Debra Disman

Artist

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Exhibitions

2021 INTERNATIONAL ART OF THE BOOK: In Living Color

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THE 2021 ART OF THE BOOK & PAPER SCULPTURE!


“In 2011, we held the first Art of the Book exhibit in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Rochester Public Library. At the time, we wanted to celebrate what has been at the core of libraries for centuries–the book. We marveled over the intricate interpretations of this humble format, and we were thrilled with the response to the exhibit from the community.”

“In subsequent years, the exhibit has grown to include entries from all over the world, featuring well-known artists for their exquisite work. We have built a reputation worldwide among book artists, and we are so pleased to see that reputation upheld.

Books continue to ensnare the imagination, both for their form and content. Artists manipulate those two components to create breathtaking, mind-bending works of art that tease and cajole people to consider the intricacies of paper, ink, words, and meaning.

In commemoration of the 10th Anniversary, we are adding Paper Sculpture as a new category. This new category will celebrate the extraordinary use of paper, in an art form that combines or shapes papers.”

View the CATALOGUE!

View the show!!

LIMINAL: The Book

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I was thrilled to be included in  the exhibition LIMINAL, at Verum Ultimum Gallery in which artists were invited to explore the theme of liminality in any interpretation, media and form of visual art.

“Liminal is the space between. What significance does transition (or the “space between“) have in your work or your artistic voice? Does your work reflect the liminal aspects of our pandemic-impacted world and the adaptation to a post pandemic existence? Does your work represent and or challenge the threshold to a more equitable society? Or, perhaps it reflects a vehicle for expression through pure abstraction.” Curator Jennifer Gillia Cutshall

As with all Verum Ultimum’s calls for art, the curator never seeks to drive the work, the only hope is to unveil unique visions. All mediums and modes of expression have been welcomed from low brow, pop surrealism, realism, abstraction, and more. The term Liminal may be interpreted in many ways, and is not necessarily meant to be a literal elucidation.

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 served to herald the artists unique vision…especially during these challenging times!

View the LIMINAL Exhibition

Read LIMINAL Artist Insights

Please see the LIMINAL Exhibition Book


Above: Curator and Verum Ultimum Gallery Founder, Jennifer Gillia Cutshall‘s LIMINAL exhibition statement.


Pictured above is my work in the show:   The Gates, (interior), 2019, 7.5 x 20 x 10.25”, mixed media/sculptural artists’ book.

View the Show!!!

Mostly Monochrome: Limiting the Palette

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I am thrilled to participate in the show  Mostly Monochrome,
November 1 – 30th, 2021, presented by www.woartblog.com and curated by Christina Massey, founder and force of nature behind and in front of WoArt!

“Mostly Monochrome” is an online exhibition featuring artists using a mostly monochromatic approach to the creation of their work. Artworks with the reduced variant of color grab their viewers attention instead through their process, materials, composition and tonality.

Christina says,
“As one scrolls through the exhibition, you’ll be visually transitioning through subtle shifts in the monochromatic palette and visually stimulated through the juxtaposition of works from minimal color field paintings to extremely detailed and laborious drawings and sculptures.”

Viewers are invited to scroll through the wide range of artistic styles and explore the work in the virtual gallery slideshow. Click on the images to get further details and make any purchases of Artworks.

I am honored to be showing “Before the Fall”

and
“Profusion”

Support the work of Women Artists, shop the online store!

Featuring Artists:

Laura Ahola-Young, Lois Bender, Laurey Bennett-Levy, Angelica Bergamini, Carol Bouyoucos, Clare Burson, Ai Campbell, Jaynie Crimmins, Marianne DeAngelis, Debra Disman, Pauline Galiana, Veronika Golova, Carolynn Haydu, Erin Juliana, Rachel Kohn, Parvathi Kumar, Barbara Laube, Bonny Leibowitz, Seren Morey, Jane Nodine, Judith Ornstein, Dara Oshin, Barbara Owen, Lily Prince, Eve Provost Chartrand, Robin Roi, Andra Samelson, Amy Sands, Mary Shah, Barbara Sherman, Christina Smith, Lauren Smith, Judi Tavill, Jessica Tawczynski, Shira Toren, Ellen Weider, Odeta Xheka, Emna Zghal, Tamar Zinn

 

 

Tricksters and Transformation…What could be better?

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There’s a cool new show in town, transforming not through trickery, but with an Open Heart, and wondrous “soft” materials.

“Textiles have the universally demonstrated capacity for holding meaning, establishing connections, and creating healing. As we emerge, on many levels, from the darkness into the light of awareness of isolation and injustice we have an opportunity and obligation to examine the status quo. This exhibition will allow the artist to step into the now and make work that opens doors within themselves, thereby acting as a portal to a collective resurgence into a renewed relationship with the world. This awakening inspires transformation.

There is a deep potential for the artist to act as trickster, agent of change, or boundary crosser. After the pandemic and the social upheaval of the past eighteen months, the artist has gained renewed agency for creating more enlightened definitions of meaning and new ways of seeing.

The pandemic can be a portal, serving as a provocation to transformation.”

I am honored to be showing “Torrent and Tangle: Keep Your House In Order”, in a new, open configuration!





This work begs the question: with all the torrent and inevitable tangle, how DO we “keep our house in order” or keep our house at all?
Also a play on “keeping house” a sort of 1950’s housewifery term to my mind, , which eerily reverbs with the growing rate of homelessness across LA Counbty, the US and the globe.

