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“Unfolding Possibilities”: The Screening

August 2, 2021 By Debra Disman

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An initiative of the Los Angeles Count Department of Mental Health, Why We Rise LA took place in May 2021, supporting hundreds of Community Arts & Culture Projects which took place across all Los Angeles County neighborhoods, in partnership with more than 100 community groups, artists, grassroots leaders, healers and other LA County Departments. These projects and collaborations included mural making, ancestral healing workshops, a Countywide public literary art project, a Countywide chalk art program and more to celebrate the remarkable resources and communities in LA County and used arts-based strategies for healing and wellbeing.

I was honored to teach a workshop as part of Why We Rise LA 2021 in coordination with 18th Street Art Center’s Arts Learning Lab @ Home: called: Bookmaking with Self-Compassion. See the workshop HERE!  Nearly 70 online participants learned to create the “Flower Fold” book structure, then added embellishment, images, and words expressing their experience of the pandemic, where they are at now, what they learned, what they wanted to share, their hopes, wishes, dreams, cares , fears, realizations, trauma, expressing the full gamut of human emotions.

The range of words submitted was wide-ranging, thought-provoking and evocative….including opposite emotions and experiences and bits of truth-telling, realizations and wisdom participants seemed eager to pass on to others in other words, humanness in its multiplicity.  How to put it all together?

I took the words generated by this workshop, and requested from the community at large, and stitched them into an Artists’ Book I made as a community collaboration, entitled, “Unfolding Possibilities“.  (“Unfolding Possibilities – Possibilities Unfolding”). 

Jeny Amaya of 18th Street Arts Center created a video sharing about the workshop and the making of “Unfolding Possibilities” and it was screened at
LEFT/RIGHT/HERE: An Outdoor Art Experience
a one-night only interactive outdoor and indoor art experience as part of the exhibition Recovery Justice: Being Well. 
on
July 10, 2021 @ 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm.

Here are some stills from that screening. Such a wonderful experience!


Screened on the side of the Santa Monica Airport Hanger housing the 18th Street Art Center’s Airport Campus, the video came to life as the skies darkened. “Unfolding Possibilities” the artists’ book, was also on view.


A multitude of threads were used to stitch the words into the book.


Jeny did a beautiful job of documenting the process of creating the book,


highlighting the idea of possibility,


and capturing how the flower fold book structure was created.


She showed my 18th Street Arts Center studio,


and the book as a whole, possibilities unfolding.

Always, Possibilities.

Watch the video in full!

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Presentations, Work Tagged With: 18th Street Airport Gallery, 18th Street Arts Center, Art in the time of pandemic, Artist Book, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Artists' Book/s, Arts Learning Lab, Awl, Bookmaking, Bookmaking With Self-COmpassion, Community Art Projects, Community Arts, Community Collaboration, Film, Flower Fold, Flower Fold Book, Flower Fold Structure, Folded Books, Handmade Books, Jeny Amaya, LeftRightHere, Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, Making Books By Hand, Mulberry paper, Online Art Workshops, Outdoor Screening, Pandemic, Pandemic Art projects, RECOVERY JUSTICE: Being Well, Respending to the Pandemic, Screening, Unfolding Possibilities, Use Your Words, Video, We Rise, We Rise LA

“Unfolding Possibilities – Possibilities Unfolding”: The Artists’ Book

July 28, 2021 By Debra Disman


An initiative of the Los Angeles Count Department of Mental Health, Why We Rise LA took place in May 2021, supporting hundreds of Community Arts & Culture Projects which took place across all Los Angeles County neighborhoods, in partnership with more than 100 community groups, artists, grassroots leaders, healers and other LA County Departments. These projects and collaborations included mural making, ancestral healing workshops, a Countywide public literary art project, a Countywide chalk art program and more to celebrate the remarkable resources and communities in LA County and used arts-based strategies for healing and wellbeing.

