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Debra Disman

Artist

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Mark Henry Samuel

Swept Away: “The Center Will Not Hold” I

May 29, 2023 By Debra Disman

My work, “The Center Will Not Hold” was  PERFORMED ON SITE AT THE ANNENBERG COMMUNITY BEACH HOUSE as part of:  Swept Way: Love Letters to a Surrogate, organized by
Warren Neidich, Christina Mossaides Strassfield, Anuradha Vikram and Rene Petropoulos  2022-23
“Swept Away: Love Letter to a Surrogate/s” is a community oriented artistic project that aims to create a transcontinental heartbeat across America. It is hoped that through its combined gestures and performances, a sense of solidarity, so desperately missing today, will emerge with which to confront the ecological catastrophe at our doorstep.”

65 Los Angeles County artists presented live performances over Earth Day Weekend: April 22 and 23, 2023 at the Santa Monica State Beach near the Annenberg Community Beach House on the Pacific Ocean. “The Center Will Not Hold” was one of them.

Stills from “The Center Will Not Hold”: gathering the water, stitching the sand.
Collaborators: Deborah Lynn Irmas and Frida Cano.


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023    Three Women Gather Water Working Silently Together


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023   Carrying Water to the Blanket of the Four Directions


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023   Making Their Way to the Blanket of the Fuur Directions Site


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023   Water is Used to Dampen The Sand To Create Mounds


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023   Needles Threaded With Hemp Cord Are Used To Stitch 


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023      Through the Sand  Mounds Creating Lines of Connection


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023     Hemp Cords Are Threaded Across the Open Circle


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023     The Center Is Stitched as is the Sand Around the Blanket


Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023     The Work of Mending is Completed for the Moment

Image Credit: Mick Lorusso April 2023     The Work is Never Done on This Earth and in This Life

More to come.

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: "Swept Away: Love Letter to a Surrogate(s)", Annenberg Beach House, Anuradha Vikram, Christina Mossaides Strassfield, Deborah Lynn Irmas, Earth Day, East Hampton, Frida Cano, Healing the Earth, Jeremy Dennis, Jeremy Native, julie McKim, Los Angeles Artists, Main Beach, Mark Henry Samuel, Mick Lorusso, Performance, Rene Petropoulos, SANTA MONICA, Santa Monica Beach, Stitching the earth, Stitching the Sand, Warren Neidich

Walking Through “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do”

May 1, 2023 By Debra Disman

Photographer Gene Ogami documented my 2023 solo show, “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do” at ReflectSpace Gallery in the Glendale Central Library.
The ten images below provide a virtual walk-through of the exhibition, which was, as I shared with the curators, Ara and Anahid Oshagan, a dream come true that I did not even know I had.

Gratitude to them, to Gene, and to so many others who supported this realization.


Walking into the meditative gallery space from the main library.


Catching some of the larger pieces through the vitrine reflections.


Capturing exhibition signage, the “Concurrencies” artists’ book, the two Concurrencies hangings, and “Throes of the Body” in the vitrine.


A favorite corner of the Curators, Installers and myself!


“Three Sisters and Their Mother” on the wall, hanging over the titular work, “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do” on shelf.


“Finally, and Just For A Minute” suspended. Black on black on black is challenging to photograph.


A shot that manages to include over half the pieces in the show.


Gene was able to present me surrounded and supported by my works.


We were able to employ the hallway to present other works, and enlargements of the images featured in my artists’ book, “Concurrencies”, comparing the lives and works of artists Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse.


The Journey Continues.
In gratitude and appreciation.

