Debra Disman

Artist

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BOOKS

Making “Ralph Steadman-Inspired Books at TAM!

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I was thrilled to lead a fun and fabulous bookmaking workshop on Saturday April 25th from 11AM to 3PM, leading participants in making their own one- of-a-kind artists’ book in conjunction with and response to the incredible Ralph Steadman show “And Another Thing”, currently at the beautiful Torrance Art Museum! (TAM)

MAIN GALLERY: Ralph Steadman: and Another Thing

“This traveling exhibition spans over 60 years of Ralph Steadman’s influential career, featuring more than 140 original artworks and ephemera, including sketchbooks, handwritten notes, and personal photographs. Steadman is best known for his long collaboration with Hunter S. Thompson, notably illustrating “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.” Their partnership helped define Gonzo journalism, a style of reporting that blends personal experience with political commentary. Coined by journalist Bill Cardoso, Gonzo’s impact is still felt today in online news, editorial pieces, social media, and political punditry.

The exhibition showcases his diverse body of work, from iconic illustrations for Lewis Carroll’s “Alice in Wonderland” and Robert Louis Stevenson’s “Treasure Island” to collections like “The Gonzovation Trilogy,” created in collaboration with documentarian and filmmaker Ceri Levy to raise awareness about endangered species. Featured works include nine portraits of U.S. Presidents, over 20 images of famous people, including T.S. Eliot, Karl Marx, Virginia Woolf, and George Orwell, and “Vintage Dr. Gonzo,” a life-size bronze sculpture. This exhibition is organized by the Ralph Steadman Art Collection. Sponsored by United Therapeutics, Flying Dog, and Beta Technologies.”

Thanks to the exhibition curator and fearless leader Andrea Lee Harris, a force of nature, for making this happen!

We had folks of all ages “drop in” to the ongoing workshop, and learn how to put together exciting media to create personal accordion, folded fan and flower-fold books!


Samples help attendees understand the book structures and visualize what they want to do.

 
Ink spatter paper (created by Andrea)  is inspirational and reflects the techniques employed by artist Ralph Steadman!

   

     “Autonomy Matters”
And a Grand Time was had by ALL!

PULP*PAPER*BOOK 2026 at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts

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I am thrilled to participate in PULP*PAPER*BOOK 2026 at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts!
Showing “The Body Politic: Black and Gold”, 8.5 x 23 x 7″, book board, paint, canvas, metal leaf, lace, cord, netting, trim, beads.

Exhibition Dates: March 14, 2026- May 3rd 2026 Opening Reception: Sunday, March 15th, 2-4pm, 2026

Pulp • Paper • Book provides a platform for combining works of book makers, pulp wranglers, papermakers and printmakers to exhibit their work. Paper is one of the oldest forms of artistic medium- from parchment to books to vellum to wood products. Humans print on every surface and make inks from everything on earth.
Read the Artist Statements HERE!

Curated Wrap-Around Programming:

Saturday, March 14, 2026: Books at the Source: Literary Arts Summit

Thursday, March 26, 2026: Upcycled Journal Workshop

Thursday, April 2, 2026: Eco Petals: Crafting a Recycled Bouquet

Sunday, April 19, 2026: Paper Lanterns Workshop

IN THE WOODS Invites You….

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I was thrilled to participate in Shoebox Arts Call and Response Collaborative Book initiative to be presented at the Start Up LA Art Fair  February 27 – March 1, 2026, presenting my collaborative book created with artist Michelle Robinson, as part of Kristine Schomaker‘s CALL AND RESPONSE initiative, through her organization, Shoebox Arts!

“After five years of digital exchanges connecting artists across six continents, Call and Response went physical for the first time.

In October 2025, Shoebox Arts helmed by the extraordinary Kristine Schomocker   paired 190 artists to create collaborative books together. Four months later, approximately 90 unique collaborative works have been created: oracle decks, teabag weavings, painted photographs, sculptural volumes, accordion books, visual puzzles and more.

