Debra Disman

Artist

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Sculptural Book

Sharing Shows: Arizona, California, Texas

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Excavation of the Interior, 2021, 12 x 28 x 12.5″ (wood, mulberry paper, hemp cord, canvas, muslin)

 


Chromatic Interactions: The Golden Thread, 2020, 76 x 90 x 1.5″, mixed media installation utilizing file cards written and drawn upon by Craft Contemporary Museum patrons participating in my commissioned interactive artists’ book project: Chromatic Interactions, (File cards, gold thread, pencil and crayon)

 


Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair, 2022, 64 x 68″ (dimensions variable), Triptych Installation, (canvas, acrylic paint, hemp cord, lace, string)

CONCURRENCIES: Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse: The Visitors

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On June 25th, 2022 I held an open studio to share works created for my 2021-22 Santa Monica Artist Project Fellowship:

Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse: Genius, Trauma and the Invention of New Forms of Visual Art in Response to the Holocaust

Employing research, artistic production, public engagement, the project investigates, compares and links the lives and the groundbreaking work of Jewish women artists Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse on the basis of their shared experience of trauma and loss through the Jewish Holocaust, the remarkably similar intimate traumas of their families (both lost their mothers to suicide), their invention of new forms of visual art through which I posit they respond to and attempt to cope with these traumas,  their early deaths, and the emotional involvement of each with a charismatic and powerful male artist who proved to be influential, even pivotal in the development of their work and artistic/creative breakthroughs.

Themes of the project include being a woman artist, being a Jewish women artist, being an artist during or affected by a profoundly turbulent time in history, the relationship between internal and external turbulence and the creative act and the transformative power of the creative process:  the triumph of the imagination as opposed to the triumph of the will.

On a broader scale, the project examines, through these two geniuses, ways in which the creative process can transform traumatic pasts, and how trauma can elicit the creation of new forms, voices and materials that outlast their makers and continue to reverberate throughout the ages, inspiring posterity.

As part of my Fellowship project commitment, I created a series of works responding to these artists: their oeuvre, their lives, their concurrencies. I was thrilled to welcome friends, colleagues and students to share the works and say hello!  (All images by Steve Hankins Photography)

 




Thank you all, and thank you Steve Hankins, for your beautiful photography and capturing of the event.

CONCURRENCIES: Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse: The Works

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On June 25th, 2022 I held an open studio to share works created for my 2021-22 Santa Monica Artist Project Fellowship:

Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse: Genius, Trauma and the Invention of New Forms of Visual Art in Response to the Holocaust

Employing research, artistic production, public engagement, the project investigates, compares and links the lives and the groundbreaking work of Jewish women artists Charlotte Salomon and Eva Hesse on the basis of their shared experience of trauma and loss through the Jewish Holocaust, the remarkably similar intimate traumas of their families (both lost their mothers to suicide), their invention of new forms of visual art through which I posit they respond to and attempt to cope with these traumas,  their early deaths, and the emotional involvement of each with a charismatic and powerful male artist who proved to be influential, even pivotal in the development of their work and artistic/creative breakthroughs.

Themes of the project include being a woman artist, being a Jewish women artist, being an artist during or affected by a profoundly turbulent time in history, the relationship between internal and external turbulence and the creative act and the transformative power of the creative process:  the triumph of the imagination as opposed to the triumph of the will.

On a broader scale, the project examines, through these two geniuses, ways in which the creative process can transform traumatic pasts, and how trauma can elicit the creation of new forms, voices and materials that outlast their makers and continue to reverberate throughout the ages, inspiring posterity.

As part of my Fellowship project commitment, I created a series of works responding to these artists: their oeuvre, their lives, their concurrencies, some of which I share here: (All images by Steve Hankins Photography)

Working title: “Concurrencies I“, 2022, repurposed denim, linen thread, gold thread, hemp cord, varnish


Working title: “Concurrencies II“, begun, 2022 (unfinished), repurposed denim, linen thread, gold thread, varnish , to be developed


Working title, “Finally“, 2022, canvas, burlap, acrylic paint, hemp cord


Working title, “Finally“, 2022, canvas, burlap, acrylic paint, hemp cord, (details)


“I Can’t I Won’t I will I Do“, 2022, repurposed cotton table runner, hemp cord, acrylic paint


“It’s Not Black and White“, 2021, Bookboard, mulberry paper, repurposed typewriter tape, canvas, hemp cord, (exterior)


“It’s Not Black and White“, 2021, Bookboard, mulberry paper, repurposed typewriter tape, canvas, hemp cord, (exterior/interior)


“Forest Through The Trees“, 2021, bookboard, hemp cord, watercolor paper, acrylic paint, wood, canvas, repurposed typewriter tape, lace, (exterior)


“Forest Through The Trees“, 2021, bookboard, hemp cord, watercolor paper, acrylic paint, wood, canvas, repurposed typewriter tape, lace, (detail)


Working title: “Charlotte Salomon-Eva Hesse: Concurrencies“, 2022, repurposed family album, burlap, linen thread, collage/paper,  (exterior)

Fantastical….2022!

