I am thrilled to be included in:
EXPO 41, a virtual exhibition of the b.j. spoke gallery
ARTIST'S BOOKS
Unfolding Possibilities: Something to Ponder for the New Year
What do we seek, yearn for, want, crave, need, are motivated to strive for, for this New Year coming up?
What is Possible?
And
How do we Achieve it?
What are the Possibilities, and how do we Realize them, in this day and age, in this present moment, under our current circumstances, confronted by challenges seemingly too numerous to count, much less take in?
Unfolding Possibilities, (front cover) 2021, 6+ x 78″ x 6+”, mixed media artists’ book
We have to somehow move forward in a positive way, keep on truckin’, keep on trying, keep at it, continue, keep on keeping on.
We have to try, each in our own way. Hopefully, something will line up.
Unfolding Possibilities, (closed) 2021, 6+ x 78″ x 6+”, mixed media artists’ book
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.
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”). Videographer Jeny Amaya created a video of the project which was screened during the 18th Street Art Center event, “Left/Right/Here“
Unfolding Possibilities, Possibilities Unfolding: the making of above.
When confronted with what seems like overwhelming odds, and not in your/our, favor, try making something, try creating. Here is a workshop to show you how to do it, just one of countless, infinite ways you can make something (out of almost nothing-), create something, experience working with your hands and heart and imagination, craft something, fashion something, and perhaps share this with others. Relax your heart and soul and play. Just see, if you do not emerge, like the butterfly, stronger for the effort. Enjoy. See what happens.
Wishing You the absolute best, healthiest, most creative, most supportive, safest, and imaginative, New Year, now and ever.
Here. We . Go.
NEW WORK in 2021: Red Notebook (“Here’s To The Red, White and Blue”)
I was happy to finally be able to have Elon Schoenholz Photography in to photographs works completed/created during 2021, which continues to race by.
Part of an ensemble, suite, or installation of works entitled, “Here’s To The Red, White and Blue”, Red Notebook is structured as a “traditional” codex, with covers that open and pages that turn. Moderately, “red” (hence the “red” element of the “Red, White and Blue” theme-meme-trope?) it contains a great deal of black as well.
In the immortal words of Mark Rothko, “There is only one thing I fear in life, my friend; One day, the black will swallow the red.”
Made from a repurposed placemat, hemp cord, linen thread, canvas, and lace, it is 8.5″ high, 12.5″ when opened in full, and 6.5″ at greatest depth and opens left to right, from cover through pages to cover, bound together through a single signature.
The red and back play off each other in all their associations
Sewing, stitching, gluing, knotting, coiling, massing
Amassing, accumulation, the RED in
Up next.
LIMINAL: The Book
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!!!
Celebrating Día de Muertos with Papel Picado!
In celebration of Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead), I led a bookmaking workshop that featured Papel Picado (The art and craft of decorative cut paper) as part of my artist residency in bookmaking at the the Panorama City Branch Library, supported by the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.
Participants learned the Accordion Fold technique, and used it to create 11″ high Accordion Fold Books.
They then created simple Papel Picado designs, exploring paper cutting techniques using tissue paper sheets, and added these colorful (or black-) works to our books in various ways.
All of the techniques and materials demonstrated online, through Zoom.
The participants were adventurous, good-humored, and supportive of each other as they moved through the process, and created the beautiful works pictured below.
BRAVO!
This is truly teaching artistry, and learning, for the 21st Century!
Using the simplest techniques, participants used color and cutting to create wondrous designs, which they layered onto to and into their Accordion Fold Books.
Paper cutting using the thin sheets of tissue paper can be demanding under the best of circumstances,. I marveled at what our participants were able to accomplish guided by an online workshop!
Here, black tissue paper is employed to magical and mysterious effect.
Participants also used origami paper to create their Papel Picado designs.
Participants joined the workshop from Arizona, Montreal, and across Los Angeles County, some with grandchildren, demonstrating the potential of the internet and its global reach.
Photographing through a computer screen can be challenging, but the brilliance of these colors and repeated cut-out designs cannot be denied!
“CRAFTING MEMORIES”
“Crafting Memories: An Online Bookmaking Workshop Series is specifically designed by Craft Contemporary and artist Debra Disman for adults over the age of 55. This program is made possible by funding from Aroha Philanthropies and is part of a nationwide campaign to bring thoughtful and specialized programs to a valuable population that is often undeserved by arts institutions.
For this special program, participants learned a variety of basic and experimental bookmaking techniques used to tell their own stories through materials and the handmade. The goal of this workshop series was to create a space to explore our stories through book forms and to express our creativity by bringing together an extensive number of materials, mementos, and memories collected through our lives.”
It has been my great joy to teach the AROHA Bookmaking classes for Seniors through Craft Contemporary. I have been so moved to hear and see our participants’ stories expressed through their book projects, and to witness their extraordinary creativity with materials, expression, and craft. The opportunity for these students to come together, share about their lives, and weave their personal histories into their projects has been so meaningful, not only for the students, but for myself and the Craft Contemporary Staff. I have been continually amazed at the richness and depth of our participants’ life experiences and their hunger to share them with others.
See the fabulous website page on the Craft Contemporary website featuring the amazing works of our talented participants HERE!
See their handmade books and read about what gathering online to learn new skills and create together meant to each of them!