Debra Disman

Artist

  •

Exhibition

2020 California Open Exhibition

By

Congratulations-2020-California-Open-Artists.jpg

CONGRATULATIONS 2020 CALIFORNIA OPEN ACCEPTED ARTISTS

Juror Kate Mothes selected 101 unique objects of fine art from 99 artists.

Nearly 1,000 entries were submitted to the artist call.  

The 2020 California Open displays at TAG in all of our downstairs galleries from September 9 — October 1. Fine art viewings are available by appointment only until Stay Home orders are lifted for Los Angeles. Please call or email the gallery for more information.

I am thrilled to be showing “FALLING”, 2018, 11″ x (up to) 23″ x 7.5″, mixed media

Front view  (interior/exterior)                                     Detail   (interior/exterior)

 

Detail (interior/exterior)                                                    Back view (exterior)

Exhibitionista: 2020 LA Open

By

 

I am honored to be part of the 2020 LA OPEN Exhibition at Tag Gallery in Los Angeles,  juried by Juri Koll.

2020 LA OPEN

December 17 – December 21, 2019
January 2 – January 17, 2020

TAG Gallery is proud to announce the 3rd annual LA Open Exhibition for 2020! This juried exhibition aims to serve as a gateway for a diverse range of artists in the greater Los Angeles area to display their artworks on Museum Row, home to four major Los Angeles museums.

TAG’s calendar year commences with this vibrant exhibition of works by local artists. The focus of this exhibition is to illustrate that artists are strong and impactful when they come together to facilitate dialogue amongst varied styles of works. To this end, the viewer and artist alike are encouraged to make unapparent connections between works in an effort to facilitate an intimate and unique experience for each viewer.

I am showing “Torrent and Tangle: Keep Your House in Order”, 2019, 10.5 x 25 x 18”, mixed media

Check out this fun and varied show soon if you can. It closes January 17, so hurry over to TAG!

Exhibitionista: “All Stitched up” with everywhere to go…

By

Thank you to my sister Susan, for attending the opening of the “All Stitched Up” show in the Collins Library at the University of Puget Sound, on September 14th. Too far for me to travel in this moment, especially as were driving back from the Bay Area at that time!

“To stitch is to join together, to mend, or fasten as with stitches – to sew. To stitch is to bring together fabric, paper, wounds of the body, or cultural divides. Stitching can be an act of healing, hope, practicality, creativity, and revolution. All Stitched Up recognizes and celebrates the work of book artists’ where stitching has become an integral part of the visual design.” — Curators Catherine Alice Michaelis, Jane A. Carlin, and Diana Weymar  

Susan took some great pictures, which is critical, as artist books, indeed, any kind of book, is challenging to display, being composed of so many different parts, all of which cannot be seen at the same time. Such is the magic and mystery of this old technology, the book.

Judging from this shelf, the show was themed in different ways, including color and materials.

Hey Susan…thank you! (Great haircut too…)

Susan even took a shot of my page in the catalog. Cool!  I ordered the catalog, a great effort put together by Curator Catherine Alice Michaelis.  Great way to support the show and celebrate the works it brought together.

Gratitudes!

“The Book as Art v.7.0: Wonders”

By

I am honored to show my work, “The Fall” in the upcoming exhibition:

The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders
Presented by the Decatur Arts Alliance
Decatur, Georgia

August 9–September 27, 2019

The Decatur Arts Alliance (DAA) presents the seventh edition of the juried exhibition of artists’ books, The Book as Art, August 9–September 27, 2019. This edition will be installed once again at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library.  The show’s dates encompass the AJC-Decatur Book Festival, which takes place each Labor Day weekend throughout the City of Decatur. The DAA will sponsor a festive opening on Friday, August 23, 2019.

“A book begins as a small mass of material, formed and pressed into life by ideas, words, and machines. A concept becomes thought, becomes word, becomes book, becomes sculpture. From the tactile complexity of handmade paper, to the alteration of existing volumes, to a variety of other materials and concepts, these objects, in an increasingly digital world, stubbornly survive. The objects in this exhibition will interpret the concept of the book and invite the viewer to look beyond the printed page to where word has become form.”

The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders’ location at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library is just off the Decatur Square, ideally accessible to the more than 85,000 attendees at the Festival as well as to visitors throughout the run of the show.

View the catalog!