Each book represents a creative conversation between two artists/humans/makers. Participating artists have navigated time zones, shipping logistics, language barriers, and completely different creative approaches to make something neither could create alone”

“This is Call and Response at its core: connection, radical trust, real collaboration.
This is collaboration without permission. Connection without barriers. Artists proving quality work doesn’t require institutional blessing—just willingness to make something with another.” — Kristine Shoemaker
A project of @shoeboxarts.la
Exhibition: @callandresponseart

“When we embarked on this project together, it felt like a fortuitous pairing. We first met on social media several years ago and shared studio visits in the past, during which we discussed the formal similarities in our work, as well as our commitment to a deeply material practice and content that helps reframe human experience and perception. After a couple of Zoom discussions, our instinct was to combine Debra’s sculptural book forms with Michelle’s photographic collage images, creating a three-dimensional space that both tells a story and challenges our understanding of what a book can be. The viewer is invited to travel “In the Woods” of their own psyche, paradoxically reaching for enlightenment through traversing darkness.” — Debra Disman and Michelle Robinson, Co-creators of “In the Woods”

Michelle did a beautiful job of photographing our work, “In the Woods“, for our own documentation, and to be able to submit and show it in different venues. Due  its folds, many surfaces, three-dimensionality, black/dark colors and textures, this work is challenging to capture in still photography. Brava Michelle, and Thank You!
IN THE WOODS, Debra Disman and Michelle Robinson, 2026, 12 x 20 x 20″, Artists’ Book”: Book board, mulberry paper, acrylic paint, bookbinding cloth, archival adhesive, hemp cord, watercolor paper, book repair tape, book hinging tape, archival pigment prints on Moab Entrada rag paper


IN THE WOODS, front view


IN THE WOODS, partially open view

IN THE WOODS, side view


IN THE WOODS, open view

Collaboration, Call and Response, Shoebox Arts and the Start Up Art Fair: THE FAIR!

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I was thrilled to participate in Shoebox Arts Call and Response Collaborative Book initiative to be presented at the Start Up LA Art Fair
February 27 – March 1, 2026, presenting my collaborative book created with artist Michelle Robinson, as part of Kristine Schomaker‘s CALL AND RESPONSE initiative, through her organization, Shoebox Arts!
The Kinney Venice Beach | 737 Washington Blvd, Venice, CA 90292 | Room 202

After five years of digital exchanges connecting artists across six continents, Call and Response went physical for the first time.

In October 2025, Shoebox Arts helmed by the extraordinary Kristine Schomocker   paired 190 artists to create collaborative books together. Four months later, approximately 90 unique collaborative works have been created: oracle decks, teabag weavings, painted photographs, sculptural volumes, accordion books, visual puzzles and more.

Each book represents a creative conversation between two artists/humans/makers. Participating artists have navigated time zones, shipping logistics, language barriers, and completely different creative approaches to make something neither could create alone.

This is Call and Response at its core: connection, radical trust, real collaboration.

This is collaboration without permission. Connection without barriers. Artists proving quality work doesn’t require institutional blessing—just willingness to make something with another. — Kristine Shoemaker
A project of @shoeboxarts.la
Exhibition: @callandresponseart

“When we embarked on this project together, it felt like a fortuitous pairing. We first met on social media several years ago and shared studio visits in the past, during which we discussed the formal similarities in our work, as well as our commitment to a deeply material practice and content that helps reframe human experience and perception. After a couple of Zoom discussions, our instinct was to combine Debra’s sculptural book forms with Michelle’s photographic collage images, creating a three-dimensional space that both tells a story and challenges our understanding of what a book can be. The viewer is invited to travel “In the Woods” of their own psyche, paradoxically reaching for enlightenment through traversing darkness.” — Debra Disman and Michelle Robinson, Co-creators of “In the Woods”


IN THE WOODS
12 x 20 x 20″ (Dimensions variable)
Materials: Book board, mulberry paper, acrylic paint, bookbinding cloth, archival adhesive, hemp cord, watercolor paper, book repair tape, book hinging tape, archival pigment prints on Moab Entrada rag paper . 


Michelle’s resonant prints, combined with my box structure created an immersive environment, inviting viewers to spend time “In the WOODS’ with us. The doors open and shut, but this work does not present an open and shut case.


Three prints, the brightest one in the center, adhered with acid-free adhesive, to three walls of the structure, leading the viewer to the dark house.
Facing darkness by moving through it.


Corners created with accordion folded heavy but foldable acid-free watercolor paper, resurfaced with strips of mulberry paper, overlaid with netted book repait cloth. Thank you to the devine Adrienne Devine for the book repair cloth as a material idea!


Creating an immersive environment, as per Michelle into which the viewer can become lost and found again, through their own journey.”Your dark forest of wonder is a great set of true. I experienced the darkness but its didn’t scare me at all.” — Gala Kovshilosky (@galaverse_art) March 1, 2026, Start up Fair, Los Angeles


In community with other works, each piece becomes something a bit different than the artists’ original intent, for the time they are together.


