Debra Disman

Artist

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Book Arts

The “HeArt of the Book” Show

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I am delighted to participate in:

Loveland Artists Collective Presents A National Juried Book Arts Show:

The HeART of the Book

February 14th – March 28th, 2020

“The book has long been treasured as a literary work of art, but it is often forgotten in the realm of visual art.   Book arts have been around as long as humanity has been writing and reading, but within the last couple of decades, the book arts have become increasingly diverse and innovative.     The Loveland Artists Collective has been invited to show this group exhibition at Artworks, which is the largest Studio Artist Community in Northern Colorado dedicated to advancing the contemporary arts and visual artists.

(click here for more info on Artworks).  

Artists will be on display in the South Gallery at Artworks in downtown Loveland from February 14th – March 28th.  This exhibit will be promoted and included in the Loveland Sweetheart Festival, which occurs February 14-16, 2020 .  The festival is expected to bring 35,000 visitors along with the normal foot traffic Loveland receives during this important month.”

Exhibitionista: The Artful Book…revisited

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 The Artful Book show at the Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA just closed.

What a great experience to be part of it.

Tour the exhibition!

It happened October 4, 2019 – January 5, 2020

I was honored to show three pieces, and be in the company of stellar book artists.

“Today, artists who work in the Book Arts create fine and design bindings, fine press and letterpress editions, calligraphy, broadsides, handmade paper, and artist books. Visitors to The Artful Book will see outstanding contemporary examples of the Book Arts created by members of the California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers. From finely crafted and superbly designed limited edition books to one-of-a-kind sculptural art objects, these artists let their imaginations soar and put their skills in the service of one of man’s best creations, the book….” —The Artful Book

The Artful Book will be remembered.

Exhibitionista: “The Artful Book” xxxooo

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The Artful Book Exhibition just opened at The Long Beach Museum of Art.

It is an exciting exhibition that among other things aims also to educate the public about the nature and role and diversity of book arts in the present day.

Tour the exhibition!

The video provides a fascinating glimpse into the displayed works.  One of the challenges of showing work that is in book form is how to share all its surfaces, spaces, elements and facets. Most of the works in the show are under cases. One is accompanied by a pair of white gloves for viewers to don and turn its pages. One hangs from the ceiling, and others are on the wall.

My beloved Mark Henry Samuel,  enjoying a well-deserved moment, after an intense drive through Friday night rush our traffic from Santa Monica to Long Beach. What a gorgeous night!

Wonderful to see mentor, colleague, teach and friend,  Sue Ann Robinson, Curator Emerita of the LBMA, and devoted member of the California Chapter of the Guild of BookWorkers


Love this broadside by Jean Gillingwators.


Sue Ann’s great work Chisholm Hours.


Great to see Andres Payan Estrada, Curator of Public Engagement at the LA jewel, Craft Contemporary.

Proud to show and share my work in this beautiful venue alongside wondrous artists and makers and lovers of the Book,
in all its forms.

Gratitudes.

Fairy Tales…Make Your Own Books

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It was a gift to be able to work with students every day for five weeks this past summer, and introduce them to the book arts as well as other media. As a teaching artist, we often only see students once a week, so to be able to watch them learn and grow on a daily basis was a thrill!


Surrounded by scads of art supplies, tools and materials, 5-6 year old students in our “Fairy Tales” and “Make Your own Books” classes had an ideal situation for creating!


This outstandingly creative young student in “Make Your Own Books” certainly did just that, using her flag book to try out all kinds of drawing and painting media while exploring color, shape, line and texture.


Each flag page held a different combination of media, including acrylic and watercolor paints, pastels, crayons and markers.


Students created books large and small, including tiny ones that would fit in a (albeit rather large) matchbox!


Mixed media reigned supreme, such as combining letter stickers with markers and paint pens.


Oops! Markers on the project, not on your fingers!


Making and embellishing file folder portfolios was our first project. Some students created so many books they made a second portfolio to hold them!

A brilliantly bookish and imaginatively magical time was had by all!
Goodbye summer program, until next year!

Children Create Unique Handmade Books

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It was a gift to be able to work with students every day for five weeks this past summer, and introduce them to the book arts as well as other media. As a teaching artist, we often only see students once a week, so to be able to watch them learn and grow on a daily basis was a thrill!

In our “Creating Unique Handmade Books” class, students aged 6-8 learned and created a variety of book structures while exploring all sorts of materials. They learned about folding, gluing, sewing, and book structures including accordion, single signature, flag book, and side binding.

At the end of our time together, parents were invited to celebrate their bookish achievements, and a good time was had by all!


We used a wide variety of materials to create our books, including all sorts of papers, ribbon, stickers, washi tapes, feathers, glues, drawing and writing tools and more!


The accordion or concertina fold is primary in many bookmaking structures. Students learned this process then applied it to several projects.


Our wonderful TA wrote personal notes to all the students!


Single signature (a gathering of pages sewn together through the fold) structures were fun for the students to create, because they looked to them like “real” books.


We invited families to join us the second to last day of class to see all the students had created.


This student adores pattern and collage and had an impressive array of books featuring these by the end of our class session.


Mother and daughter peruse her handmade books together.


A young student shines as she shares her accordion-folded and flag books with her parents.


Sharing books with Dad…this student created so many books he made a second portfolio to hold them all!

It was hard to say goodbye after such storied adventures this summer, but it is my hope that these students will continue to exercise their imaginations as they make books and develop their skills and creativity.
They are well on their way!

The Art of The Book: Ages 11-14

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It was a rich and fascinating experience to work with 11-14 year olds in creating books this summer…in our class, “The Art of the Book“.

I had the opportunity to work with students every day for an hour, for 5 weeks straight, and it was joy!


Our 14 year old maker…loves PINK!


Flag book extraordinaire!


Pink accents painted on illustrations taken from book being altered.


Beautiful marbling work done on watercolor paper cover of this 11 year old maker’s side-bound book.

This same 11 year old (going into 6th grade) is an amazing painter, self-taught to some extent.


She spontaneously decided she would create this astounding painting on her multi-colored accordion fold book with terrific results.
Students created their own “book cloths” through painting with acrylic on canvas, and using it as a binding for their single signature books, done with real book board.

To teach this class was a real treat. I will be perusing these images, and pondering over what the students created for a long time to come…

Gratitudes!