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Debra Disman

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Paper Arts

EXHIBITIONISTA: “Cut/Fold/Press” at Craft Alliance!

February 5, 2025 By Debra Disman

 I am  thrilled to participate in “Cut/Fold/Press” juried by artist and educator Buzz Spector at Craft Alliance showing “Burning Bush”


7.5 x 11 x 5.5″, board, mulberry paper, sewing thread, linen thread

“At times, paper is often thought as a vehicle for other artistic practices. This exhibit embraces the transformational quality of paper and the art created using paper as a primary material. Juried by Craft Alliance’s inaugural Visiting Artist, Buzz Spector, this exhibition brings together compelling work on a seemingly simple material and craft form. CUT/FOLD/PRESS asks paper artists to explore and consider the many forms that paper art takes—books, sculpture, and sheet. 

The exhibition presents artists who use paper as their primary medium or create artworks made on, of, or about paper including cut paper, folded paper, woven paper, glued paper, drawings, paintings, pastels, printmaking, photographs, paper sculpture, 3D, bound books, collage, or as the subject of a video and installation.”

Buzz Spector is an artist, writer and emeritus professor of art at Washington University in St. Louis. His academic career includes five years’ service as dean of the College and Graduate School of Art in the Sam Fox School of Design and Visual Arts (2009–2013). Spector has also taught at Cornell University and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign as a full professor and at numerous institutions as visiting or adjunct faculty.

Spector’s art practice makes frequent use of the book, both as subject and object, and focuses on relationships between public history, individual memory and perception. He has had numerous exhibits in private and institutional galleries and museums in the U.S., Europe and Asia, and his solo or two-person museum exhibits have taken place at the Saint Louis Art Museum; Art Institute of Chicago; Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Huntington Museum of Art, West Virginia; Mattress Factory, Pittsburgh; Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California; Cranbrook Art Museum, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan; and most recently, Rockford Art Museum, Rockford, IL.

Spector has also published two books, Buzzwords (Sara Ranchouse Publishing, 2012) and The Book Maker’s Desire (Umbrella Editions, 1994). He has also written numerous exhibition catalog essays, including for exhibits by Luis Camnitzer, Ann Hamilton, Dan Ramirez and Dieter Roth.  Additionally, Spector received the College Art Association’s Distinguished Teaching of Art award in 2013.

 Craft Alliance is located in The Maker District of  St. Louis, is a hub for artists, enthusiasts, and students to explore, learn, and celebrate the world of contemporary craft. We offer studios for ceramics, print and paper arts, metals, fibers, glass, wood, an artists-in-residence program, robust community programs, and an exhibition program.

Tagged With: art as craft, Buzz Spector, craft alliance, craft as art, Cut, cut fold press, Fiber, fold, Group Exhibition, Maker District, Paper, Paper Arts, Paste, press, Saint Loius, Textiles, Thread

Family Bookmaking at the Julian Dixon Culver City Library!

June 17, 2024 By Debra Disman

It was wonderful to conduct a family bookmaking program at the Julian Dixon Culver City Branch Library, part of the Los Angeles County Library System!

Parents and children worked together to learn how to make and then create their own  accordion fold books with simple one and two cut popups, inspiring each other, as well as myself and the Library Staff as they moved through the process.


Our youngest participant, age 4, with proud Dad.


Moms and daughters


Dad and daughter!


Mom and more daughters!


An exuberant family of Dad and three sibs.


Fearless leader Librarian Melanie!

So. Much. Fun!

Filed Under: Artists' Books, BOOKS, LIBRARIES, Student Work, Teaching Artist, TEXTILE/FIBER Tagged With: Accordion Fold, Accordion Fold Book, Book Arts, Books made by Hand, Clver City, Community Artmaking, COMMUNITY BOOKMAKING, County Library, Families Making Books, Family Bookmaking, Folded Books, Handmade Books, Julian Dixon Culver City Public Library, LA County Library, LA COunty Library System, LACO, LACO Library Public Programs, Library Public Programs, Made By Hand, Making Books Together, one-cut popup, Paper Arts, Parents and children, POP-UPS, two-cut pop-up

“PULP- Book and Paper Arts” at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts

August 3, 2022 By Debra Disman

I am thrilled to participate in “PULP- Book and Paper Arts” at the Sebastopol Center for the Arts!
I have two works in the show, “Prairie”, pictured below on the exhibition announcement, and “Before the Fall”.

“PULP- Book and Paper Arts” runs July 30 to Sept 4, 2022.