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, Exhibitions, TEXTILE/FIBER, Women Artists, Work Tagged With: "I Can't I Won't I Will I Do", Anahid Oshagan, Ara Oshagan, Art Gallery, Book as Sculpture, Books, Charlotte Salomon, City of Glendale, Concurrencies, Curators Ara Oshagan and  Anahid Oshagan, Documentary Photography, Eva Hesse, Fiber, Fiber Art, Gene Ogami, Glendale Arts and Culture, Glendale Central Library, Glendale Library Arts and Culture, Handmade Books, Hanging, Mark Henry Samuel, Poetry Consults, RefectSpaceGallery, ReflectSpace, ReflectSpaceGallery, Sewing, Solo Exhibition, Solo Show, Stitching, Tapestry, Textile Art, Textiles, Tina Demirdjian

DISMAN-tling “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do” at ReflectSpace Gallery!

April 3, 2023 By Debra Disman

It was with  tenderness mixed with pride and appreciation that I DISMAN-tled my solo show, “I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do ” which ran from late January to late March 2023, in the ReflectSpace Gallery in the Glendale Central Library, curated by the inimitable duo, Anahid and Ara Oshagan.


Thank you Tony, for your assistance, climbing those ladders, and using those tools!

A bit of fun with Tina Demirdjian of Poetry Consults.
Thank you Tina for the support on all fronts!

It takes a village…the completion of a job well done! With the incomparable Anahid Oshagan, co-curator of ReflectSpace, and Tina Demirdjian of Poetry Consults.


Posing with the Glendale Gals: Tina and Anahid…


and with the marvelous Maryl Fleisher, Marketing Program Supervisor at Glendale Library, Arts & Culture.

A dream I did  not even know I had…fulfilled.

Thank you…appreciation, and gratitude.

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, BOOKS, Exhibitions, New Work, TEXTILE/FIBER, Women Artists, Work Tagged With: Anahid Oshagan, Ara Oshagan, Books, City of Glendale, Curators Ara Oshagan and  Anahid Oshagan, Fiber, Fiber Art, Glendale Arts and Culture, Glendale Central Library, Glendale Library Arts and Culture, Handmade Books, Mark Henry Samuel, Poetry Consults, RefectSpaceGallery, ReflectSpace, ReflectSpaceGallery, Solo Exhibition, Solo Show, Textile Art, Textiles, Tina Demirdjian

“I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do Solo Show Opening At ReflectSpace Gallery!

February 7, 2023 By Debra Disman

I am thrilled to have a solo exhibition at ReflectSpace Gallery, part of Glendale Arts and Culture, which opened Saturday January 28th and is on view through March 19,2023.
The show, a dream come true that I did not even know I  had, was curated by the wonderful Ara and Anahid Oshagan of The City of Glendale.

https://debradisman.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/02/VID_24521006_142714_984-1.mp4

Beautiful show video by Jennifer Remenchick, artist, writer, videographer and exhibition installer.


The opening was warm, wonderful and wild!


Our ReflectSpace-published artist book: “Concurrencies Charlotte Salomon, and Eva Hesse Genius, Trauma and the Creative Imagination”.
I was moved and surprised by flowers sent by my family, and a certificate presented by Senator Anthony L. Portantino!


Stacie B. London, exhibition designer and installer extraordinaire…and esteemed colleague.


Artist colleagues Laurey Bennett Levy and Rebecca Youseff


The very colorful artist and animator Michelle Robinson


Beloved artist and curator friend,  Frida Cano


Frida and Mick


Dear friend and actor extraordinaire, Suzanne Voss


Long-time no-see friend Rayne with Mark


Mark and I hanging with the beautiful Anahid Oshagan, curator and lawyer,  and Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian


I was honored to receive a City of Glendale Certificate of Recognition,  presented by Senator Anthony L. Portantino!


Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian and  Senator Anthony L. Portantino!

Director of Glendale Library Arts and Culture Gary Shaffer,  Mon Cher Mark, Curator  Anahid Oshagan, and  Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian


What a line-up!
Exhibition Designer Stacie B. London, Curators Ara Oshagan and  Anahid Oshagan, Director of Glendale Library Arts and Culture Gary Shaffer, Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, Mark, myself, and  Senator Anthony L. Portantino and esteemed City of Glendale colleague!