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I am honored to be participating in FANTASTIC FIBERS, (2022), an international juried exhibition that seeks to showcase a wide range of outstanding works related to the fiber medium. It was a wonderful experience to be a part of FANTASTIC FIBERS 2021, and i very much look forward to seeing (albeit online) all the works in this year’s show!

One of Yeiser Art Center’s most engaging, innovative & colorful international exhibits, Fantastic Fibers is an inspirational must-see for fine artists, quilters and textile art enthusiasts across the globe. The exhibition is comprised of contemporary and innovative works created with fiber as the primary medium or concept

The show began in 1987 as a wearable art show but has evolved over the years to include a compelling mix of traditional and non-traditional works created from natural or synthetic fibers, and work that addresses the subject or medium of fiber.

View a video of the show here!

JUROR: Matt Collinsworth
Matt Collinsworth became the new CEO of the National Quilt Museum during the summer of 2021.  Matt attended Georgetown College in central Kentucky and received his MFA from Ohio State.  He has been directing nonprofit organizations since 1998 and museum’s and other cultural organizations since 2003.  Matt has served as Director of the Kentucky Folk Art Center, Senior Director of Cultural Outreach at Morehead State University, Interim Director of the Lexington Art League, and Director of the National Music Museum.  Matt has curated and co-curated dozens of exhibitions that have appeared at museums and galleries across the country, including national and international traveling shows. He also produced numerous major exhibition catalogs, overseen large cultural events, and led several facility renovation projects. Matt lives in Paducah’s Lowertown Arts District with his wife, Kelly, his son, Eli, and (when she’s home from college) his daughter, Brynn.

I am especially thrilled to be showing “Excavation of the Interior”, a work completed in 2021, made of wood, mulberry paper, watercolor paper, muslin, canvas, hemp cord and linen thread.



Artist Amy Usdin photographs the show!


Exterior/Closed


Interior/Open


Interior/Detail


Exterior/Closed


Exterior/Spine-Back

Exhibitionista: The 2021 California Open Exhibition at TAG Gallery

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I am thrilled and honored to participate in the
16th Annual 2021 California Open at TAG Gallery in Los Ange;les.

Please join us for the Opening Saturday August 7th, 7-10PM.

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“Prairie“, (interior/exterior), 2018, 10.25″ x 47″ x 15.25”, mixed media: book board, paperboard, jute cord, watercolor paper, tissue paper

Selected artists:
Mariko Bird, Alejandro Borges, Jonathan Crow, Lynne Deutch, Debra Disman, Kevin Eaton, Louis Jacinto, Brian Knoerzer, Debbie Korbel, Kenny Kwon, Johnny Naked, Barbara Nathanson, Toban Nichols, Bryan Northup, Joe O’neill, Manaz Raiszadeh, Steven Rahbany, John Rushing, James Sloman, Joshua Tann, Michael Tole, Paul Valadez, Robin Walker, Paul Westacott, Tina Ybarra, R Zach Zecha, Jim Zver.

Juror:
Gronk is the moniker of artist Glugio Nicandro. Along with vast and never-ending self- education, he studied visual art at the East Los Angeles College and California State University, Los Angeles in the 1970s. Gronk is an enduring and influential figure in the Los Angeles and international art scenes — maintaining an active studio in downtown Los Angeles that functions as his live-work space and an epicenter for other artists and community members. Along with a core group of artists, Gronk helped establish Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) in 1978. In 1993, a traveling retrospective of his work, Gronkl: A Living Survey, 1972 – 1993, was organized by the Mexican Museum in San Francisco and traveled to several institutions including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). Gronk exhibited at LACMA again in 2011 for the exhibition ASCO: Elite of the Obscure. Gronk’s work is represented in numerous private and museum collections across the country, including the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.; the San Francisco Museum of modern Art (SFMoMa); the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA); and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), Los Angeles. Gronk’s Theater of Paint marks the artist’s first solo museum exhibition in Los Angeles in more than two decades.

An Open Book

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When one book closes…another one opens…
or, something like that.

I was thrilled to be a part of the 2020 California Open Exhibition at TAG Gallery in LA.

“I like the ‘openness’ of the California Open concept,” said juror Kate Mothes, “so in my selections I tried to maintain a diversity of ideas and themes, and to the best of ability with the information at hand, include artists of diverse backgrounds. With this in mind, I also considered the craftsmanship of each work, and included a range of media types. It was a pleasure to review all of the submissions to this year’s open call, and I thank TAG Gallery for inviting me to participate as juror this year!”


“Falling“,  2019, 7″ x 24.5″ x 10.5”, mixed media (book board, mulberry paper, hemp cord, paperboard)


It sold.