Debra Disman

Artist

  •

Dan Kwong

“Hidden Gems of Santa Monica” Episode

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18th Street Arts Center Featured in “Hidden Gems of Santa Monica” TV Show Episode!

I was thrilled to be a part of the  “Hidden Gems” TV episode   featuring precious, special places places Santa Monica has to offer, including 18th Street Arts Center.

Thank you Jan Williamson, and 18th Street Arts Center, Peter Greenberg and  Hidden Gems, and Lauren Salisbury and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.

The filming was great fun and the resulting episode a revelation. I learned about magical Santa Monica places and offerings, some of which I had not been aware of despite living there for ten years, and being a part of the 18th Street Arts Center community for several.
https://petergreenberg.com/2025/12/16/hidden-gems-of-santa-monica/.

In the episode, he talks about the lure of Santa Monica’s surf, sea and sun, its signature art scene, and its gems are hiding in plain sight.
“It’s more than just a vibrant Los Angeles community. It’s a destination that is emblematic of the California dream, best known for its beaches, pier, promenade and iconic bathing beauties. It also happens to be the final stop of historic Route 66. But there’s far more to do here than to just soak up the sun. I take you to, through, and high above my hidden gems of Santa Monica.” —Peter Greenberg

Such offerings help us top see place and things, in a whole new way, and I am appreciate, grateful and excited about participating, learning, growing and sharing along with fellow 18th Street Art Center Artists in Residence, Dan Kwong and Lita Albuquerque.

“Thank you so much for your support of this exciting media opportunity! I am so pleased to share that the episode is live. Here’s the link: https://petergreenberg.com/2025/12/16/hidden-gems-of-santa-monica/.” — Jan Williamson, 18th Street Arts Center Executive Director

“The segment will continue to receive broad distribution in the months ahead, including placement in Peter Greenberg’s weekly e-newsletter. This spring, the episode will premiere as the cover story within Season 11 of The Travel Detective, airing on PBS stations nationwide. Approximately one month following the broadcast premiere, the episode will be available globally on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, followed by YouTube approximately six months later.” —Lauren Salisbury, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.

WATCH THE EPISODE HERE!

18th Street Arts Center Featured in “Hidden Gems of Santa Monica” TV Show Episode!

By

I was thrilled to be a part of the  “Hidden Gems” TV episode   featuring precious, special places places Santa Monica has to offer, including 18th Street Arts Center.

Thank you Jan Williamson, and 18th Street Arts Center, Peter Greenberg and  Hidden Gems, and Lauren Salisbury and Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.

The filming was great fun and the resulting episode a revelation. I learned about magical Santa Monica places and offerings, some of which I had not been aware of despite living there for ten years, and being a part of the 18th Street Arts Center community for several.
https://petergreenberg.com/2025/12/16/hidden-gems-of-santa-monica/.

In the episode, he talks about the lure of Santa Monica’s surf, sea and sun, its signature art scene, and its gems are hiding in plain sight.
“It’s more than just a vibrant Los Angeles community. It’s a destination that is emblematic of the California dream, best known for its beaches, pier, promenade and iconic bathing beauties. It also happens to be the final stop of historic Route 66. But there’s far more to do here than to just soak up the sun. I take you to, through, and high above my hidden gems of Santa Monica.” —Peter Greenberg

Such offerings help us top see place and things, in a whole new way, and I am appreciate, grateful and excited about participating, learning, growing and sharing along with fellow 18th Street Art Center Artists in Residence, Dan Kwong and Lita Albuquerque.

“Thank you so much for your support of this exciting media opportunity! I am so pleased to share that the episode is live. Here’s the link: https://petergreenberg.com/2025/12/16/hidden-gems-of-santa-monica/.” — Jan Williamson, 18th Street Arts Center Executive Director

“The segment will continue to receive broad distribution in the months ahead, including placement in Peter Greenberg’s weekly e-newsletter. This spring, the episode will premiere as the cover story within Season 11 of The Travel Detective, airing on PBS stations nationwide. Approximately one month following the broadcast premiere, the episode will be available globally on Amazon Prime and Apple TV+, followed by YouTube approximately six months later.” —Lauren Salisbury, Santa Monica Travel and Tourism.

