Debra Disman

Artist

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Work

Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman!

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Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman

April 1 @ 5:00 pm – 7:00 pm

FREE!

Intersection: where art and community meet with Debra Disman
Tuesday, April 1st | 5PM – 7PM
18th Street Arts Center
1639 18th Street. Santa Monica, CA 90404
Free + Open to the Public

Formally Happy Hours and Potlucks, these gatherings are dedicated to gathering our community around good food, conversation, and art. Please stop by for a bite and chat with our community and spotlight artist: Debra Disman.

Please join us to create & learn, express & enjoy together! Debra Disman will lead us through the making of fun and fantastic “Flag Books”, made of an accordion-folded spine and intimate flag pages onto which you can inscribe your own text, found or otherwise, imagery or any combination of these to tell your own story of the present moment as you are experiencing it. All materials will be provided but if you would like, please bring ephemera and memorabilia to personalize to your book.

 

“We Write The Book” Double Signature Bookmaking Workshop at the Northridge Library!

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I was thrilled to lead an “Accordion Fold Book with Pockets and Pages” workshop at the Northridge Branch Library in honor of Women’s History Month, International Women’s  Day, and Women Artists everywhere!

Participants learned to how to create a book using the accordion fold technique, how to fold pockets as part of the structure, and how to sew in pages, or “signatures“, (gatherings of folded pages) using the pamphlet stitch.

Participants also learned about ground breaking women artists Faith Ringgold, Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama , Louise Nevelson, Betye Saar,  Georgia O’Keeffe.

 

I am thrilled to work  with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency (NEAR).  I am honored to be serving the City of Los Angeles again through the DCA.
Join us for this and other bookmaking workshops! JOIN US!

 

“We Write The Book” Closed Spine Accordion Bookmaking Workshop at the Northridge Library!

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IN HONOR OF INTERNATIONAL WOMEN’S DAY and WOMEN’S HISTORY MONTH!

Join us as we learn to how to create the fun and fantastic Closed-Spine Accordion Book at the Northridge Branch Library in honor of Women’s History Month, International Women’s  Day, and Women Artists everywhere!

Learn about ground breaking women artists Faith Ringgold, Frida Kahlo, Yayoi Kusama and Georgia O’Keeffe.  All materials included!

March 19 @ 3:30 – 5PM
FREE!
All materials included!

I am thrilled to work  with the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency (NEAR).  I am honored to be serving the City of Los Angeles again through the DCA.


I am an artist-in-residence at the Northridge Branch Library, conducting bookmaking workshops and events for the local community and library patronage from February through May, 2025, every other Wednesday afternoon, 3:30-5:00PM, and Saturday 11:00am – 12:30PM

“We Write the Book” FOLDED FAN Bookmaking Workshop at the Northridge Library!

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 I am thrilled to conduct our “We Write The Book”  Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency (NEAR)artist residency at the Northridge Public Library supported by the  Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs . This residency is a collaboration between myself, the Library and the DCA.

Our second workshop in the series saw us creating a “FOLDED FAN” book, with people of all ages working together in community. Families, adults, children and community members worked side by side, learning about materials, techniques and how to put it all together to create a unique book art work!


Lead Librarian Emily Aaronson introduces the program.


New friendships may be born!


Repurposing materials in fresh ways!


Use of repurposed calendar pages and more.


Choosing  and using materials.

Focused making.


Development of a theme.


Engrossed in creating.

Exciting bookmaking workshops will be held at the  Northridge Branch Library from February through May, 2025, on selected Wednesday afternoons, 3:30-5:00PM, and Saturday mornings 11:00am – 12:30PM.
JOIN US! All programs are FREE and Open to the Public, with materials provided.

Our kick-off “We Write the Book” workshop at the Northridge Library!

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I was delighted to “kick-off” my “We Write The Book”  Neighborhood Engagement Artist Residency (NEAR)artist residency at the Northridge Public Library supported by the  Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs .

I am honored to be serving the City of Los Angeles again through the DCA.

Our first workshop, or program, in Library parlance, was an accodion-fold book with pockets. Families, Parents, Adults, Children, Community Members all joined us to learn, create and share together.
A wonderful time was had by ALL. 

