Debra Disman

Artist

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Community Arts

Tunnel Vision

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It was fantastic to teach a workshop on Tunnel Books for families, at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The Tunnel Book is comprised of two accordion spines, or “sides”, connected by a “backdrop” and “cross pieces” or frames attached to the accordion folds working from the back fold and moving forward in space.
The mise-en-scène is then created through the addition of images/shapes/materials attached to the crosspieces and creating actual depth of space between them.

Students of all ages employed tremendous imagination and creativity as they “tunneled through” the process of making, adding pop-ups, folds, “doors” and even a “floor” to their works.


The work of our hands…


Tunnel Book “doors” employ illusionistic effects as the image transforms when they are opened.


Heart “balloons” floating up into the “sky”…


A work depicting the perfect day…with drawings of the Calder works in the Directors Roundtable Garden in front…


The artist wants the viewer to finish the sentence!


Happiness, happiness…


One really feels like one is entering a theatrical space here…


This young maker worked very hard to design this piece so that the images moving back in space made sense on all fronts…BRAVO!


And what is inside this book? The structure in front of it is a home for the five-year-old maker’s new pet ladybug!


ROAR!

Art, Theatre, Life and Literature… come together, at our beloved LACMA!

Beach, Books and Shelter

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Now that The Sheltering Book and The Big Beach Book are no more, except for fragments, in photos, and in memory, I wanted to look at the one structure/two projects piece in greater depth, and see the different ways the large book co-created in community was used. [Read more…] about Beach, Books and Shelter

“We the Artists” at 18th Street Arts Center

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WE THE ARTISTS 18th Street’s 30th Anniversary Celebration!
November 10, 2018 | 7-10 PM

Artist In Residence Open Studios 7-8PM!

18th Street Arts Center kicks off a yearlong party celebrating 30 years as Southern California’s leading artist residency program. This evening spectacular spotlights new collaborations with 18th Street’s founding ‘compadres’ La Pocha Nostra and Highways Performance Space, new commissions by alumni including Kenyatta AC Hinkle, Kate Johnson, Asher Hartman, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Amitis Motevalli, and performances curated by Highways Performance Space featuring Egrets on Ergot, Sebeyu, and Bethany Ward-Lawe!

Enjoy live performances, video installations, exhibitions, music, open artist’s studios, LA’s gourmet food trucks, and craft beer!   RSVP here for a free ticket.

 

 

Bookmaking at Verdugo Hills High School with VAPA Students

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I will lead bookmaking workshops with Visual and Performing Arts (VAPA) English and Art students at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, CA, supported by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Students will create one-of-kind BOOKS by hand, and develop them with print and visual media to create unique works of writing, visual art and craft.

I will work with Seniors in the VAPA English class, and Freshmen in the VAPA art class.

These workshops are for specific VAPA students at Verdugo Hills High School, and will take place in VAPA classes during school hours.

Bookmaking at Verdugo Hills High School

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I will lead bookmaking workshops with magnet (VAPA) English and Art students at Verdugo Hills High School in Tujunga, CA, supported by the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Students will create one-of-kind FLAG BOOKS, and develop them through “found writing” they produce through pulling letters, words and sentences from existing print media sources such as magazines and other books.

I will work with Seniors in the VAPA English class, and Freshmen in the VAPA art class.

These workshops are for specific VAPA students at Verdugo Hills High School, and will take place in VAPA classes during school hours.

 

LACMA LOVE: The Art of the Book 3: The Flag Book

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We started off our Family Bookmaking Workshop series at The Los Angeles County Museum of Art with the Accordion Fold Book, then moved onto “The Folded Fan” book (my own nomenclature)  which also employed the accordion/concertina fold to great effect.

We completed our series with The Flag Book, a fun, versatile and quite kinetic structure “invented” by German-born and noted book artist Hedi Kyle.

We visited the Broad Contemporary Art Museum (“BCAM“), and looked at artist Barbara Kruger‘s monumental elevator piece, “Shafted“.

Students chose what view they wished to draw (or, sketch). then returned to the Park View Studio to look at our drawings, learn the Flag Book structure, create our books, then develop and embellish them!  (This last the reward, some might say, of the effort that went before).

Participants were encouraged to use text to develop their books, and see how this “found writing” technique could be read in different ways up and down and across their books. They had been able to observe the power of graphical text first hand viewing the Kruger piece.


Mother and daughter working together.


She came to our workshop with her grandmother…not pictured!


Summer teacher (all the way from Chicago!) and student, taking advantage of LACMA‘s educational offerings!


This wonderful duo attended all three workshops!


The grown-ups need an art-making break too!

Such a lovely group to work with.

We love you, LACMA!