WATCH THE EPISODE HERE!

Hidden Gems

Hidden Gems showcases the lesser-known activities not found in most traditional guidebooks or websites.  From regional cooking lessons with local chefs to adventurous sports to cultural experiences, Peter Greenberg uncovers those special yet accessible places that many visitors overlook. Hidden Gems inspires travelers to immerse themselves in the culture and embark on life-changing journeys. Hidden Gems segments appear on PeterGreenberg.com, within the PBS television series, The Travel Detective, and digitally on Amazon Prime and AppleTV+. To watch full episodes, click here.

 

EXHIBITIONISTA: “(Re)imagining Home: On Care for Our Common Home”

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18th Street Arts Center is pleased to present the exhibition (Re)imagining Home: On Care for Our Common Home, curated by Emma Balda and Venus Tung-yan Lau, on view in the Kitchen Lab at 18th Street Arts Center’s Airport Campus (3026 Airport Ave. in Santa Monica) from August 22, 2022 – July 31, 2023.

What is home? 

Over the last two years, our notions of home have been challenged, transformed, and clarified. The pandemic has simultaneously forced us to shrink our physical home, while also asking us to expand our sense of home to now include people, food, rituals, and ideas. We have also seen our relationship with and to the Earth change. We have seen that our sense of home must expand to include the Earth and the way we care for it.

As we attempt to create a shared home, the first step in that is defining what home means to us. This project asked the 18th Street community to examine the idea of home outside of the domestic sense. They were asked to identify people, memories, materials, places, movements, or concepts that resonate as home to them. These ideas, in combination with art that reflects on this concept, will then be displayed on the monitor in the Kitchen Lab at the Airport Campus. This project relied heavily on 18th Street’s theme “Our Shared Home,” while also deconstructing and defining what that sense of home means so that we can better understand what it means to share this space with one another. 

This exhibition highlights the artworks of Alexandra Dillon, Christopher Tin, Dan Kwong, Dan S Wang, David McDonald, Deborah Lynn Irmas, Debra Disman, Edi Dai, Elham Sagharchi, Gwen Samuels, Jeff Beale, Julia Michelle Dawson, Lionel Popkin, Luciana Abait, M Susan Broussard, Melinda Smith Altshuler, Michael Masucci, Po-Hao Chi, Rebecca Youssef, and Yvette Gellis, all artists in residence at 18th Street Arts Center.

Explore a 360 view of the virtual exhibition HERE.

Exhibitionista: DRIVE-BY-ART Los Angeles

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Drive-By-Art Los Angeles was an amazing outside public art exhibition organized by Warren Neidich, Renee Petropoulos, Michael Slenske and Anuradha Vikram.

DRIVE-BY-ART (Public Art in This Moment of Social Distancing), was  designed as an outdoor public art exhibition that could be experienced from the safety and intimacy of one’s own automobile. (Perfect for LA).

WEBSITE: www.drive-by-art.org
CONTACT: info@drive-by-art.org

Two locations were divided East and West of Western Avenue over two weekends.

EAST LA: was MAY 23rd-25th East of Western Avenue including Altadena, Pasadena, South Pasadena, Frogtown, Glassell Park, Mount Washington, Highland Park, Chinatown (Cypress Park and Elysian Park), Glendale, Sunland, Tujunga, Eagle Rock, Atwater, Silver Lake, Echo Park, Koreatown, MacArthur Park, Rampart Village, Historic Filipinotown, Little Armenia, Los Feliz, East Hollywood, Downtown LA and University Park.
Times: 12-6pm + night viewings at select locations Saturday, May 23rd, 8pm-midnight

WEST LA: was MAY 30th-31st West of Western Avenue including Crenshaw, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, West Adams, Culver City, Inglewood, Mid City, Mid-Wilshire, Venice, Mar Vista, Marina Del Rey, Palms, Santa Monica, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Westwood, Beverly Glen, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, Beverly Wood and Century City.
Times: 12-6pm + night viewings at select locations Saturday, May 30th, 8pm-midnight- these had to be cancelled due to rioting, looting and unrest across Los Angeles.

