Artists' Books

Library Love I

April 18, 2018 By Debra Disman

Library Love I

Leading a “folded fan” bookmaking program at the Wiseburn Library (one of the Branches of the Los Angeles County Public Library System) was pure joy

The fan book is a version of the Flag Book (invented by noted book artist Hedi Kyle), which uses full pages rather then “fragments“.

It is a great deal of fun to make, develop and embellish!

This young lady is studying Library Science, and getting invaluable on the job training.

Although shy under her hood, this young maker used brilliant pink in her book!

Two creative sisters work industriously on their books.

This young maker has a wonderful sense of design and color,

as is evidenced by his creative choices. He flanked the yellow with purple (complementary colors) with crisp black and white Zebra patterning in-between.

Mad about plaid…this young artist worked hard to create pages and covers in the same plaid pattern,

and proudly showed off his work (when asked…).

Girl Maker Power…

Boys rule too….

Layering patterns and materials.

Mom supports son and daughter in their creative efforts…

with “happy” results.

Devoted Children’s Librarian Samantha gets into the bookmaking act, creating alongside her young patrons,

and two makers compare notes.

A Community of Makers…at the Library!

Tunneling Through (2) Too

April 11, 2018 By Debra Disman

Tunneling Through (2) Too

It was fantastic to teach a workshop on Tunnel Books for families, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. The Tunnel Book is comprised of two accordion spines, or “sides”, connected by a “backdrop” and “cross pieces” or frames attached to the accordion folds moving “forward” in space.

The images below may explain the process more clearly, because, as we know, a picture is worth…how many words?

Two friends work intently, side by side, cutting shapes and image to add to their theater-like books.

Mother and Daughter attach pink and yellow backdrops to black accordion folded spines…

and add to their stories through color, shapes and texture.

The one half of this Mom and Daughter team sports a Princess Leia hairstyle from the original Star Wars movie! She and her Mom are working in related colors.

A talented and happy Mother and Daughter build out their books.

An imaginative young biy cuts concentric circles to give his book and even greater feeling of depth.

Backed by his supportive Mom, he took it upon himself to take the Tunnel Book project one step further.

Happy mom, and our beautiful art class assistant, Lady, a young Mom herself!

Little hands create big projects..

adding layers of color and shape, creating scenes and stories.

This young artist blew me away with her dedication, commitment and persistence…cutting out all the little yellow windows for her building…a real “mise en scène“…

Speaking of mise en scène…BEHOLD!

The work of this maker looks like she was influenced by the Alexander Calder “stabile” sculptures we looked at outside in the Directors Roundtable Garden as inspiration for our project….

A love of green…

Love Live Life

and…SMILE!

Just the right decorative paper for the waterfall down the mountains…

This young artist took the Degas image of The Little Dancer, and made her into a magical winged creature (fairy?) in what looks to be an enchanted place…the theme of flying is echoed in the large yellow butterfly attached to the upper left of the piece.

Adding layers to the piece…

and completing it…

Concentric circles surrounded by a delightful dash of “Ziegfield Follies‘ esque gold fringe!

A pièce de résistance indeed! This is a Masterwork if I ever saw one…blooming out in every direction!

Our fabled family makers….together

In Action!

In Resonant Residence (10)

March 22, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (10)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

in Santa Monica Wednesday January 10th. I share the sunlit space, located within the beautiful Mid-century building overlooking Palisades Park, Santa Monica Beach and the blue Pacific with textile artist and fellow Studio Artist-in-Residence Huong Nguyen.
“About the Art Lab and Camera Obscura

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Eighth and Ninth Workshops, March 3/10 2018: Working on “The Big Beach Book“, participants collaged, stenciled, stamped, drew and painted on its multitude of people-sized ever evolving surfaces surfaces….

Re-purposing maps, book pages, and even glass bottles to create new stamps…our imaginative workshop participants are creatives extraordinaire.

Just FYI, the flip flops are glued to the surface, and have stayed there…making their way across the proverbial “book beach”!

In Resonant Residence (9)

March 22, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (9)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Altering book pages…creating “black-out poetry” and “found writing”…creating books, large and small…

847.866.8173

In Resonant Residence (8)

February 26, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (8)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Sixth and Seventh Workshops, February 17/24, 2018: Working on “The Big Beach Book“, participants stenciled, stamped, drew and painted on its multitude of people-sized ever evolving surfaces surfaces….

A young woman who came to the Beach with her family took brushes and acrylic paints, and created this “goddess of the sea” (?!?) covering the top half of one of The Big Beach Book pages….finishing it off with proud signature. others then stepped in and added the sailboat, and fishes swimming below. Who knows how this page will develop over the coming weeks…

A trio of friends worked together on the Book’s front cover, using stencils to outline the shapes of the fish, which they then painted in brilliantly. They were invited to return this coming Saturday to further develop their artwork, and they said they would. Fingers crossed…

A recent arrival to LA visited the the Art Lab with her companion, and elegantly painted a panel of the Book’s accordion spine with stencils and hand-painted arrows…a lovely addition and gift.

Feel the love….

In Resonant Residence (7)

February 19, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (7)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Fifth Workshop, February 10, 2018: “Simple Sewn Booklets” AKA: Single Signature Books

Signatures are gatherings of folded pages, which when stitched together, can become the text block (area where text is added). In this process, we sewed together a single signature using the very useful pamphlet stitch.

We attached the covers to the signature, so that the stitched spine was exposed.

Participants could design and embellish their covers before gluing them directly to the signatures, or attach the covers, then develop them. Some “covered the covers”,, learning folding and cutting techniques and creating covered corners.

They made creative use of cord, lace, decorative papers…beads and more,

including repurposed jeans, specifically, the denim pockets!

The components of the book were prepared for participants to use, covers and signatures cut into squares, sewing holes punched. Yest still, the makers used every moment of the 2.5 hour workshop to create and develop their books.

Human ingenuity, devotion and love of the handmade never cease to amaze me…I am blessed to witness this regularly in my practice.

Gratitudes…