Debra Disman

Artist

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Brand Library and Art Center

Art Centers and the Like: The HeART of Art

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Art and Cultural Centers are amazing places.

They are CENTERS. Centers of art and culture to be sure, but also centers of learning, personal and collective growth, education, care, community, cooperation and love.

Amazing to show in, but especially amazing in the services they provide, the opportunities they offer and the roles they play for their near and far communities.

I am going to explore these worthy and precious resources and entities in the next few posts, but firstly, I need to get my arms around them in a big, collective heARTfelt hug!

I will add to, or write further interactions of this post over time.  I would also like to write about Libraries, College and University Art Galleries and smaller galleries as exhibition spaces and hubs of community and world culture.

These are the art and cultural centers I have shown in over the last few years, essentially since 2018:
(I included some very special organizations such as Blue Roof Studios, Shoebox Arts and ArtShare LA in Los Angeles, CA, “We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County in Fayetteville, NC, the Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI, and the Springfield Art Association, in Springfield, IL, even though they don’t have the word “CENTER” in their monikers, as I believe they serve many of the same heART-FULL functions as those that do.)

18th Street Arts Center,  Santa Monica, CA

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA

Webster Arts, Webster Groves, MO

Intersect Arts Center, Saint Louis, MO

The Dairy Barn Arts Center O’Bleness Gallery, Athens, OH

Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseville, OR

 The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA

Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL

The Korean Culture Center, Los Angeles, CA

“We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC

Artworks Center for Contemporary  Art, Loveland, CO

ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA

Shoebox Arts, Los Angeles, CA

Kelso Art Center, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ

Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA

The Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
  
The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX

Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI

Blue Roof Studios, Los Angeles, CA

San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA

The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminister, NJ

Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY

Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN;

Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO

Making Flag Books at the Brand!

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I was thrilled to lead a fun and fabulous flag book workshop at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale!

Supported by The Associates of Brand, the workshop was held in conjunction with Brand 51: Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper, now on view in the Brand Library and Art Center galleries.

I am honored to be showing in this exhibition, and it provided an excellent context the workshop, in which participants learned how to make the versatile accordion folded spine and combine image and text in a way that allowed them to become author, artist, designer and writer in one fell swoop!

We dedicated the workshop to the creative efforts of all those facing challenges caused by the fires that raged on Maui.

A meaningful time was had by all.


Assembling the components, Covers, flag pages, and accordion spine (to be folded).


Using a wooden tool designed for ceramics to assist in folding.


Cutting up treasures to create more treasures!


Adding personal writing.


Writing in a personally created language and alphabet!


Adding maps.


Using origami paper, and origami methods!


Here’s to the black, white and brown!


Creatively employing the exhibition postcard as book covers.


A beautiful marriage of image, text, design, art and craft!
The message of this piece says it all….

May it be so.

Creating the Fun and Fabulous Flag Book at the Brand!!!

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I am thrilled to lead a fun and fabulous flag book workshop at the Brand Library and Art Center!!!

The Associates of Brand invite you to join us in a special event workshop to learn how to create a fun and fabulous Flag Book! You will combine art, craft, bookmaking and creative writing in a paper-based project inspired by the Brand 51: Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper, now on view in the Gallery at the Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale!
Learn how to make the versatile accordion fold and combine image and text in a way that allows you to become author, artist, designer and writer in one fell swoop!
Workshop leader and Brand 51 artist Debra Disman is known for her work inspired by the book. As both maker and teaching artist, she invites you to explore the book as art by mixing media and materials to express yourself and invite new ways of viewing the world and how we inhabit it. 

When: Saturday, August 12, 2023

            11 am-12:30 pm

Where: Brand Library & Art Center

            1601 W. Mountain St., Glendale

Who: Free and open to people of all ages

         We ask that children be 6 years old and above and accompanied by an adult

 How:  Limited to the 25 participants

          RSVP to Debra Thompson, President of the Associates by August 10

          debra@associatesofbrand.org

Sharing Shows: Summer 2023

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I am honored to participate in several shows this summer, and share a bit about them below.


SAFEKEEPING 
SAFEKEEPING Artist Talk


Text/Message

Brand 51


Engulfed
About Engulfed


Contemplating Boundaries


Fiber Art international


Material World: A Contemporary Fiber Exhibition

From Fiber…

Exhibitionista: on “Brand”

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So thrilled to be part of the Brand Library and Art Center‘s Brand 47 Works On Paper show, current iteration of this concept.

Juried by Alma Ruiz, former curator at MOCA.

I showed Burning Bush, 2018, 7.5 x 11 x 5.5″, board, sewing thread, mulberry paper, linen thread

 

Gratitudes.

Brand 47 Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper

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I am honored to participate in the upcoming:

Brand 47 Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper on view at Brand Library and Art Center in Glendale, California from September 7 through October 25, 2019.

You are invited to the public opening from 7:00-9:30  on Saturday, September 7!

Brand Library & Art Center in Glendale, California announces its 47th Annual National Juried Exhibition of Works on Paper.

The Juror is Alma Ruiz. an independent curator, Senior Fellow at Sotheby’s Institute of Art/Claremont Graduate University and a member of the Advisory Committee for the Cisneros Fontanals Art Foundation in Miami as our juror. Ruiz brings a wealth of experience to Brand 47 as a former senior curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles who has also curated internationally in Mexico, Argentina, Israel and Guatemala. Ruiz has acted as a juror for numerous exhibitions and biennials in the United States and Latin America and is the author of numerous essays and articles.

Brand 47 is organized by the Associates of Brand Library & Art Center, an all-volunteer 501(c)3 non-profit that raises funds to support the extensive free and public events offered at Brand, including exhibits in the gallery, classical and popular music performances, film screenings, and dance performances. This year marks the 50th Anniversary of the Associates, a milestone which will be celebrated throughout 2019. Entry fees and sales from Brand 47 and every Annual Works on Paper Exhibition are utilized by the Associates to continue the important cultural programming that Brand Library & Art Center brings to the community.