Debra Disman

Artist

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ARTISTS

“Adapting through Curiosity and Connection with Debra Disman”: My Podcast with Alyson B. Stanfield/Art Biz Success!

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I was thrilled to have this conversation with the one and only Alyson B. Stanfield of Art Biz Success, someone I have admired and followed for a long time!
Some of the points we cover:

“In this episode of The Art Biz, Debra shares her journey, revealing how she has navigated this transition with resilience.

Throughout our conversation, several key themes emerge:

  • Debra’s fierce curiosity that drives her to explore and understand her surroundings.
  • Her drive to pursue new opportunities, no matter the obstacles.
  • The critical role of networking and the connections she’s made along the way.
  • The power of making consistent progress, even through small, daily actions.
  • The importance of staying adaptable in an ever-changing world.”

Please click the link below to hear, see and read about our conversation. I hope it holds some gold for YOU.

Flag Book and Variations: Book Structures Workshop with artist Debra Disman

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I am thrilled to partner with Textile Arts LA and the Patricia Sweetow Gallery to teach “Flag Book and Variations: Book Structures Workshop”
on 

September 29 @ 12:00 pm – 4:00 pm

ENJOY BOOKMAKING IN COMMUNITY IN A GALLERY SETTING!

Presented by Textile Arts LA!

In Conjunction with Patricia Sweetow Gallery

In this hands-on workshop, participants will learn how to create the kinetic and versatile “Flag Book” structure, as well as a full-page variant, termed the “Folded Fan”. You’ll learn how to make folded page variations, and how to create one and two-cut apertures and pop-ups. With a focus on textiles and fiber, participants will explore ways to develop, embellish, and adorn their books with texture, color, pattern, and image, as well as how to employ “found writing” to add text.

I will guide you in the methods and extensive applications of the accordion fold in bookmaking, gluing, and collage techniques, ways of adding stitching/sewing, and how to create poetic text effortlessly will also be covered. The last hour of the workshop will be devoted to bringing projects to completion as time permits, how to add techniques from the participants’ chosen art forms and expertise to their books, and sharing completed or in-process books as desired.

Materials Included:

Book board prepared for book covers
Acid-free paper prepared for book spines
Acid free- glue sticks
Neutral pH Adhesive/brushes
Scissors
Folding tools
Awls/punching tools
Hemp and other cord and thread
Drawing and Writing Materials
Print Media (repurposed)
Fabric and paper scrap and samples (repurposed)
Designer wallpaper and textile samples

Materials/Tools to Bring if Desired:

Favorite scissors for cutting paper and fabric
Awl or other “punching” tool
Collage materials (that can be glued with a glue stick or fluid adhesive)
Print Media to cut up and repurpose (magazines/books/brochures/postcards

SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2024. 12:00 – 4:00 PM at Patricia Sweetow Gallery 1700 So. Santa Fe Ave. Suite 351, Los Angeles, CA 90021.
parking available

SIGN UP HERE!

Art Centers and the Like: The HeART of Art

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Art and Cultural Centers are amazing places.

They are CENTERS. Centers of art and culture to be sure, but also centers of learning, personal and collective growth, education, care, community, cooperation and love.

Amazing to show in, but especially amazing in the services they provide, the opportunities they offer and the roles they play for their near and far communities.

I am going to explore these worthy and precious resources and entities in the next few posts, but firstly, I need to get my arms around them in a big, collective heARTfelt hug!

I will add to, or write further interactions of this post over time.  I would also like to write about Libraries, College and University Art Galleries and smaller galleries as exhibition spaces and hubs of community and world culture.

These are the art and cultural centers I have shown in over the last few years, essentially since 2018:
(I included some very special organizations such as Blue Roof Studios, Shoebox Arts and ArtShare LA in Los Angeles, CA, “We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County in Fayetteville, NC, the Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI, and the Springfield Art Association, in Springfield, IL, even though they don’t have the word “CENTER” in their monikers, as I believe they serve many of the same heART-FULL functions as those that do.)

18th Street Arts Center,  Santa Monica, CA

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA

Webster Arts, Webster Groves, MO

Intersect Arts Center, Saint Louis, MO

The Dairy Barn Arts Center O’Bleness Gallery, Athens, OH

Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseville, OR

 The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA

Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL

The Korean Culture Center, Los Angeles, CA

“We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC

Artworks Center for Contemporary  Art, Loveland, CO

ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA

Shoebox Arts, Los Angeles, CA

Kelso Art Center, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ

Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA

The Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
  
The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX

Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI

Blue Roof Studios, Los Angeles, CA

San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA

The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminister, NJ

Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY

Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN;

Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO

Joy in Evidence at Intersect Art Center

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“EVIDENCE OF JOY” is a group exhibition at Intersect Arts Center curated by April Parviz, who says:

“Today I went to the doctor. On the sign-in station there sat a small snowman made from an old salt and pepper shaker. His head was a little styrofoam ball. His hat was the lid of the shaker, and inside his little bottle tummy were a bunch of what looked to be miniature cotton-balls. As I waited to be checked in, I observed the fact that someone had made it. She didn’t have to. But she was perhaps feeling the joy of winter, and she wanted to share her joy. The snowman wasn’t sitting in her home, it was sitting here, for me to enjoy. And I did enjoy it. The reflection that she had experienced joy in making it, and the fact that she had done it selflessly, with no expectation of thanks, brought me joy. 