You have to look.
In Gratitude,
debra and michelle

Collaboration, Call and Response, Shoebox Arts and the Start Up Art Fair: Process 3

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CALL AND RESPONSE COMES TO STARTUP ART FAIR!

I am thrilled to participate in Shoebox Arts Call and Response Collaborative Book initiative to be presented at the Start Up LA Art Fair
February 27 – March 1, 2026
The Kinney Venice Beach | 737 Washington Blvd, Venice, CA 90292 | Room 202

After five years of digital exchanges connecting artists across six continents, Call and Response is going physical for the first time.

In October 2025, Shoebox Arts helmed by the extraordinary Kristine Schomocker   paired 190 artists to create collaborative books together. Four months later, we have approximately 90 unique collaborative works—oracle decks, teabag weavings, painted photographs, sculptural volumes, accordion books, visual puzzles.

Each book represents a creative conversation between two artists/humans/makers. Participating artists have navigated time zones, shipping logistics, language barriers, and completely different creative approaches to make something neither could have conceived alone.

This is Call and Response at its core: connection, radical trust, real collaboration.

This is collaboration without permission. Connection without barriers. Artists proving quality work doesn’t require institutional blessing—just willingness to make something with another.
A project of @shoeboxarts.la
Exhibition: @callandresponseart

The intimate hotel suite setting allows visitors to interact closely with each work—books displayed throughout the space on beds, tables, and dressers. This is a selling exhibition with works split equally between the two collaborating artists and Shoebox Arts.
Hours:

  • Friday, February 27: VIP Early Access 5-7pm | All Access 7-10pm

  • Saturday, February 28: 12pm – 9pm

  • Sunday, March 1: 12pm – 7pm

To attend this fun and wild event:
Get Tickets: www.startup-art.com/los-angeles

Collaboration, Call and Response, Shoebox Arts and the Start Up Art Fair: Process 2

By

CALL AND RESPONSE COMES TO STARTUP ART FAIR!

I am thrilled to participate in Shoebox Arts Call and Response Collaborative Book initiative to be presented at the Start Up LA Art Fair
February 27 – March 1, 2026
The Kinney Venice Beach | 737 Washington Blvd, Venice, CA 90292 | Room 202

After five years of digital exchanges connecting artists across six continents, Call and Response is going physical for the first time.

In October 2025, Shoebox Arts helmed by the extraordinary Kristine Schomocker   paired 190 artists to create collaborative books together. Four months later, we have approximately 90 unique collaborative works—oracle decks, teabag weavings, painted photographs, sculptural volumes, accordion books, visual puzzles.

Each book represents a creative conversation between two artists/humans/makers. Participating artists have navigated time zones, shipping logistics, language barriers, and completely different creative approaches to make something neither could have conceived alone.

This is Call and Response at its core: connection, radical trust, real collaboration.

This is collaboration without permission. Connection without barriers. Artists proving quality work doesn’t require institutional blessing—just willingness to make something with another.
A project of @shoeboxarts.la
Exhibition: @callandresponseart

The intimate hotel suite setting allows visitors to interact closely with each work—books displayed throughout the space on beds, tables, and dressers. This is a selling exhibition with works split equally between the two collaborating artists and Shoebox Arts.
Hours:

  • Friday, February 27: VIP Early Access 5-7pm | All Access 7-10pm

  • Saturday, February 28: 12pm – 9pm

  • Sunday, March 1: 12pm – 7pm

To attend this fun and wild event:
Get Tickets: www.startup-art.com/los-angeles

Here is part 2 of the process of my collaboration with artist Michelle Robinson:
Transform to Black



The addition of layers of black acrylic paint over the white textured mulberry paper-covered book board transfroms the feel of the work.

The accordion-folded mulberry paper covered corners were covered with a cheesecloth-like material used in book repair to add texture and depth. An abstract tree bark texture was further created with strips of black hemp cord on the inside of the two doors.

The whole surface was then painted again in black to pull the tones together.

Black is the unifying color for the piece, titled, “Into the Wood”, amplifying the colors in Michelle’s prints, reflecting the darkness of the Wood, and setting the tone for the viewers’ journey into it.
The piece goes upright, with accordion folded corners held in place by clips to deepen the folds, the (relatively) 2-d becomes 3-d.


The mulberry-covered accordion-folded book repair cloth-covered black-painted corners are thus “trained” to fold and unfold easily.


The textures work together to support the forest (Woods) theme.


It takes some time. The piece has to fold easily to both stand up and travel.


And here we go…Into the Woods.

In the next post: Collaboration, Call and Response, Shoebox Arts and the Start Up Art Fair: Process 3
see videos of the Process!