Debra Disman

Artist

BOOK STRUCTURE

PAPERWORKS 2022

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I am thrilled to participate in
PAPERWORKS 2022
an international, juried exhibition featuring  artists creating work on, with, or about paper,
presented by the  B.J. Spokes Gallery

August 1 – August 31 2022 online

I am showing:  

“Throes of the Body”

 

Juror: Kiko Aebi is a Curatorial Assistant in the Department of Drawings and Prints at The Museum of Modern Art, a position which she has held since 2019. In this role, she has provided exhibition and acquisition support on various projects. Most recently, she worked with Senior Curator Jodi Hauptman and Associate Curator Samantha Friedman on Cézanne Drawing (2021) and contributed texts to the associated exhibition catalogue. She is the recipient of a Fulbright Research Grant and holds an M.A. in Contemporary Art History from Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam and a B.A. in Art History and Environmental Studies from Amherst College.

Works by the winners of the international Paperworks 2022 competition will be on display on the Gallery website from August 1 – 31, 2022. There will be a Zoom reception on Saturday, August 13th. Meet and chat with the artists online and meet juror Kiko Aebi, Museum of Modern Art, NY.

Join us for the ZOOM RECEPTION for Paperworks!
Saturday, August 13th, 7 pm EST / 4PM PST!
Meet the artists! Meet the juror! Ask Questions!
Register with this link:

https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIoc-iuqzsoGNdKqDWGnJeAKSIa8RuCl204

Imagination, Experimentation and Play!

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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!!!!

 

“Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense….”

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“Against the ruin of the world, there is only one defense: the creative act“. —Kenneth Rexroth

 

Remain defended.

 

Working It: Processing the Untitled

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Documenting a bit of process, and hopefully progress.
Much harder than posting about teaching artistry, and the work of my wondrous students..

I will try my hand at it, and hopefully find my way, a way.

Time, as usual, is an issue.
Focused meditative time, is needed, and after home and studio, there just isn’t much to spare.

But, nothing ventured, nothing gained.

Pushing into new materials….layering on gossamer cheesecloth onto a structure, because of its weave of threads, needed to coat the whole surface with acid-free PVA/glue,  and place the cheesecloth on it, cut around it and trim the excess when surface dried…surprisingly quickly, with the sun and a light breeze coming in through the window.

The light-filled space at 18th Street is perfect for this work, this effort, these discoveries, this journey.


Multiple surfaces, the nature of many book structures comprised of covers, spine and pages compels working one surface at a time, letting it dry and then moving to the next one.


Cheesecloth layered over raw canvas, layered over book board. The cheesecloth is unruly stuff…more like threads kept in place loosely, by the cross weave.


The two pieces of board, AKA, covers, are hinged together with long strands of jute cord, raw jute, so raw it has a fragrance. Strand are threaded through corresponding holes made with the awl in both covers, which move by sliding left and right over the cords. Simple, yet amazingly effective.

The juxtaposition of the materials in layering, adjacency and flow, as regard to interlocking color, differentiated textures and various states of unravel, fascinates me….how does the light get in and travel through, or not, how does the dimensionality affect how we see and respond to the work, sensorily, emotionally, viscerally, how do the materials work together in some kind of harmony, yet buttress up against each other with force at the same time?

Need to push on, need to keep exploring, finding more questions with just the tiniest intimation of any answer in them.

Think I will keep on going.

 

The Sheltering Book Chapter 3

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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“.

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“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

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“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

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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.

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

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

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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.

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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…

The Sheltering Book Chapter 5

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The Sheltering Book Chapter 5

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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

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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,

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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