st, 2025 (no joke).

A sublime experience.

Loved every minute.

Share the experience:
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/u-Oe8zYKArc
Animator Stephen Siemens Works his Flag Book
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/fQl1I-KdJT0
Poet Susan Suntree and her Alter

            me

 

             

 

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Teaching Artist, TEXTILE/FIBER, Textiles/Fiber/Cloth Tagged With: "Make Your Own Books!", 18th Street Arts Center, Adults making Books, AIR, Art Center, Art Community, Artists In Residence, ARTISTS RESIDENCY PROGRAM, Bookmaking, Bookmaking in Community, Community, Flag Book, Flag Book Workshop, FLAG BOOKMAKING, Intersection, Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman, Los Angeles, Making Books Together, SANTA MONICA, Workshop

Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman!

March 31, 2025 By Debra Disman

Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman

April 1 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

FREE!

Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman
Tuesday, April 1st | 5PM – 7PM
18th Street Arts Center
1639 18th Street. Santa Monica, CA 90404

Free + Open to the Public

Formally Happy Hours and Potlucks, these gatherings are dedicated to gathering our community around good food, conversation, and art. Please stop by for a bite and chat with our community and spotlight artist: Debra Disman.

Please join us to create & learn, express & enjoy together! Debra Disman will lead us through the making of fun and fantastic “Flag Books”, made of an accordion-folded spine and intimate flag pages onto which you can inscribe your own text, found or otherwise, imagery or any combination of these to tell your own story of the present moment as you are experiencing it. All materials will be provided but if you would like, please bring ephemera and memorabilia to personalize to your book.

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Student Work, TEXTILE/FIBER, Textiles/Fiber/Cloth, Venues, Work Tagged With: "Make Your Own Books!", 18th Street Arts Center, Artmaking, Bookmaking, Community, COMMUNITY BOOKMAKING, Fantastic Flag Books, Flag Book, FLAG BOOKMAKING, flag bookmaking program, Flag Books, Flag Books and Found Writing, Happy Hour Event Tags: happy hour, Intersection, Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman, Making Art Together, spotlight artist

“We Write The Book” Double Signature Bookmaking Workshop at the Northridge Library!

March 26, 2025 By Debra Disman

I was thrilled to lead an “Accordion Fold Book with Pockets and Pages” workshop at the Northridge Branch Library in honor of Women’s History Month, International Women’s  Day, and Women Artists everywhere!

Participants learned to how to create a book using the accordion fold technique, how to fold pockets as part of the structure, and how to sew in pages, or “signatures“, (gatherings of folded pages) using the pamphlet stitch.

Participants also learned about ground breaking women artists Faith Ringgold, Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama , Louise Nevelson, Betye Saar,  Georgia O’Keeffe.

 

I am thrilled to work  with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency (NEAR).  I am honored to be serving the City of Los Angeles again through the DCA.
Join us for this and other bookmaking workshops! JOIN US!

 

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, LIBRARIES, Presentations, Student Work, TEXTILE/FIBER, Textiles/Fiber/Cloth, Women Artists, Work Tagged With: Accordion Fold, art-making workshops for families, Artist Residency, Book, Book as Art, Book Structures, BOOKBINDING, Bookmaking, Books made by Hand, Books with Pockets, CLosed-SPoine Accordion, Community, Community Artmaking, COMMUNITY BOOKMAKING, DCA LA, DCA-funded artist residency, Faith Ringgold, Families Making Books, Family Bookmaking, February, Flag Book, Frida Kahlo, Georgia O'Keeffe, Handmade Books, Intergenerational Arts workshops, International Women's Day, LAPL, Librarians, Los Angeles Public Library, Making Books Together, mixed media books, NEAR Residency, Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency, Northridge, Northridge Branch Library, PAMPHLET STITCH, Psges, Self-expression, Sewn bindings, Sewn book, Sewn Books, Signatures, Single Signatures, The Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles, THE LOS ANGELES PUBLIC LIBRARY SYSTEM, three hole Pamphlet Stitch, Women, Women Artists, Women's history month, Yayoi Kusama

PAPER Is In The Air…

February 18, 2025 By Debra Disman

The proverbial scent of paper is in the air!

I am delighted to be showing in two exhibitions focussed on PAPER in the months of February and March.

First up is the exhibition “PAPER” is presented online February 13, 2025 – March 13, 2025 by Site: Brooklyn

SEE THE SHOW HERE!

The 20th century marked the peak, and subsequent decline, of paper’s dominance over everyday life. “Paperwork” is still a near-universal experience, but like everything else, has taken a more-and-more virtual form. Paper, unlike most artistic mediums, is a substrate first and artistic medium second. Created from textile waste, paper is woven very deeply into the fabric of modern life. It can be equally associated with the transformation of work, easy replication, industriousness, disposability, creativity, and experimentation. Since its invention, these qualities have encouraged artists to prepare, design, and experiment on paper. Ironically, it was in the later part of the 20th century when artists like Dorothea Rockburne. Ed Ruscha, and Robert Rauschenberg took the investigations of the Cubists into papier collé and developed paper as both a physical object, and a subject. Site:Brooklyn is looking for works that continue and expand this tradition.

Exhibition Juror, Rachel Gladfelter  is the Director at Pace Paper. Previously, she was the gallery director for the Pace Prints NYC, a fine art print gallery specializing in original, limited-edition prints in collaboration with printmaking affiliates, Pace Editions and Pace Paper. Before that, Gadfelter held the position of Studio Director for Dieu Donne Paper.