In the words of revered and beloved LA-based artist Kim Abeles:
“I followed the thread like a stream to find balance.
Textile Arts Los Angeles has presented a rich exhibit juried by Carol Shaw-Sutton at the Helms Bakery space in Culver City. “Tricksters & Transformation” is the show, an artist-in-residency with Carmen Mardonez, and a zoom presentation with Beverly Naidus who provided an inspiring history of some of her many audience-engaged artworks.
It was tempting to photograph every piece because the exhibition is divine with art that offers detail and a tactile emotion. Speaking with hands and care. The title comes in part because of the multiple ways that the artists transform the materials, including post-production remnants and those that would have gone overlooked except for the poetics of art.

And here is a link to the show details: https://textileartsla.org/tricksters-exhibit-1” 

Join us for the
ARTISTS’ RECEPTION: TRICKSTERS & TRANSFORMATION

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Helms Design Center
8745 Washington Blvd. Studio E
Culver City, CA 90232 United States + Google Map
Website:https://textileartsla.org/tricksters-exhibit-1

Musings…THE BOOK AS ART v. 9: MUSE

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Artist books take many forms – from handmade and lusciously tactile to linear and informative, abstract and questioning to sculptural and monumental.

The Decatur Arts Alliance presents the ninth edition of the juried exhibition of artists’ books, The Book as Art v.9: Muse, August 13–October 3, 2021.
This show celebrates the book with a wildly varied collection of inventive and spectacular work that challenges expectations. The exhibition will be installed once again at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library.

This year, the exhibition is dedicated to the memory of Dorothy “Dot” Davis Moye (1941-2021).

Brought to you by Decatur Arts Alliance, Georgia Center for the Book, the DeKalb Co. Public Library, DeKalb Library Foundation and Keep it Indie-catur.

I am thrilled to be showing, “WINDOW TREATMENT”;


13 x 38 x 9.25″, mixed media

To see a video of this work, please see VIDEO below!


Watch Video HERE

To see and hear three artists including myself discuss their works in the show, please go  HERE or click the link below.

 

Experience the talk HERE

Please see the online version of the Show, Opening Night Tour, and all other information HERE!

If you can experience the show in person:

Gallery Hours
Aug. 13-Oct.3
The Periodicals Gallery of the Decatur Library, 215 Sycamore St., Decatur, Ga. 

The gallery will be open for limited, in-person viewing hours. Registration required.

Book An Appointment

Decatur Library
215 Sycamore Street
Decatur, GA 30030 United States + Google Map
Phone:404.370.3070Website:https://dekalblibrary.org/branches/deca

The Art of the Book, and then some….

By

I am thrilled to be showing “Burning Bush”


7.5 x 11 x 5.5″, mixed media

IN
THE 2021 ART OF THE BOOK & PAPER SCULPTURE

Exhibition at the Rochester Public Library through October 30, 2021.

“In 2011, we held the first Art of the Book exhibit in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Rochester Public Library. At the time, we wanted to celebrate what has been at the core of libraries for centuries–the book. We marveled over the intricate interpretations of this humble format, and we were thrilled with the response to the exhibit from the community.”

“In subsequent years, the exhibit has grown to include entries from all over the world, featuring well-known artists for their exquisite work. We have built a reputation worldwide among book artists, and we are so pleased to see that reputation upheld.

Books continue to ensnare the imagination, both for their form and content. Artists manipulate those two components to create breathtaking, mind-bending works of art that tease and cajole people to consider the intricacies of paper, ink, words, and meaning.

In commemoration of the 10th Anniversary, Paper Sculpture has been added as a new category, to  celebrate the extraordinary use of paper, in any art form that combines or shapes papers.”

Artist Books are…

works of art realized in the form of a book. They are often published in small editions, though sometimes they are produced as one-of-a-kind objects referred to as ‘unique.’ Artist Books have employed a wide range of forms including scrolls, fold-outs, concertinas, or loose items contained in a box, as well as bound printed sheets. Artists have been active in printing and book production for centuries, but the artist book is primarily a late 20th century art form.

Altered Books are…
any book, old or new, that has been recycled by creative means into a work of art. They can be rebound, painted, cut, burned, folded, added to, collaged in, gold-leafed, rubber stamped, drilled or otherwise adorned…and yes, it is legal. They can also be composed entirely of unique materials.

Paper Sculptures are…
artworks created as sculptures using paper in some form as the predominant medium. These sculptures are three-dimensional and can be either free-standing or bas relief and would be considered art forms in themselves.  Paper sculpture can be functional or non-functional with attention to pushing the limits of how paper can be used and explores paper in inventive and unique ways.

July 9, 2021: Show opens
October 30, 2021: Exhibition closes

Join us for the virtual and in-person reception:
 Wednesday, September 29, 2021 from 5:30 Pm – 7 PM, and invite you to join us either in person or virtually via Zoom.

If you would like to join us virtually, we will start at 5:45 PM with a tour of the exhibit and presentation of awards, Zoom invite below.
Topic: Art of the Book Reception
Time: Sep 29, 2021 05:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)
Join Zoom Meeting: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/81326994757?pwd=aTVlY2NPZ3dab1hXU0lvSUJEaGQ2Zz09

Meeting ID: 813 2699 4757
Passcode: 133584
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For further information contact: Alicia Gunther at (585) 428-8053

View the show online:  AOB_2021_Program (1)

View the show IN PERSON:

Rochester Public Library
115 South Avenue
Rochester, NY 14604 United States + Google Map
Phone: 585- 428-8053
Website: https://roccitylibrary.org/artofthebook/