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Debra Disman

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Unfolding the Possibilities: Bookmaking with Self-Compassion 1

May 28, 2021 By Debra Disman

I was honored to have led “Bookmaking with Self-Compassion” on
Saturday, May 15, 2021, a workshop which invited participants to:

“Make an artist book celebrating their own creative growth”.

This program was presented through 18th Street Art Center’s Arts Learning Lab, with support from the County of Los Angeles Department of Mental Health‘s campaign We Rise LA. WE RISE encourages wellbeing and healing through art, connection, community engagement and creative expression and takes/took place during May: Mental Health Awareness Month.  It is part of artist Sara Daleiden’s artist project  RECOVERY JUSTICE: BEING WELL. 

Participants discovered how to create the beautiful, fun and versatile Flower Fold book into which they could add wishes, hopes, prayers and dreams.

These works could become a chain to hang in their homes,

give as a gift,

or remain  an individual document of self-expression

exploring what the pandemic has meant to  them,

while learning new skills and creating a unique expression of renewal and rebirth during the spring season.

Makers used origami Papers,  glue sticks, railroad board, cardstock, ribbon,  stickers and items
they found in their immediate environment to create their books.

The results were stunning…beautiful, expressive, evocative, and telling of the past year.

It is a joy to share these self-compassionate bookworks….

These works shall remain powerful and poignant

of a never to be forgotten experience, that lingers and informs our present moment.

Kudos to filmmaker and videographer Jeny Amaya for her stellar documentation.

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Student Work, Teaching Artist Tagged With: 18th Street Arts Center, 18th@Home, Art in the time of pandemic, Arts Learning Lab, ARTS LEARNING LAB @ HOME, ARTS LEARNING LAB @ HOME: CREATIVE SELF-COMPASSION, Books made by Hand, Community Arts Workshop, Flower Fold Book, Handmade Books, LA Country Department of Mental Health Services, Online Arts Workshop, Online Bookmaking Workshop, Self Care, self-compassion, Time of Pandemic, We Rise, Why We Rise

CULMINATING OUR ARTIST RESIDENCY: Panorama City Branch Library

May 12, 2021 By Debra Disman

My 2020-21 artist residency supported by the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs at the Panorama City Branch Library has drawn to a close!

We had wonderful CULMINATION event of  bookmaking, sharing, art and poetry to celebrate our Residency program, and honor National Poetry Month (April)!

Please see video slide show of the Residency projects,  during the CULMINATION event and online on the Panorama City Branch Library’s  Facebook and Instagram pages!


The wonderful Beth, Children’s Librarian and tech manager extraordinaire for our program!

FLAG BOOK FUN!

Placing the flag pages and setting up the structure… Far Out Tatiana’s Flip Book

Tatiana and her Flip Book!

Best Friends Forever!

Stickers galore! Sticker heaven PARACHUTE…hmmm…
Sneak peak of work surface while conducting the program!

Such a wonderful experience, and now, ever onwards to our Artist Residency of 2021-22!

Thank you to the LA DCA!!

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Student Work, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: 'Writing Poetry, 2021, ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, Artist Residency, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book as Art, CITY OF LOS ANGELES DEPARTMENT OF CULTURAL AFFAIRS, City of Los Angeles Public Library, Community Art programs, Creating books by hand, Culmination, Distance learning, Flag Book, Handmade Books, LAPL, Los Angeles Public Library, Making Books By Hand, making books online, National Poetry Month, Online Bookmaking, Online bookmaking workshops, Panorama City Branch Library, Poetry, Poetry Books, Reading Poetry, Slide Show, Zoom, Zoom art workshops, Zoom classes

Insight into Insight

April 27, 2021 By Debra Disman

The Cape Cod Museum of Art presents:  INSIGHT.

“When spoken, this word can be broadly understood as – Insight, In Sight and Incite. What is Your interpretation?”
I am thrilled to be part of this evocative exhibition, taking place in CCMA’s expansive Hope / McClennen exhibition hall. The show is available virtually on the Museum website .

I thank Mark Chester of  Mark Chester Photography and fellow exhibitor in the show (please see his marvelous, iconic portrait image introducing the exhibition) for gifting me with photos of my work MAXIMUM SECURITY (15 x 18 x 10.25″, mixed media (book board, canvas, watercolor paper, acrylic paint, hemp cord, wood) in the show.

 All of the following photographs are by Mark Chester of  Mark Chester Photography.
Thank you Mark for sharing my work.  I am honored to share yours!

 

The juror is Grace Hopkins, gallery director at the Berta Walker Galleries in Provincetown, and Wellfleet, MA,  and an international guidance counselor for the arts. In a 2014 review of her own artwork in The Banner, Susan Rand Brown called Hopkins: “A photographer with the eye and soul of a painter,” and said “The images she shoots suggest the sharply angled details of a Franz Kline, geometric shapes and flat colors of her father (Budd Hopkins) or a sudden burst of translucent layers, which could have been – but definitely are not – details from a collage by Robert Motherwell. Suddenly a viewer feels surrounded by the freshness of expressionist imagery and motion, each piece different, each piece allusive yet quite original.”

523 artworks were submitted by 272 artists from 30 states across the country for INSIGHT. Only 65 artworks have been selected from 60 artists in 16 states.

Says Grace Hopkins of selecting the work for this show: 
“Narrowing down the artwork for this exhibition was challenging. I first had to digest all 500+ submissions as a whole before any threads of meaning could be drawn between the works, and a final cohesive subset could be chosen. As a gallery director I am regularly confronted with an aesthetic puzzle. But, when you throw in the added thematic complexity of INSIGHT and the sheer number of works submitted, making a final selection was both a demanding and rewarding exercise in distillation. I want to thank everyone who came forward and placed their artwork into this pool. Another juror, with different values and sensibilities would have solved this very differently. Your collective vision, ability and insight moved me.”

