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Debra Disman

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Book Arts

Sharing Shows 5: “THE ARTFUL BOOK”

July 31, 2019 By Debra Disman

I am excited and honored to be included in a number of current and upcoming shows across the US, and will be sharing about them in blog form, as well as in the EVENTS section of my website, as a way of further describing and chronicling my practice, honoring colleagues, and sharing gratitude for these opportunities and the people, organizations and institutions that make them happen. Shout out to ElonSchoenholz, Photographer extraordinaire who took the photographs below of “Profusion“, which will be shown in:

“The Artful Book”
California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers Member Exhibit
Long Beach Museum of Art, Long Beach, CA

The Artful Book
October 4, 2019 – January 5, 2020
“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 exhibition and related programming are made possible by lead support from The Kenneth T. and Eileen L. Norris Foundation with additional generous support from the Bess J. Hodges Foundation.”

I will be showing three pieces:

Profusion
2018
8.75″ x 24.5″ x 7.75″
Bookboard, canvas, hemp cord, mulberry paper

In The Thicket of It 
2018
18″ x 30″ x 23″
Book board, canvas, acrylic paint, hemp cord, mulberry paper, wood

Falling
2019
11″ x 23″ x 7.5″
Bookboard, canvas,  hemp cord, mulberry paper

The Long Beach Museum of Art is a wondrous place by the sea..with a beautiful garden featuring a water sculpture by Claire Falkenstein Structure and Flow.

See you there!

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, New Work, Work Tagged With: Book Arts, Book as Art, California Chapter Member Exhibit, Claire Falkenstein, Handmade Books, LBMA, Sculptural Books, The Art of the Book, The Artful Book, The Guild of Bookworkers, The Long Beach Museum of Art

Chromatic Interactions I

August 11, 2017 By Debra Disman

Chromatic Interactions I

“CHAPTERS: Book Arts in Southern California” presented at the Craft and Folk Art Museum in LA.

I was commissioned to create an interactive book.

I created “Chromatic Interactions”

It was eye-opening for me to see what people wrote and drew, and how the piece changed over time.

I will be exploring this through a series of posts, now that the show is over, and CAFAM was kind enough to save and give to me many of the file cards added to the book by patrons/visitors/participants…interacting.

Flag book. Stitched flag pockets with windows cut into them.

Accordion spine.

A focus on file folders.

Flag pocket and cover windows align, allowing messages to show through, and creating a tunnel effect.

Color, line, word, image, added by the viewer, become participatory art making and collaborator.

Book board.

Found file folders crumpled to create surface texture.

Haptic.

Here is some of what Museum visitor participants wrote…

TIME

“…all slow…”

After the US election.

Did they mean “irrelevant” No???

“There once was…”

Packing it in.
Successful life…validation

“Beautiful
I’m blinded by the light.”

“Mosaic” flower

Wilder tale

E X T R A P O L A T E

So glad, Inez!

Full…
And fuller.

More

To

Come

Filed Under: Artists' Books Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book Artists, Book Arts, Bookmaking, CAFAM, Flag Book, Handmade Books, HAPTIC, INTERACTIVE BOOK, Participatory Culture, The Book As Art, The Craft and Folk Art Museum

CHAPTERS I: “Chromatic  Interactions”

June 28, 2017 By Debra Disman

CHAPTERS I: “Chromatic  Interactions”

The wonderful Craft and Folk Art Museum of Los Angeles currently has on view “Chapters: Book Arts in Southern California” through May 7, 2017.