I was honored to teach a workshop as part of Why We Rise LA 2021 in coordination with 18th Street Art Center’s Arts Learning Lab @ Home: called: Bookmaking with Self-Compassion. See the workshop HERE!  Nearly 70 online participants learned to create the “Flower Fold” book structure, then added embellishment, images, and words expressing their experience of the pandemic, where they are at now, what they learned, what they wanted to share, their hopes, wishes, dreams, cares , fears, realizations, trauma, expressing the full gamut of human emotions.

I took the words generated by this workshop, and requested from the community at large, and stitched them into an Artists’ Book I made as a community collaboration, entitled, “Unfolding Possibilities“.  (“Unfolding Possibilities – Possibilities Unfolding”). 

The range of words submitted was wide-ranging, thought-provoking and evocative….including opposite emotions and experiences and bits of truth-telling, realizations and wisdom participants seemed eager to pass on to others in other words, humanness in its multiplicity.  How to put it all together?

I had already constructed the flower fold book, comprised of 12 x 12 x 12″ sheets of thick ivory colored  mulberry paper, folded and glued together to create a sequence of repeating unfolding forms.

I began with sketching and jotting down ideas, and my own emotions, as part of my morning writing practice, then developed a petal-like schemata for the words, reflecting the flower fold book structure.

I played around with fonts, settled on one, determined the sizing for the words, and printed them all out, then cut them into strips, so each could be easily seen. Laid out on my work tables, they seemed to call out for attention and consideration. I placed my Mom’s amazing half-century old (at least) sewing box on the table as an inspirational centrifuge, and set to work.

I put together words in a four point petal formation on each section, both front and back, of the structure, using the folds as a guide, and paired some words that related to each other, and others that were opposed, to express the wide range of human emotions and experiences brought forth by the pandemic.
I chose sewing thread from my Mom’s box to reflect the everyday-ness of the activity of sewing  and the healing function of stitching, and mending through sewing.
Using a soft, low-tack tape, I gently adhered each word to the structure, then gave it my awl, to punch the sewing holes for each word.
Soon realizing I would be using up all my Mom’s remaining sewing thread, I invested in a set of brilliantly colored cotton threads, and combined tones and hues of each chosen color to give each word brilliance, depth and complexity, using my study, experience and practice of color associations. It was amazing to see a virtual garden of words, generated by the community, come to life and bloom on the pages of the flower fold book.
Some would find the sewing process tedious, but it is my joy…to see the words unfold and blossom, a colorful array of possibilities.
The front and back covers were stitched in gold to express the golden thread of empathy and humanity that connects us all, in spite of and perhaps amplified by the shared experience of pandemic. A golden thread expressing the silver lining of a crisis. The covers are made of several sheets of mulberry paper glued together to create a pasted paper protector, with a yellow sheet sandwiched within to subtly reflect the gold thread.
Unfolding Possibilities, Possibilities Unfolding, blooming like a flower, and framed in gold.

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, New Work, Presentations, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: ("Unfolding Possibilities - Possibilities Unfolding"), 18th Street Arts Center, Art in the time of pandemic, Artist Book, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Artists' Book/s, Arts Learning Lab, Awl, Bookmaking, Bookmaking With Self-COmpassion, Community Art Projects, Community Arts, Community Collaboration, Flower Fold, Flower Fold Book, Flower Fold Structure, Folded Books, Handmade Books, Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, Making Books By Hand, Mulberry paper, Online Art Workshops, Pandemic, Pandemic Art projects, Respending to the Pandemic, Unfolding Possibilities, Use Your Words, We Rise, We Rise LA

Unfolding the Possibilities: Bookmaking With Self-Compassion 3

July 21, 2021 By Debra Disman

I was honored to teach a workshop as part of Why We Rise LA 2021 in coordination with 18th Street Art Center’s Arts Learning Lab @ Home: called: Bookmaking with Self-Compassion.
An initiative of the Los Angeles Count Department of Mental Health, Why We Rise LA took place in May 2021, supporting hundreds of Community Arts & Culture Projects which took place across all Los Angeles County neighborhoods, in partnership with more than 100 community groups, artists, grassroots leaders, healers and other LA County Departments. These projects and collaborations included mural making, ancestral healing workshops, a Countywide public literary art project, a Countywide chalk art program and more to celebrate the remarkable resources and communities in LA County and used arts-based strategies for healing and wellbeing.