I am deighted to show “Excavation of the Interior”, 2021, 12 x 28 x 12.5″, wood, paper, cloth, hemp cord, linen thread

Curatorial Statement: Rachel Gladfelter
Paper is an exhibition that brings together 42 artists working within this versatile medium.  Ranging from intimate collaged ink drawings like Christopher Miller’s Dog Sitting to Svetlana Grigoryeva’s earthy and tactile Breathing of Bark, paper promotes ideas as expansive as its material capability.

Ancient and versatile, paper has historically acted as a carrier, allowing the sharing of ideas, image and word.  With the advent of exploratory papermaking studios and residency spaces in the mid to late 20th century, artists began creating work within the medium itself, bringing new energy and innovation.  Paper’s potential is infinite as both substrate and essential substance.  

As a substrate, it is luring.  To quote Ellsworth Kelly, “When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I’ve got to draw.  And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.”  As a medium in and of itself, the ability to create new ideas from the raw materials of fiber and water has a romantic tactility.  Paper can be additive: poured, painted and brushed.  It can be constructed into a new form.  It can be a lightweight shell of an object, or it can be a solidly cast shape.  It can be wrapped around an armature, and it can be cut, torn or shredded.  Paper can be painted on, photographed, crumpled up, eaten, heard, touched, twisted, drawn on, printed on and carried in protest.  It is fragile yet resilient.  It transports history, stories and secrets.  It moves as easily in a systematic mail system as in the unpredictable wind.  Paper is responsive.  It is historical and present, bringing life and purpose to ideas.  Paper is an analogue in a digital age.   The works in Paper share the significance of this medium’s intimacy and clear purpose in its utilization; albeit shown in a digital exhibition. The artists exhibited create works where paper is intrinsic to their ideas around themes of pattern, nature, politics, structure, and memory.  Each wall highlights one of these motifs. – Rachel Gladfelter

Site:Brooklyn Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting the current practice of contemporary artists. We are taking Site:Brooklyn online with a new series of interactive exhibitions. Our goal remains the same, to connect artists with an expert and diverse set of jurors through the open call format. Our new program focuses on online open call exhibitions, selected by a cast of new jurors, solo artist features, and spotlights.

SEE THE “PAPER” SHOW HERE!

In March I will be showing in the exhibition CUT/FOLD/PRESS, presented at Craft Alliance, and juried by the renowned Buzz Spector. More to come on this in another post!

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Presentations, TEXTILE/FIBER, Textiles/Fiber/Cloth, Venues, Work Tagged With: ARTIST BOOKS, Brooklyn, Buzz Spector, craft alliance, Cut/Fold/Paste, Dieu Donne Paper, Group Exhibition, New York City, NY, NYC, Online Show, Pace, Pace Editions, Pace paper, Pace Prints, Pace Prints NYC, Paper, Paper in artowrks, paper show, Rachel Gladfelter, Site: Brooklyn, Site: Brooklyn Gallery, Works on and of paper, Works on paper

Bookmaking Love at the West Hollywood Library!

February 11, 2025 By Debra Disman

I was thrilled to lead a Valentine’s bookmaking program February 8th, 2025, at 2PM at the  West Hollywood Library, a beautiful and welcoming place for the whole community!

Participants learned to create their own accordion fold book with pockets and pop-ups they could give a a gift for Valentine’s Day or keep for themselves.
They added  special messages into the pockets, and learned how to create fun one and two-cut pop-ups!
Refreshments and all materials were included.

See VIDEO HERE!

A love-filled time was had by ALL!


 


See VIDEO HERE!

 

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Student Work, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: Accordion Fold Book, Bookmaking, Bookmaking at the Library, Bookmaking for the Community, Books with Pockets, Boox, Community, COMMUNITY BOOKMAKING, Folded Books, Friends of the West Hollywood Library, Frineds of the Weho library, Frineds of the West Hollywood Lobrary, Handmade Books, Library arts workshops, Love filled bookmaking, making Books, Making Books Together, Making Valentines, POP-UPS, Valentine Love, Valentine's Day, Valentine's Day Bookmaking, WEHO Library, West hollywood Community, West Hollywood Library

Don’t Judge a Book by Its Cover

January 29, 2025 By Debra Disman

I am thrilled to participate in “Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover” at the the Cultural Center of Cape Cod

February 3 @ 12:00 pm – March 1 @ 5:00 pm
Please join us for the opening reception  5-7PM February 7, 2025 at the
Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Inc. 307 Old Main Street South Yarmouth, MA 02664

“Don’t Judge a Book by its Cover“, is an evocative visual art exhibition designed to challenge our perceptions and invite us to look beyond the superficial. This engaging showcase, presented at the Cultural Center, features a variety of artists who use unexpected materials, surprising forms, and innovative techniques to question the initial impressions and judgments we often make.

Each piece in the collection serves as a metaphor for the complexity of identity and the hidden depths beneath external appearances. By juxtaposing the seen with the unseen, this exhibition encourages viewers to reconsider how they interpret not only art but each other in everyday life

Join us from February 3 – March 1, 2025, for a transformative journey that redefines what it means to truly ‘see.’

I am thrilled to show:
Red Notebook (Here’s To The Red, White and Blue), 8.5 x 12.5 x 6.5″, placemat, linen thread, hemp cord, cloth, wood

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, TEXTILE/FIBER, Textiles/Fiber/Cloth, Venues, Work Tagged With: Book, Cape Cod, Cultural Center of Cape Cod, Everyday Life, external appearances, Group Exhibition, Group Show, hidden depths, IDENTITY, innovative techniques, Juried Exhibition, Molly Demeulenaere, surprising forms, unexpected materials, Unseen, Yarmouth

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