I had the opportunity of creating an interactive book for the show, one that potentially 8000 viewers/participants could become co-creators of by adding and subtracting color, pattern, graphics and text as they so chose.

weba

I created the flag book  structure from book board (covers),webe

watercolor paper (accordion spine), rice paper (covering the spine),webi

repurposed file folders (torn into pieces to “cover the covers” and folded to form the flag page pockets), linen thread (to stitch the flag pages/pockets), Lineco Neutral pH Adhesive (for gluing) ,webd
and colored file cards (to write and draw upon, and insert into the pockets in varied arrangements), to create  “Chromatic Interactions”.webc
I aligned the ‘windows” in the covers, with the windows cut out of the flag book pockets, 
webf

so that the file cards would read through the front and back cover apertures.webg
The results of offering the public the opportunity to express themselves through interacting with the book were fascinating.
webm

I was moved that participants were expressing their feelings about current events, and the “state of the nation”. webn
Some just got silly and had fun.
webp

Some asked profound questions…reflecting what is on the collective mind.webq

Some waxed poetic.webu
And one young artist expressed her feelings through creating a bookmark, as all the windows were filled!
webw

 Perhaps the greatest treasure of all…

Thank you Inez!

And thank you to the wonderful Holly Jerger, curator, for this amazing opportunity to give CAFAM viewers a voice..I am looking forward to seeing what else they have to say.

Filed Under: Artists' Books Tagged With: "CHAPTERS: BOOK ARTS IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA", "CHROMATIC INTERACTIONS", ACCORDION SPINE, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book Arts, BOOK BOARD, BOOKBINDING, CAFAM, FILE CARDS, Flag Book, Handmade Books, LINECO NEUTRAL PH ADHESIVE, LINEN THREAD, The Craft and Folk Art Museum

The Sheltering Book Chapter 3

May 20, 2017 By Debra Disman

The Sheltering Book Chapter 3

I am honored to have been one of 17 artists who received an inaugural ‘The WORD Grant 2016: The Bruce Geller Memorial Prize” from the Institute for Jewish Creativity, a project of American Jewish University, to create, “The Sheltering Book“.

web1

“The Sheltering Book will be a life-sized book structure which will become the backdrop for community bookmaking workshops drawing parallels between the meaning and architecture of the book, and that of the Sukkah. The project also explores the relationship between the public sphere and private space, whether that space be our personal creativity, where we create, or what we create.” —Debra Disman

web7

“The WORD Grant, a project of American Jewish University’s Institute for Jewish Creativity, supports artists creating projects that explore Jewish ideas, themes, tradition, history, and identity. We believe in supporting a contemporary, vibrant, Jewish cultural landscape in Los Angeles.”  —The Institute for Jewish Creativity

web7a

Made of corrugated cardboard, primed, base-painted, and treated with layers of transparent color, the Sheltering Book becomes a Sukkah With the addition of dyed netting stenciled with ferns, the “s’chach“, roof of the Sukkah.

web4

web2The Sheltering Book at The Braid Theatre Gallery, Home of the Jewish Women’s Theatre

web6

Our first community bookmaking workshop was held at the lovely Braid Theatre Gallery.

web3

The Sheltering Book onstage, becomes a theatrical backdrop, a set, and a theater in and of itself, as participants create their books nearby,

web8using brilliant and beautiful materials.

web10aMother and daughter work side by side.

web9aweb9

web12Participants focus on”building”, then developing their flag books.

web13Documenting while doing.

web14web14aPutting together word and image,

web17color,

web19text and texture,

web16web20themes.

web15and adding titles.

web24   Then we shared….in the safety of The Sheltering Book.

web22web25aweb26aweb27web31Was it a fluke that black was the predominant clothing color that day? Creating a striking contrast between Book and Bookmaker.

web21Glorious…and sublime.

…to be continued…

Filed Under: Artists' Books, Teaching Artist Tagged With: "WORD GRANT", AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY, Architecture, ARTIST BOOKS, BINDING, Book Arts, BOOK STRUCTURE, BOOKBINDING, Bookmaking, BOOKMAKING WORKSHOP, BRUCE GELLER, Flag Book, HARVAST DWELLINGS, HARVEST HOLIDAY, HEMP CORD, JEWISH CULTURE, JEWISH HOLIDAY, JEWISH HOLIDAYS, JWT, Los Angeles, PANTONE COLOR SYSTEM, PANTONE COLORS, SANTA MONICA, SET DESIGN, SEWN BOOK BINDINGS, SUKKAH, Teaching Artist, THE BRAID, THE BRAID THEATRE GALLERY, THE BRUCE GELLER MEMORIAL PRIZE, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH CREATIVITY, THE JEWISH WOMEN'S THEATER, THE SHELTERING BOOK, THEATRICAL BACKDROP