I showed, “Eat Your Young“, and installation that was installed over one of the windows on the exterior of my studio at 18th Street Arts Center.

Participating artists included: Luciana Abait, Lita Albuquerque, Marcel Alcala, Shagha Ariannia, Charles Arnoldi, Joshua Aster, Elena Bajo, Sharon Barnes, Sarah Beadle, Jeff Beall, Scott Benzel, Andrew Berardini, Lauren Bon, Olivia Booth, Theodore Boyer, Leonardo Bravo, Kimberly Brooks, Rebecca Bruno, Anita Bunn, Jedediah Caesar, Nancy Baker Cahill, Kristin Calabrese, Angel Chen, Joe Day, Yasmine Diaz, Debra Disman, Dani Dodge, Paul Donald, Dana Berman Duff, Bradney Evans, Rochelle Fabb, Katja Farin, Renée A. Fox, Cayetano Ferrer, Shahla K. Friberg, Francesca Gabbiani, Yrneh Gabon, Kiva Garber-Maikovska, Sonja Gerdes, Chet Glaze, Todd Gray, Phyllis Green, Robert Gunderman, Julia Haft-Candell, Robert Herbst, Gilah Yelin Hirsch, Evan Holloway, Andrew Holmquist, Bettina Hubby, Salomon Huerta, Steve Hurd, Max Jansons, Vincent Johnson, Kyle Jorgensen, JPW3, Annetta Kapon, Michael Kelly, Mak Kern, Mirena Kim, John Knuth, Marcus Kuiland-Nazario, Dan Kwong, Thomas Lawson, Kang Seung Lee, Rebecca Levinson, Thomas Linder/Timo Fahler, Sydney Littenberg, Karen Lofgren, Shana Lutker, Marisa Mandler, Chandler McWilliams, Jason Meadows, Adam Moskowitz, Brian C. Moss, Dave Muller, Nicole Nadeau, Stephen Neidich, Kori Newkirk, Ben Wolf Noam, Jordie Oetken, Stas Orlovski, Erika Ostrander, Mamiko Otsubo, Anita Pace, Xiou Ping, Mary Anna Pomonis, Vanessa Prager, Nicole Rademacher, Lucas Reiner, Jackie Rines, Shelby Roberts, Nina R. Salerno, Aram Saroyan, David Schafer, Kenny Scharf, Marty Schnapf, Kim Schoenstadt, Kristine Schomaker, Julia Schwartz, Kyungmi Shin, Susan Silton, Francesco Siqueiros, Emilija Škarnulytė, Natalie Smith, Cammie Staros, Janet Sternburg, Christian Tedeschi, Lincoln Tobier, Dani Tull, Victoria Vesna, Henry Vincent, Alice Wang, Dan S. Wang, Sterling Wells, Jennifer West, Takako Yamaguchi, Kulapat Yantrasast, Jason Yates, Jenny Yurshansky, Jody Zellen, and Peter Zellner.

Drive-By-Art was created by Warren Neidich, a conceptual artist, theorist and organizer. He is the founding director of Saas-Fee Summer Institute of Art and the American editor of Archive Books, Berlin and Milan.

View an amazing film by Eric Minh Swenson
https://www.instagram.com/tv/CA8ebK_F57O/?igshid=agy20pkkaaiu
of Drive By Art Los Angeles…featuring among others, local 18th Street Art Center  Artists in Residence Dan Kwong, Jeff Beall, and yours truly.