Debra Disman

Artist

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Story

Halloween Tunnel Bookmaking at the Canoga Park Branch Library

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Book arts are alive and well at the Canoga Park Branch Library!

I am thrilled to continue my artist residency there, working with the community, teaching all manner of how-to bookmaking workshops, or “programs” in library parlance!

The series, entitled “We Write the Book”, supported by the wonderful Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, will offer 11 hands-on bookmaking workshops and a culmination event to the community free of charge, with all materials included!

Participants from children to teens to families to seniors learned how to create the three-dimensional Tunnel Book structure, creating their own Halloween scenes and more, combining theater, books, stories and celebration into their movable dramas!

 

Storybook Theater at the West Valley Regional Library!

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In July I started a new Artist Residency in Bookmaking, “We Write the Book” at the West Valley Regional Branch Library of the Los Angeles Public Library, through the Los Angeles City Department of Cultural Affairs.
The Residency is comprised of a series of bookmaking workshops presented at the Library, planned in close coordination with Library Staff.

On Thursday January 12th, we gathered in the Library’s community room, with participants of all ages including  children, grandparents, families and even a 5 month old baby, and learned as a group how to make the fantastical and fun Storybook Theater!

Cutting, folding, pasting, developing…


participants created three-dimensional stories that stood up, opened out, 


and expressed their imaginations, creativity, and hopes for the new year…new vistas indeed!

Bravo!

Exhbitionista: “Telling Stories” with Shoebox Arts

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I am thrilled to participate in: 

“Telling Stories”

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2022 3-5pm PST: Zoom Opening Reception and artist talks

Presented by Shoebox Projects

Curated by Michelle Robinson, Artist and Curator

“Art and craft are means to tell stories visually. Through mythology, fairy tales, cultural commentary, dream imagery, family history, and personal narrative, art has sought to examine the challenges and mysteries of how we live; to interpret and understand our world and share those thoughts with others. This exhibition showcases how artists are telling stories now, from abstract and non-linear to representational and narratives” at Shoebox Projects“

See the show and hear the Artists Talk HERE!

I am showing: 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

Michelle Robinson studied architecture and visualization at Texas A&M University, producing animated short films that were shown at the Walker Art Center, the Dallas Museum of Art, and The AFI National Video Festival. She has been an artist and supervisor with Walt Disney Animation Studios for over 28 years, with credits that include Frozen, Zootopia, and most recently, Head of Characters on Encanto. She also holds an MFA from New Hampshire Institute of Art and has had her work published in Diffusion of Light, The Hand, and Precog magazine. Exhibition highlights include a curated show dealing with the urban environment at the Brand Library in Glendale, CA, and solo shows at the Dairy Center for the Arts in Boulder, CO, The Wright Gallery at Texas A&M University, and the Cecelia Coker Bell Gallery at Coker University in NC. www.michellerobinsonstudio.com

Shoebox Arts is an arts organization focused on supporting and empowering artists, building community, offering peer mentorship, PR/marketing strategies and social media management. Shoebox Projects is our alternative art space that supports artists through curator opportunities, residencies and representation.

 

Sharing the words of Juri Koll

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I am honored to share the words of the artist, curator, filmmaker and fonder/director of Venice Institute of Contemporary Art, Juri Koll:

Thank you Juri, for your time, your care, and your comprehension of my work.

It means a great deal.

Worth “A Thousand Words”

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It was a pleasure to participate in Core New Art Space‘s exhibition: 

Juror, Richard Chamberlain, pursues several lines of work in visual and performing arts and is a published poet as well. He was looking for: “….works that tell a story. Realistically, abstractly or expressionistically inspired by literature and legends, poetry and parables, novels and narratives, myths and metaphors, artworks have their own fictions, fables, folklore or fairytales. Artworks can be worth a thousand words. The exhibited works were judged on overall impact, content, composition and mastery of techniques, as well as attention to creativity and craftsmanship.”

Below are images of the show, including my work, “Window Treatment“, a sculptural artists’ book,
perhaps evoking the film, “Rear Window”.
What stories go on behind these windows?!

 

Exhibitionistia: “A Thousand Words” at Core New Art Space

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I am honored to be showing “Window Treatment”  as part of the “A Thousand Words” show at Core New Art Space!

“A Thousand Words” presents works that tell a story. Realistically, abstractly or expressionistically inspired by literature and legends, poetry and parables, novels and narratives, myths and metaphors, artworks have their own fictions, fables, folklore or fairytales. Artworks can be worth a thousand words. The submitted works were judged on overall impact, content, composition and mastery of techniques, as well as attention to creativity and craftsmanship.”