The Sheltering Book Chapter 5

April 28, 2017 By Debra Disman

The Sheltering Book Chapter 5

web5

I am honored to have been one of 17 artists who received an inaugural ‘The WORD Grant 2016: The Bruce Geller Memorial Prize” from the Institute for Jewish Creativity, a project of American Jewish University, to create, “The Sheltering Book“.

web2hOpen to the world.

“The Sheltering Book will be a life-sized book structure which will become the backdrop for community bookmaking workshops drawing parallels between the meaning and architecture of the book, and that of the Sukkah. The project also explores the relationship between the public sphere and private space, whether that space be our personal creativity, where we create, or what we create.” —Debra Disman

web9d

web4

A “Sheltering Book” program was held at the , of the Santa Monica Public Library. The program was attended by participants from preschool to post school who created books,  and shared them in the shelter of The Sheltering Book.

webaThis kind patron helped Montana Branch Library Manager Stephanie Archer and I carry The Sheltering Book into the Community Room.

web9Covers and pages were prepped, and participants bound them together into a single signature book which they then added to with writing, drawing and collage materials.

webgA whole wonderful family of three generations…grandma, mom, and four fantastic, talented and creative daughters!

webbwebiReveling in materials.

webcCreative use of papert strips too create waving grasses, behind which cat’s eyes glimmer…

webtSharing with little sis looking on…

webewebkUse of magazine images.

webhShe has a beautiful sense of design.

webdGrandma gets into the act!

weblwebpCreating with Grandma…pretty in Pink!

webrSharing…

webmA children’s book illustrator…

webushares her creation…lovely color choices!

webnThis wonderful teaching artist claimed the time to create a piece about her own identity…

webvemploying buttons, collage, mixed media,

webv2to great effect… webv4and sharing.

webxBeautiful use of leaves…

webx1outside,

webx3

webx4and inside, her book!

weby_1She strolled into the Community Room during a break, and jumped right in!

weby_4A natural presenter!

levyweb6-jpgThis lovely couple go right into the expressive spirit…

levyweb2-jpgcreating about music,

levyweb3-jpgand other visions.

levyweb1b-jpgPhotogenic too!

This maker truly committed…

weby1using inspiration from the natural

weby2and the man-made worlds…

weby4and fully developing ideas

weby3within her book.

weby5Sharing…


webzThis spirited artist used to be a casting agent…

webz1and she has truly found a new medium within which to epxress herself…and vision.

The Sheltering Book becomes a synergistic process and experience for the community at-large, offering shelter, safe space, and creative inspiration for all who engage with it. 

Let us hold the vision!web8a

Filed Under: Artists' Books, Teaching Artist Tagged With: "WORD GRANT", AMERICAN JEWISH UNIVERSITY, Architecture, ARTIST BOOKS, BINDING, Book Arts, BOOK STRUCTURE, BOOKBINDING, Bookmaking, BOOKMAKING WORKSHOP, BRUCE GELLER, FAMILY ARTMAKING, HARVEST HOLIDAY, JEWISH CULTURE, JEWISH HOLIDAY, JEWISH HOLIDAYS, Los Angeles, MONTANA BRANCH LIBRARY, PAMPHLET STITCH, SANTA MONICA, Santa Monica Public Library, SEWN BOOK BINDINGS, SIGNATURE, SINGLE SIGNATURE, SINGLE SIGNATURE BOOK, SUKKAH, Teaching Artist, THE BRUCE GELLER MEMORIAL PRIZE, THE INSTITUTE FOR JEWISH CREATIVITY, THE SHELTERING BOOK

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