   

I will be an artist-in-residence at the Northridge Branch Library, conducting bookmaking workshops and events for the local community and library patronage from February through May, 2025, on selected Wednesday afternoons, 3:30-5:00PM, and Saturday mornings 11:00am – 12:30PM.

JOIN US!

PAPER Is In The Air…

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The proverbial scent of paper is in the air!

I am delighted to be showing in two exhibitions focussed on PAPER in the months of February and March.

First up is the exhibition “PAPER” is presented online February 13, 2025 – March 13, 2025 by Site: Brooklyn

SEE THE SHOW HERE!

The 20th century marked the peak, and subsequent decline, of paper’s dominance over everyday life. “Paperwork” is still a near-universal experience, but like everything else, has taken a more-and-more virtual form. Paper, unlike most artistic mediums, is a substrate first and artistic medium second. Created from textile waste, paper is woven very deeply into the fabric of modern life. It can be equally associated with the transformation of work, easy replication, industriousness, disposability, creativity, and experimentation. Since its invention, these qualities have encouraged artists to prepare, design, and experiment on paper. Ironically, it was in the later part of the 20th century when artists like Dorothea Rockburne. Ed Ruscha, and Robert Rauschenberg took the investigations of the Cubists into papier collé and developed paper as both a physical object, and a subject. Site:Brooklyn is looking for works that continue and expand this tradition.

Exhibition Juror, Rachel Gladfelter  is the Director at Pace Paper. Previously, she was the gallery director for the Pace Prints NYC, a fine art print gallery specializing in original, limited-edition prints in collaboration with printmaking affiliates, Pace Editions and Pace Paper. Before that, Gadfelter held the position of Studio Director for Dieu Donne Paper.

I am deighted to show “Excavation of the Interior”, 2021, 12 x 28 x 12.5″, wood, paper, cloth, hemp cord, linen thread

Curatorial Statement: Rachel Gladfelter
Paper is an exhibition that brings together 42 artists working within this versatile medium.  Ranging from intimate collaged ink drawings like Christopher Miller’s Dog Sitting to Svetlana Grigoryeva’s earthy and tactile Breathing of Bark, paper promotes ideas as expansive as its material capability.

Ancient and versatile, paper has historically acted as a carrier, allowing the sharing of ideas, image and word.  With the advent of exploratory papermaking studios and residency spaces in the mid to late 20th century, artists began creating work within the medium itself, bringing new energy and innovation.  Paper’s potential is infinite as both substrate and essential substance.  

As a substrate, it is luring.  To quote Ellsworth Kelly, “When I see a white piece of paper, I feel I’ve got to draw.  And drawing, for me, is the beginning of everything.”  As a medium in and of itself, the ability to create new ideas from the raw materials of fiber and water has a romantic tactility.  Paper can be additive: poured, painted and brushed.  It can be constructed into a new form.  It can be a lightweight shell of an object, or it can be a solidly cast shape.  It can be wrapped around an armature, and it can be cut, torn or shredded.  Paper can be painted on, photographed, crumpled up, eaten, heard, touched, twisted, drawn on, printed on and carried in protest.  It is fragile yet resilient.  It transports history, stories and secrets.  It moves as easily in a systematic mail system as in the unpredictable wind.  Paper is responsive.  It is historical and present, bringing life and purpose to ideas.  Paper is an analogue in a digital age.   The works in Paper share the significance of this medium’s intimacy and clear purpose in its utilization; albeit shown in a digital exhibition. The artists exhibited create works where paper is intrinsic to their ideas around themes of pattern, nature, politics, structure, and memory.  Each wall highlights one of these motifs. – Rachel Gladfelter

Site:Brooklyn Gallery is dedicated to exhibiting the current practice of contemporary artists. We are taking Site:Brooklyn online with a new series of interactive exhibitions. Our goal remains the same, to connect artists with an expert and diverse set of jurors through the open call format. Our new program focuses on online open call exhibitions, selected by a cast of new jurors, solo artist features, and spotlights.

SEE THE “PAPER” SHOW HERE!

In March I will be showing in the exhibition CUT/FOLD/PRESS, presented at Craft Alliance, and juried by the renowned Buzz Spector. More to come on this in another post!