After my reflection on the sweet little snowman, I began to see evidence of someone else’s joy, intentionally being shared with strangers, everywhere I went. The person in the house five doors from mine, has a little jar of complimentary dog treats out on a bird feeder hanger in their yard, right by the sidewalk. People have lovely seasonal wreaths hanging on the outside of their front doors, not on the inside. Painted rocks are mysteriously left in people’s gardens by strangers. I’m sure that now I’m aware of this, I’ll be seeing evidence of joy everywhere. And strangers will discover footprints of my own joy, making their footprints joyful too.

When I look at the current world of art, I feel like I see a lot of evidence of many inspiring things, but not always so much joy.  I know in my own art practice, I am often fueled by loud palpable emotions like pain and confusion. Perhaps if I begin practicing using joy as fuel, I will begin to do it more habitually. Perhaps if we practice seeing joy more we can become habitual joy detectives. 

Show me all the joy! I want to see and share artwork made in joy, artwork made upon discovering evidence of joy, and work that is just pure joy to look at! “

The show puts together visual works and text which come together to create and offer Joy.
such as this poem by the inimitable
 Mary Oliver, 2017
“If you suddenly and unexpectedly feel joy,

don’t hesitate. Give in to it. There are plenty

of lives and whole towns destroyed or about

to be. We are not wise, and not very often

kind. And much can never be redeemed.

Still, life has some possibility left. Perhaps this

is its way of fighting back, that sometimes

something happens better than all the riches

or power in the world. It could be anything,

but very likely you notice it in the instant

when love begins. Anyway, that’s often thecase. Anyway, whatever it is, don’t be afraid

of its plenty. Joy is not made to be a crumb.” — Mary Oliver, 2017

VIEW THE CATALOGUE to see and read more
SEE THE SHOW PAGE!
SEE THE SHOW VIDEO!

I am thrilled to have two pieces in the show:
Narrow Bridge, 5.5 x 16 x 3.5″, board, paper, fabric, linen thread

and
BedTime Story, 12 x 28 x 8.5″, book board, textiles, cloth, clay, beads, hemp cord, watercolor paper

SEE THE SHOW PAGE!
SEE THE SHOW VIDEO!
VIEW THE CATALOGUE!

WOMEN : Defining Our Representation and Making Our Mark

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Every Year is the Year of the Woman!

Here are two inspiring Artist Roundtables from two inspiring shows I am proud to be a part of:

Women. Defining Our Representation
Presented by Black House Artist


See and listen to the ARTIST ROUNDTABLE!
My roundtable presentation in good company!

and

Women Artists Making Their Mark
Presented by The O’Hanlon Center for the Arts


See and listen to the ARTIST ROUNDTABLE!

 

INTERPLAY of Texture, Color, Form and Materials

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INTERPLAY, the Surface Design Association exhibition at the The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s O’Bleness Gallery

I am thrilled to participate in INTERPLAY, organized by the SDA!
(The awesome Surface Design Association!)
Presented at the The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s O’Bleness Gallery
8000 Dairy Lane
Athens, OH 45701
June 28 – September 5, 2024
Opening Reception:
June 28, 6 – 8PM
I am showing:
“Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair”
64 x 68 x .5″, (variable), canvas, paint, hemp cord, string, lace

SEE THE SHOW HERE!

Interplay presents works that explore parallels, synergies, or tensions between two or more ideas. Artworks may examine connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, map relationships between maker and materials, or reflect interactions between maker and tools. Works employ traditional, interdisciplinary, or collaborative methodologies.

Honoring the diverse range of approaches within fiber art and highlighting the rich tapestry of multicultural links, Interplay looks toward a future informed by the past, bringing together ideas for fresh reflection, reinterpretation, and deeper understanding.

Juror:
Due to her inimitable curiosity, Annet Couwenberg has pursued the ongoing conversations between traditional textile production and digital technologies throughout her art and teaching career. Couwenberg’s art, informed by her early work in the fashion industry, is diverse and includes sculptural forms and jacquard weavings as well as work with fish fossils and skeletons inspired by her study with a fish scientist as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History. Couwenberg’s interdisciplinary work has demonstrated her capacity to create new realms. As a researcher of both traditional textiles and emerging techniques, she embraces a multi-directional knowledge exchange between new and established, creating art that visualizes methodologies to protect and preserve traditional practices while also expanding upon them. Born in The Netherlands, Couwenberg moved to the United States to receive MFA degrees at Syracuse University and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has worked internationally, including in Korea, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and The Netherlands.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, July 31, 2PM ET for the Interplay Textile Talk and be on the lookout for our online gallery –  links coming soon!

SEE THE SHOW
LISTEN TO AND VEIW THE Interplay: Limitless Connection TEXTILE TALK

Interplay: Limitless Connections
Surface Design Association

THIS TEXTILE TALK
Join us as we celebrate three exhibitions highlighting the very best contemporary fiber art. We’ll hear from Interplay award winners Lyndsi Schuesler and Ji Young Kim, along with exhibition juror Annet Couwenberg. Interplay honors the diverse range of approaches within fiber art and looks toward a future informed by the past while bringing together ideas for fresh reflection, reinterpretation, and deeper understanding. Held in conjunction with Interplay, Echoes: A Solo Exhibition by Rena Wood pays tribute to textile histories and past makers. Rena will give us an inside look into the ways she imagines repetitive hand work and its connection to time. Moderated by Nora McGinnis, Interplay: Limitless Connections features artists who encourage us to think in new ways while also honoring tradition.