“This show will feature innovative and traditional explorations of book arts, paper arts, and paper sculptures, including paper objects, book-art-related objects, altered books, and sculptural and wall-mounted pieces, as well as more traditional artists’ books, letterpress printing and bookbinding.”

Show coordinators are Renee Owen and Jennylynn Hall.

Jurors are Alicia Bailey and Helen Hiebert.

Alicia Bailey, curator and artist, is currently the director of Abecedarian Books. She has been working with book forms since the mid-nineties, has owned and run a successful gallery dedicated to book arts, and is the visionary and curator behind the annual Artists’ Book Cornucopia.

Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, and artists’ books and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work internationally and online, and is the author of several how-to books about papermaking and paper crafts.

Please see the list of Pulp artists on SCA’s current and upcoming exhibitions page.

My work, “Before the Fall” pictured above next to a beautiful modular piece.

And…Enjoy the Show!!!

Filed Under: Uncategorized Tagged With: Abecedarian Book, Alicia Bailey, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book and Paper Arts, Book Arts, Books made by Hand, Group Show, Handmade Books, Helen Hiebert, Jennylynne Hall, North Bay Bay Area, Paper Arts, PULP, Renee Owen, Sebastapol, Sebastopol Center for the Arts

EXHIBITIONISTA: “PULP- Book and Paper Arts”

July 9, 2022 By Debra Disman

PULP- Book and Paper Arts


Show coordinators are Renee Owen and Jenny Lynn Hall.

Jurors are Alicia Bailey and Helen Hiebert:

Alicia Bailey, curator and artist, is currently the director of Abecedarian Books. She has been working with book forms since the mid-nineties, has owned and run a successful gallery dedicated to book arts, and is the visionary and curator behind the annual Artists’ Book Cornucopia.

Helen Hiebert is a Colorado artist who constructs installations, sculptures, films, and artists’ books and works in paper using handmade paper as her primary medium. She teaches, lectures and exhibits her work internationally and online, and is the author of several how-to books about papermaking and paper crafts.

Tagged With: Abecedarian Books, Alicia Bailey, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Book and Paper Arts, Book Arts, Books made by Hand, Group Show, Handmade Books, Helen Hiebert, Jennylynne Hall, Juried Exhibition, North Bay Bay Area, Paper Arts, PULP, Renee Owen, Sebastapol, Sebastopol, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sonoma County

Poetry Flag Bookmaking at the Granada Hills Library!

March 20, 2020 By Debra Disman

 

This Leap Year, celebrate Poetry Month at the Granada Hills Library by making the fun and fabulous flag book structure, and adding poetry to its pages.
Complete your book with your own rhymes, poems or lyrics,  dive into the words of your favorite poets, and discover new ones on the shelves of the Library.
Welcome the warmth of Spring with this joyous activity!

Tagged With: 2020, ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, Artist Residency The Granada Hills Library, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Arts and Crafts, Bookmaking, Bookmaking at the Public Library, Books made by Hand, Calendar, Community Artmaking, Community Arts, DCA, Family Bookmaking, Flag Book, FLAG BOOKMAKING, Granada Hills Library, Granada Hills Public Library, Handmade Books, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles Public Library, Make Your Own Journal, ONE-OF-A-KIND HANDMADE BOOKS, Paper Arts, Poetry, Poetry Month, Public Library Arts and Crafts, Teaching Artist

Keep Precious Memories Stored in a Journal Session 2

February 10, 2020 By Debra Disman

Join us to create your own journal using single signature binding techniques.

Learn how to create a book with a spine, covers and pages in which to to store your precious memories, doodle, dream, draw and write!

“Artist-in-Residence Debra Disman will teach patrons how to use sewing techniques to bind together their own journal. This program is possible in part by a grant from the City of Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs.”

This program series is part of my artist residency through the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in bookmaking!

Tagged With: 2020, ARTIST IN RESIDENCE, Artist Residency The Granada Hills Library, ARTIST'S BOOKS, Arts and Crafts, Bookmaking, Bookmaking at the Public Library, Books made by Hand, Calendar, Community Artmaking, Community Arts, DCA, Family Bookmaking, Gift Book, Granada Hills Library, Granada Hills Public Library, Handmade Books, Journal, Journal-making, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles Public Library, Make Your Own Journal, ONE-OF-A-KIND HANDMADE BOOKS, Paper Arts, Public Library Arts and Crafts, Sewn Books, Single Signature bookmaking, Teaching Artist, Two session program

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