Filed Under: ARTISTS, Artists' Books, AWARDS, BOOKS, Exhibitions, New Work, TEXTILE/FIBER, Women Artists, Work Tagged With: Anahid Oshagan, Ara Oshagan, Book Festival, Bookmakiing Workshops, Books, City of Glendale, Curators Ara Oshagan and  Anahid Oshagan, Director of Glendale Library Arts and Culture Gary Shaffer, Fiber, Fiber Art, Frida Cano, Glendale Arts and Culture, Glendale Central Library, Glendale Library Arts and Culture, Glendale Mayor Ardy Kassakhian, Handmade Books, Jennifer Remenchick, Laurey Bennett-Levy, Mark Henry Samuel, Michelle Robinson, Rebecca Youseff, RefectSpaceGallery, Senator Anthony L. Portantino, Solo Exhibition, Solo Show, Stacie B. London, Suzanne Voss, Textile Art, Textiles

Open Studio at 18th Street Arts Center

December 26, 2018 By Debra Disman

“We the Artists”

18th Street Arts Center

30th Anniversary Celebration

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photograph by Debra Disman

Cynthia Underwood

Asia Sztencel

Mark Henry Samuel

Photography except for top image of !8th Street Arts Center by Salvador Ochoa

Filed Under: Artist in Residence, Artists' Books, Exhibitions, New Work, Work Tagged With: "We the Artists", 18th Street Arts Center, 30th Anniversary Celebration, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Asia Sztencel, Cynthia Underwood, Debra Disman, Mark Henry Samuel, Open Studio, Open Studios, Salvador Ochoa, We the Artists 30th Anniversary Celebration

2018 California OPENing

August 16, 2018 By Debra Disman

I am thrilled and honored to be part of the 2018 California Open Exhibition  held this year at the beautiful Tag Gallery  in Los Angeles, near LACMA (The Los Angeles County Museum of Art) August 8-24, with an opening reception Saturday August 11th, 5PM – 8PM.

Beloved and acclaimed LA-based artist  Kim Abeles juried this show, and her statement about it in the Press Release is telling.

Gallery Director, Rakeem Cunningham, sent out these installation images as well as a great inventory of Works in the Show.  Thanks to Rakeem and Kim for their devoted work and ongoing efforts to make this show a great one, as well as to the wonderful Tag Gallery artists who opened their gallery “home” and their hearts to all of us who exhibited, made the Opening Reception a gala, and supported the cause with such heart and generosity.

This is an engaging and eclectic show.  I was thrilled to see the work of  three other (WOMEN!!!) artists that I know and have worked with in the show: photographer Marta Feinstein, printmaker and fellow LACMA teaching artist Brooke Sauer, and sculptor Karena Massengill. I share their work below as well as my own, and some images of the Opening. Really fun.


Throngs of beautiful souls crowd the gallery.


Stunned to find flowers here from my family! Mark and I get documented…


Sunflowers illuminated the evening, and graced the Gallery’s Reception desk. Pictured here photographer Marta Feinstein, a fellow exhibiting artist.


My piece, “Throes of the Body“, completed during my Studio Residency at 1450 Ocean in Santa Monica.

The work of colleagues..

It has been a great experience.

The exhibition runs through Friday, August 24th, 5pm.
If you have not yet seen it, check it out!

There is something for everyone there!

GrAtItUdEs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Filed Under: Artists' Books, Exhibitions, New Work, Work Tagged With: "Throes of the Body", 1450 Ocean, 2018 California Open Exhibition, Artist Book, ARTIST BOOKS, Brooke Sauer, Exhbition Opening, Exhbitions, Exhibition Openings, Kerena Massengill, Kim Abeles, Los Angeles Exhibitions, Mark Henry Samuel, Marta Feinstein, Rakeem Cunningham, SANTA MONICA, Sculptural Artists' Books, Sculptural Book Works, Sculpture, Studio Residency, Tag Gallery, Tag Gallery Artists

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