Nearly 70 online participants learned to create the “Flower Fold” book structure, then added embellishment, images, and words expressing their experience of the pandemic, where they are at now, what they learned, what they wanted to share, hopes, wishes, dreams, cares , fears, realizations, trauma, and the full gamut of human emotions.

Individually folded sections could be glued together to create a chain that could be folded back into a square.

Covers were added to present and protect the pieces.

The works created are inspiring!

Watch the workshop HERE!

 

 

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Student Work, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: 18th Street Arts Center, Art in the time of pandemic, Artist Book, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Arts Learning Lab, Bookmaking, Bookmaking With Self-COmpassion, Community Art Projects, Community Collaboration, Flower Fold, Flower Fold Book, Flower Fold Structure, Folded Books, Handmade Books, Los Angeles Department of Mental Health, Making Books By Hand, Online Art Workshops, Pandemic, Pandemic Art projects, Respending to the Pandemic, Use Your Words, We Rise, We Rise LA

Traversing the LIMINAL

July 14, 2021 By Debra Disman

I am honored to participate in:
Liminal
An online exhibition curated by Jennifer Gillia Cutshall  for
Verum Ultimum Art Gallery, Portland, OR
which tasked  artists to define “Liminal” for this first edition of this exhibition.

Liminal is defined as

  1. relating to a transitional or initial stage of a process.

  2. occupying a position at, or on both sides of, a boundary or threshold.

​One could argue that artists are conditioned to occupy the liminal state. And a successful studio is a space in flux, poised for adaptation (to projects, challenges, and materials). The focus of the artist is the creative process or the place between the 2 boundaries of “the beginning” and “the outcome or result.”

A gallery benefits from maintaining that liminal state, too (adaptation is a constant).

Verum Ultimum is celebrating it’s eighth year and this exhibition serves to herald the artists unique vision…especially during these challenging times!

The Gates Debra Disman
 The Gates, (interior), 2019, 7.5 x 20 x 10.25”, mixed media/sculptural artists’ book.

“LIMINAL is the word that came to mind when I considered the past year into now. A time of uncertainty, anxiety, the in-between, and also, of possibility. Transition.” Debra Disman

Read all the Artist Statements on “LIMINAL“

View the Show!!!

 

Filed Under: Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, New Work, Work Tagged With: Liminal

The Fine Art of Denim

July 9, 2021 By Debra Disman

 

I am excited to be included in the wild and wonderful show, The Fine Art of Denim, Pollak Gallery, Monmouth University Center for the Arts, W. Long Branch, NJ, Juror: Vincent DiMattio  2021

at Monmouth University Center for the Arts Pollak Gallery
running from June 17 to August 14 , 2021.

It is a fascinating show, showing the emotive, expressive and visceral qualities of denim as a material, and its rich potential and capacity to communicate a range of human experiences, ideas, passions and concepts.

I am honored to be showing two works from my “Reading Color” series which are artists’ books featuring denim as the primary material:

Reading Color Reading Color I, 8.75 x 13.25 x 6.25″, mixed media/artists’ book (denim, acrylic paint, board, hemp cord)

Reading Color VI, 7.5 x 17 x 8″, mixed media/artists’ book  (denim, acrylic paint, metal, hemp cord, board, paper)

“Denim, with all its symbols and dualities, is a common item of clothing that unites many around the globe. Dad Jeans, skinny jeans, low riders, bell bottoms, boot leg, wide leg, no leg, 501s, 504s, button fly, stretch jeans, the American dress code writ large across centuries. With so many styles available and ways to accessorize/manipulate the fabric, denim has historically allowed for a freedom of expression representing both individuality and shifts in cultural movements. Denim comes in a wide range of blues and other colors, washes, fades and textures making it a perfect, but not obvious, medium to create fine artwork. Join us now, for a re-imagining of the meaning of denim. Denim that was discarded can open up a new way of looking, a startling way of seeing past the everyday. What we have abandoned, will be presented again, re-purposed from the lives we lived, to moments we experience together “forever in blue jeans.”