INSIGHT runs through June 20, 2021

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, Exhibitions, Work Tagged With: "Maximum Security", 2021 Exhibitions, Art in the time of COVID 19, Berta Walker Galleries, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Contemporary Art, Contemporary Art Exhbitions, Contemporary Art in the time of the Pandemic, EXHBITION, Grace Hopkins, INSIGHT, Mark Chester, Mark Chester Photographer

Imagination, Experimentation and Play!

April 14, 2021 By Debra Disman

Free your imagination, experiment, and….PLAY!

Join us for this art and bookmaking online workshop, source your own materials, and create your own exploratory masterpiece! Details in the flier below. 

Presented by The California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, part of the national  Guild of Book Workers, this workshop is a point of departure for anyone at any skill level who has a desire to explore the world of book arts in a safe, supportive and fun online environment.

Please contact me through the site contact form with any questions.
Hope to see you there!!!!

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book as Sculpture, Book Form, BOOK STRUCTURE, BOOKMAKING WORKSHOP, Conceptual Book, Creativity, Experimentation, Exploration Book Arts, Folded Fan Book, Guild of Book Workers, Handmade Books, Imagination, Online Artmaking Workshop, Online Bookmaking Workshop, Play, Sculptural Books, The California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, The Guild of Book Workers

Worth “A Thousand Words”

March 31, 2021 By Debra Disman

It was a pleasure to participate in Core New Art Space‘s exhibition: 

Juror, Richard Chamberlain, pursues several lines of work in visual and performing arts and is a published poet as well. He was looking for: “….works that tell a story. Realistically, abstractly or expressionistically inspired by literature and legends, poetry and parables, novels and narratives, myths and metaphors, artworks have their own fictions, fables, folklore or fairytales. Artworks can be worth a thousand words. The exhibited works were judged on overall impact, content, composition and mastery of techniques, as well as attention to creativity and craftsmanship.”

Below are images of the show, including my work, “Window Treatment“, a sculptural artists’ book,
perhaps evoking the film, “Rear Window”.

What stories go on behind these windows?!

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Work Tagged With: Artist, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Colorado Galleries, Contemporary Art, Core New Art Space, Core New Art Space: A Thousand Words, Exhibitions, Handmade Books, Juried Shows, Richard Chamberlain, Story, Storytelling, Text, Window Treatment, Words, Words In Art

It’s all in the C O N T E N T

March 15, 2021 By Debra Disman

Upon request, I am sharing my artists’ book, “Narrow Bridge”, shown in the CONTENT exhibition

           
at The Artery Gallery in Davis, CA, which runs April 1 – May 1, 2021. 

I am honored to be included in CONTENT, a show of Artists’ Books at The Artery, in Davis, CA.

“Artist Books typically defy classification, definition, and expectations. They are vessels for an artist’s vision. To understand what an artist book is you have to forget your definition of a book.”

According to the Smithsonian Institute Library blog, “An artist’s book is a medium of artistic expression that uses the form or function of ‘book’ as inspiration. It is the artistic initiative seen in the illustration, choice of materials, creation process, layout and design that makes it an art object. …”

“What truly makes an artist’s book is the artist’s intent, and artists have used the book as inspiration in a myriad of ways and techniques, from traditional to the experimental. The book could be made through fine press printing or hand-crafted, the pages illustrated with computer-generated images or cheap photocopies; books became sculptures, tiny and gargantuan; books were sliced up and reconfigured, made from all kinds of materials with unconventional objects incorporated, in unique or limited editions, or produced in multiple copies. With all sorts of ideas behind them, artists continue to challenge the idea, content and structure of the traditional book.”

There is a special guest juror for this exhibition: Nikki Thompson of Deconstructed Artichoke Press.
Nikki Thompson is a book artist (aka Deconstructed Artichoke Press) and poet. With an MFA from the California College of the Arts, her art explores architecture, feminism, and the politics of work through the mixed media of bookmaking, printmaking, and photography. Her work has been awarded First Prize at Gallerie Renee Marie and a Purchase Prize at 23 Sandy Gallery. She has also been nominated for a Pushcart Prize and received the College Book Arts Association Project Assistance Grant. Her work can be seen at www.deconstructedartichokepress.com.

Co-juror: Adele Louise Shaw of Circle A Studio.
Adele is a book artist and a painter. Her career as an artist has been punctuated with wildly diverse artistic explorations but she grew up surrounded by hand-bound books made by her great-grand parents. Her bookbinding studies started with classes in Japan and Thailand. Adele’s book work is squarely focused on a different, newish book form referred to as “Artist Books”. Many of her hand-bound books are derived from her work as a painter. She never ceases to try new methods and materials to actualize her vision. She teaches book classes out of her studio in Davis, California. You can view her work at www.adeleshaw.com.

I am showing:
“Narrow Bridge”, 5.5 x 16 x 3.5″, mixed media
“Narrow Bridge” is an “Artists’ Book”, which can be opened to about 16+” wide, but can be displayed opened to 8-10″, standing upright. It is a flag book structure and is made of board, paper, linen thread, and fabric. It says, “All the world is a narrow bridge, the important thing is not to fear.” (In

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Presentations, Work Tagged With: "All the world is a narrow bridge...", "Narrow Bridge", Adele Shaw, Artist Books Exhibition, ARTIST'S BOOKS, artists' book video, Books, CONTENT, Flag Book, Flag Books, Handmade Books, Nikki Thompson, The "CONTENT" show, The Artery, The Artery Gallery, The Artery of Davis

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