The Jurors:

Denise Bookwalter works in a range of print media including traditional and digital processes, artist’s books, installations and dimensional prints. Her artist’s books utilize old and new print technologies to create collaborative works. Her work has been exhibited and collected in a variety of venues across the country and abroad. She received her BA from Northwestern University and her MFA from Indiana University in Printmaking. Bookwalter currently lives in Tallahassee, Florida with her husband and twin girls. She is an Associate Professor of Art at Florida State University where she teaches printmaking and is Area Head of the Printmaking Department. She is the director and founder of Florida State University’s artists’ book press, Small Craft Advisory Press.

Mari Eckstein Gower is an artist and writer with a studio practice in Redmond, Washington, where she currently focuses on creating one of a kind and editioned artist books. She grew up in Southern California and studied art and humanities at Scripps College and Claremont Graduate University. Later she continued her studies of printmaking techniques at ateliers in Montreal and then writing with Al Young, Bruce Coville, Jane Yolen, and Ursula K. Leguin. Gower’s artist books are included in collections across the United States and Canada. Her work has been exhibited in gallery and museum shows in the United States and Europe.

Andrew Huot is a book artist and bookbinder in Atlanta, Georgia. He operates Big River Bindery, a studio for bookmaking and letterpress printing, book repair, and design. He has a Masters in Book Arts from the University of the Arts, teaches bookbinding and preservation for the University of Illinois, and workshops in his bindery and across the country. He exhibits his work widely and it is held in more than 50 university library collections. His artwork takes his everyday life and uses the patterns, lines, and shapes to create work that is playful and strikes a familiar cord with viewers.

The Book as Art v. 7.0: Wonders’ location at the Decatur Branch of the DeKalb County Public Library is just off the Decatur Square, ideally accessible to the more than 85,000 attendees at the Festival as well as to visitors throughout the run of the show.

“The Fall“, 2019
(Book board, hemp cord, mulberry paper, paperboard, canvas)


Exterior/Side

Interior/Open

Exterior/Open

FORMATION at UCLA: The Exhibition (5)

By

“FORMATION”: The Guild of Book Workers 2018-2019 Traveling Juried Exhibition closed May at UCLA!

University of California, Los Angeles
Charles E. Young Research Library Lobby Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
March 15–May 30, 2019

I am extremely honored to have two pieces in FORMATION, The Guild of Book Workers 2018-2019 traveling juried exhibition, with a theme evoking a wide array of interpretations. This post shares the design of the exhibition, as well as selections of the incredible work.

Shown is the display in the Charles E. Young Research Library Lobby Gallery/University of California, Los Angeles.
The exhibition continued in the wonderful UCLA Library Special Collections room downstairs.

“Simply defined by Merriam Webster as “an act of giving form or shape to something,” ‘formation‘ can insinuate process, history, creation, change, beginnings, an arrangement, botany and landscape, personal narratives and impersonal storytelling. As artists, designers and craftspeople with our own histories that form us, we also play a vital role in the formation of objects and experiences; pulp molded into paper, paper folded into books, books shelved into a library.

What is the final product, if not for the methods used to create it? What makes us into the artists we are? What pushes us to continue to create?” –FORMATION

      

It was wonderful to have FORMATION here in LA.

Now the show is off to:

The North Bennet Street School
Boston, MA
June 5 — July 27, 2019

The University of the Arts
Philadelphia, PA
August 1 — October 30, 2019

If you are in those areas and interested in the art of the book…please check it out!
I don’t think you will be disappointed!

FORMATION at UCLA: Hang Out (4)

By

“FORMATION”: The Guild of Book Workers 2018-2019 Traveling Juried Exhibition just closed at UCLA.

University of California, Los Angeles
Charles E. Young Research Library Lobby Gallery
Los Angeles, CA
March 15–May 30, 2019

“Simply defined by Merriam Webster as “an act of giving form or shape to something,” ‘formation‘ can insinuate process, history, creation, change, beginnings, an arrangement, botany and landscape, personal narratives and impersonal storytelling. As artists, designers and craftspeople with our own histories that form us, we also play a vital role in the formation of objects and experiences; pulp molded into paper, paper folded into books, books shelved into a library.

What is the final product, if not for the methods used to create it? What makes us into the artists we are? What pushes us to continue to create?” –FORMATION

I am extremely honored to have two pieces in FORMATION, The Guild of Book Workers 2018-2019 traveling juried exhibition, with a theme evoking a wide array of interpretations. In this post, I share my work included in the show; “Hang Out”, and “Black Hang Out”.


“Hang Out” was initially displayed laying down. I asked for it to be standing, and the wonderful staff followed suit.


Interior detail


Both books standing

I did my best to capture the feel of these pieces when they showed in the Library Lobby Gallery alongside a myriad of varied, extraordinary, exemplary, breathtaking works created by other artists and makers in whose company I am moved and proud to be.