Monmouth University’s Center for the Art is exhibiting the work of artists  who use recycled denim in new and creative ways in paintings, sculpture, collages, small constructions and wall hangings, etc. from June 17 – August 14 , 2021 in the Pollak Gallery. Works shown use denim as the principal medium of the piece and the fabric are reconstructed from its original form in some way. “

See The Show Here!

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Work Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book Arts, Book as Art, Books made by Hand, Contemporary Art Exhibitions, Denim, Denim as material, Denim Books, Handmade Books, Materiality, Monmouth University Center for the Arts, Painted Books, Painted denim, Pollak Gallery, Sculptural Books, The Fine Art of Denim

“Torrent and Tangle” in “Turmoil and Transformation”

June 25, 2021 By Debra Disman

I was excited to participate in the “Turmoil and Transformation” show at the Hera Gallery and Educational Foundation, a non-profit, artist-run organization that  has continued to stimulate discussion and challenge perceptions for over 40 years. This creative space has allowed countless artists a place for transformation, exploration, and community with one another,  BRINGING CREATIVITY TO THE COMMUNITY SINCE 1974

“2020 was a year that was filled with worldwide turmoil. The Pandemic. Another reckoning with racism and police brutality. Climate Change, wildfires, hurricanes, and droughts.  The undermining and politicization of science. The widening political divide. An election with voting rights, healthcare, immigration, paid sick leave, income inequality, living wages, reproductive rights, LGBTQIA rights, our environment and the future of democracy at stake.

This begs the question:
Is this turmoil leading to transformation? And what kind of transformation is it going to be?“


Read about the show here !

Hera Gallery/ Hera Educational Foundation presents work that addresses the current turmoil and visions of our future. What are the emotional, physical and spiritual effects of the turmoil and how might they manifest into the transformation? What does our world look like and what might it look like post-2020. Will transformation reflect the multiplicity of voices of America? How will our future be transformed by the current chaos?

The exhibition juror,  Francine Weiss is the Senior Curator at the Newport Art Museum in Rhode Island where she curates exhibitions of contemporary art, photography, and American art. Her recent exhibitions include “Andy Warhol: Big Shot,”  “The Shapes of Birds: Contemporary Art of the Middle East and North Africa,” and “Domestic Affairs” among others. Her past positions include Curator at the Photographic Resource Center (Boston, MA), Acting Assistant Curator in the Department of Photographs at the National Gallery of Art (Washington DC), Curatorial Fellow at the deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, and Curatorial Fellow of American art at Harvard University Art Museums (both in MA) among others. She has taught art history at Wellesley College, Simmons College, and Boston University (all in MA) and has taught and advised students in the MFA program at the Institute of Art and Design at New England College. Dr. Weiss has a Ph.D. in American studies, specializing in art and photography, from Boston University and a B.A. from Wellesley College in English. She has received fellowships from the Smithsonian Institution (Washington DC), Georgia O’Keeffe Museum and Research Center (NM), Center for Creative Photography (AZ), The Huntington (CA), and Harry Ransom Center (TX). She has published widely on photography and American art.

See the virtual exhibition, and hear the artist talks here!

I was honored to show:
Torrent and Tangle: Keep Your House in Order, (aerial view) 2019, 10.5 x 25 x 18”, mixed media (book board, lace, ribbon, mulberry paper, hemp cord, watercolor paper)

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, New Work, Work Tagged With: Art in the time of pandemic, Art of the Current Moment, Contemporary Art, Exhibitions, Francine Weiss, Juried Shows, Newport Art Museum, Social Practice Art, The Hera Gallery and Educational Foundation, Torrent and Tangle, Transformation, Turmoil, Turmoil and Transformation

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