Teaching Artist

Clay Play (2)Too

April 4, 2018 By Debra Disman

Clay Play (2) Too

It is joy to work with these amazing (no, I am NOT biased!) students after school, creating in our CREST Enrichment “Hand Building with Clay” class. Above are our pinch pot pieces, drying in my studio.

Below, students in first through fifth grades learn to roll coils and join them together to create potentially large vessels…adding texture, leaving the texture created by the coils, or flattening out that texture to create a whole other look and feel.

Building up the pots step by step,

by rolling the coils, and pinching the end of one onto the beginning of the next.

Beginning with a spiral to create the bottom or “floor” of the pot.

Building up with coils takes patience, dedication, effort.

Starting with balls of clay, which are then rolled into a simple coil shape between the hands…

students then elongate the “rolls” (coils) on the table, trying not to flatten them out.

One coil is rolled into a spiral to create the bottom of the vessel.

The bottom of the pot can be smoothed out if desired…

and then built upon with the next coils.

How amazing to think that it begins with a deceptively “humble” mound of clay, air-dry clay in our case… and an intention learn, build and create.

I say, Bravo!

In Resonant Residence (10)

March 22, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (10)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

in Santa Monica Wednesday January 10th. I share the sunlit space, located within the beautiful Mid-century building overlooking Palisades Park, Santa Monica Beach and the blue Pacific with textile artist and fellow Studio Artist-in-Residence Huong Nguyen.
“About the Art Lab and Camera Obscura

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Eighth and Ninth Workshops, March 3/10 2018: Working on “The Big Beach Book“, participants collaged, stenciled, stamped, drew and painted on its multitude of people-sized ever evolving surfaces surfaces….

Re-purposing maps, book pages, and even glass bottles to create new stamps…our imaginative workshop participants are creatives extraordinaire.

Just FYI, the flip flops are glued to the surface, and have stayed there…making their way across the proverbial “book beach”!

In Resonant Residence (9)

March 22, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (9)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Altering book pages…creating “black-out poetry” and “found writing”…creating books, large and small…

847.866.8173

Clay Play

March 14, 2018 By Debra Disman

Clay Play

With CREST Enrichment

I had a blast with a wonderful “Hand Building with Clay” class at Will Rogers Elementary School in Santa Monica. With a span of ages 5-10, kindergarten through fifth grade, the students got along beautifully and created with gusto!

Here is a bit of their journey through painting, pinch pots, coils and slab technique!

In Resonant Residence (8)

February 26, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (8)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Sixth and Seventh Workshops, February 17/24, 2018: Working on “The Big Beach Book“, participants stenciled, stamped, drew and painted on its multitude of people-sized ever evolving surfaces surfaces….

A young woman who came to the Beach with her family took brushes and acrylic paints, and created this “goddess of the sea” (?!?) covering the top half of one of The Big Beach Book pages….finishing it off with proud signature. others then stepped in and added the sailboat, and fishes swimming below. Who knows how this page will develop over the coming weeks…

A trio of friends worked together on the Book’s front cover, using stencils to outline the shapes of the fish, which they then painted in brilliantly. They were invited to return this coming Saturday to further develop their artwork, and they said they would. Fingers crossed…

A recent arrival to LA visited the the Art Lab with her companion, and elegantly painted a panel of the Book’s accordion spine with stencils and hand-painted arrows…a lovely addition and gift.

Feel the love….

In Resonant Residence (7)

February 19, 2018 By Debra Disman

In Resonant Residence (7)

I formally began Studio Residency at the Camera Obscura Art Lab

Step inside the Camera Obscura Art Lab and you’ll find a welcoming space with fantastic views of Santa Monica Bay and the Pier. The Camera is located in a midcentury time capsule in Palisades Park between Broadway and Santa Monica Blvd on what was once the site of the Pacific Electric Railway’s North Beach Station. Designed by noted architect Weldon J. Fulton (who’s work can be found around town including the classic Camera Obscura sign and font, the Montana and Fairview branch libraries, and the former Zucky’s building on Wilshire Blvd), the building’s exterior features walls clad in chunky Palos Verdes stone, glass walls, sloping roofs, and projecting canopies and rafter beams. It was donated to the City of Santa Monica by Marcellus Joslyn in 1955.”

The huge studio windows look out on palms, walkways and a huge assortment of passers by, strollers, park wanderers and beach combers. The Studio is a magical place to work.

Fifth Workshop, February 10, 2018: “Simple Sewn Booklets” AKA: Single Signature Books

Signatures are gatherings of folded pages, which when stitched together, can become the text block (area where text is added). In this process, we sewed together a single signature using the very useful pamphlet stitch.

We attached the covers to the signature, so that the stitched spine was exposed.

Participants could design and embellish their covers before gluing them directly to the signatures, or attach the covers, then develop them. Some “covered the covers”,, learning folding and cutting techniques and creating covered corners.

They made creative use of cord, lace, decorative papers…beads and more,

including repurposed jeans, specifically, the denim pockets!

The components of the book were prepared for participants to use, covers and signatures cut into squares, sewing holes punched. Yest still, the makers used every moment of the 2.5 hour workshop to create and develop their books.

Human ingenuity, devotion and love of the handmade never cease to amaze me…I am blessed to witness this regularly in my practice.

Gratitudes…