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Debra Disman

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Book as Sculpture

Deep Dive into “DWELLINGS” at Artlink

January 2, 2025 By Debra Disman

I am thrilled to be part of a beautiful and timely show, “DWELLINGS” at Artlink, housed in the Auer Center for Arts and Culture in Fort Wayne, Indiana.

Learn about and view the show HERE!

I love participating in shows all over the country, and see the extraordinary talent, diversity of media, level of skill and and passion for expression manifesting itself across the United States at all times.  This helps me to feel connection, hope and the sense of belonging to a creative force working to resist cruelty, negativity, smallness and isolationism. Brava to the brave and resilient gallerists, curators, organizations, funders, institutions and artists working tirelessly to support the growth of the human spirit into its most elevated aspirations.

“For the exhibition DWELLINGS, juried Steve Garst, Artlink invited artists to submit works of any media that involve homes, shelters, forts, nests, burrows, or any other forms of inhabited space used by humans or non-humans. Where a creature lays its head can be a place of refuge, sustenance, and identity.  They are cauldrons of growth, filled with love, hurt, anger, learning, and memory.  Often, homes are constructed and, in turn, end up constructing the lives of those who dwell within them, for better or worse.  Artlink is excited to offer an exhibition exploring the variety of human and non-human places that serve as home, in all its numerous manifestations.”

My artists’ book “Window Treatment” is in the show and I am proud to be in such good company.

Please see a video of the SHOW HERE!

 

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, Presentations, Venues, Work Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, ARTLINK, Auer Center for Arts and Culture, Book as Art, Book as Sculpture, Conceptual Books, Domicile, DWELL, Dwelling, Dwellings, DWELLINGS: An Exhibition of Inhabited Spaces, Group Exhbition, Handmade Books, Home, Inhabited spaces, Place, Sculptural Books, Sculpture, Space, Steve Garst, Window Treatment

Walking Through “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do”

May 1, 2023 By Debra Disman

Photographer Gene Ogami documented my 2023 solo show, “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do” at ReflectSpace Gallery in the Glendale Central Library.
The ten images below provide a virtual walk-through of the exhibition, which was, as I shared with the curators, Ara and Anahid Oshagan, a dream come true that I did not even know I had.

Gratitude to them, to Gene, and to so many others who supported this realization.


Walking into the meditative gallery space from the main library.


Catching some of the larger pieces through the vitrine reflections.


Capturing exhibition signage, the “Concurrencies” artists’ book, the two Concurrencies hangings, and “Throes of the Body” in the vitrine.


A favorite corner of the Curators, Installers and myself!


“Three Sisters and Their Mother” on the wall, hanging over the titular work, “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do” on shelf.


“Finally, and Just For A Minute” suspended. Black on black on black is challenging to photograph.


A shot that manages to include over half the pieces in the show.


Gene was able to present me surrounded and supported by my works.


We were able to employ the hallway to present other works, and enlargements of the images featured in my artists’ book, “Concurrencies”, comparing the lives and works of artists Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse.


The Journey Continues.
In gratitude and appreciation.

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, Exhibitions, TEXTILE/FIBER, Women Artists, Work Tagged With: "I Can't I Won't I Will I Do", Anahid Oshagan, Ara Oshagan, Art Gallery, Book as Sculpture, Books, Charlotte Salomon, City of Glendale, Concurrencies, Curators Ara Oshagan and  Anahid Oshagan, Documentary Photography, Eva Hesse, Fiber, Fiber Art, Gene Ogami, Glendale Arts and Culture, Glendale Central Library, Glendale Library Arts and Culture, Handmade Books, Hanging, Mark Henry Samuel, Poetry Consults, RefectSpaceGallery, ReflectSpace, ReflectSpaceGallery, Sewing, Solo Exhibition, Solo Show, Stitching, Tapestry, Textile Art, Textiles, Tina Demirdjian

Storybook Theater at the West Valley Regional Library!

January 23, 2023 By Debra Disman

In July I started a new Artist Residency in Bookmaking, “We Write the Book” at the West Valley Regional Branch Library of the Los Angeles Public Library, through the Los Angeles City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Residency is comprised of a series of bookmaking workshops presented at the Library, planned in close coordination with Library Staff.

On Thursday January 12th, we gathered in the Library’s community room, with participants of all ages including  children, grandparents, families and even a 5 month old baby, and learned as a group how to make the fantastical and fun Storybook Theater!

Cutting, folding, pasting, developing…


participants created three-dimensional stories that stood up, opened out, 


and expressed their imaginations, creativity, and hopes for the new year…new vistas indeed!

Bravo!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: "We Write The Book", Artist Residency, Book, Book as Art, Book as Sculpture, Book Structures, BOOKBINDING, Bookmaking, Books made by Hand, Community Artmaking, DCA LA, DCA-funded artist residency, drama, Folded and glued Books, Folded Books, Handmade Books, LAPL, LAPL Summer Reading, Librarians, Los Angeles Public Library, Making Books Together, mixed media books, Self-expression, SIGNATURE, Story, The Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Los Angeles, theater, Theatre, West Valley Regional Branch Library

Sharing Shows: Arizona, California, Texas

October 14, 2022 By Debra Disman


Excavation of the Interior, 2021, 12 x 28 x 12.5″ (wood, mulberry paper, hemp cord, canvas, muslin)

 


Chromatic Interactions: The Golden Thread, 2020, 76 x 90 x 1.5″, mixed media installation utilizing file cards written and drawn upon by Craft Contemporary Museum patrons participating in my commissioned interactive artists’ book project: Chromatic Interactions, (File cards, gold thread, pencil and crayon)

 


Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair, 2022, 64 x 68″ (dimensions variable), Triptych Installation, (canvas, acrylic paint, hemp cord, lace, string)

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: 2022 Exhbitions, Artist Book, Book as Sculpture, Exhibitions, FASA, Fiber, Fiber Artists of San Antonio, Fifty Years if Fiber, Group Shows, Handmade Book, Hangings, Sculptural Book, SDA: Southwest Regional Exhibition, Sharing Work, Shoebox Arts, Shoebox Projects, Shows, Surface Design Association, Tapestry, Telling Stories, Textiles, Tubac Center of the Arts

LIMINAL: The Book

November 5, 2021 By Debra Disman

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!!!

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, Work Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book as Sculpture, Catalog, Exhibition Book, Exhibition Catalogue, Exhibitions, Jennifer Gillia Cutshall, Liminal, LIMINAL exhibition, Liminality, Linimality, Portland Art Galleries, Verum Ultimum Art Gallery

Imagination, Experimentation and Play!

April 14, 2021 By Debra Disman

Free your imagination, experiment, and….PLAY!

Join us for this art and bookmaking online workshop, source your own materials, and create your own exploratory masterpiece! Details in the flier below. 

Presented by The California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, part of the national  Guild of Book Workers, this workshop is a point of departure for anyone at any skill level who has a desire to explore the world of book arts in a safe, supportive and fun online environment.

Please contact me through the site contact form with any questions.
Hope to see you there!!!!

 

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Presentations, Teaching Artist, Work Tagged With: ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book as Sculpture, Book Form, BOOK STRUCTURE, BOOKMAKING WORKSHOP, Conceptual Book, Creativity, Experimentation, Exploration Book Arts, Folded Fan Book, Guild of Book Workers, Handmade Books, Imagination, Online Artmaking Workshop, Online Bookmaking Workshop, Play, Sculptural Books, The California Chapter of the Guild of Book Workers, The Guild of Book Workers

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