Debra Disman

Artist

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Surface Design Association

Surface Design Association Instagram “Take-over”!

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The weekend of November 29-December 1 I had the pleasure, the honor and the fun of “taking over” (collaborating with) the Instagram account of the beloved  Surface Design Association or “SDA”, as it is commonly known.

It was so much fun, rewarding and delightful to get responses from and connections to many artists and makers I was not yet aware of, and peruse their beautiful and innovative work.

Thank you SDA, for this lovely opportunity, and for All you do for All of us.

Here are some of my posts (sans videos):
(You can see the whole collaboration, as well as continually added works on the SDA Instagram as well as my own)

Hello and a happy holiday weekend to All. I have the privilege of collaborating with the @surface_design this weekend, an organization I am thrilled to be a part of. SDA offers community, connection, education and wonderful opportunities. I have had the pleasure of participating in several SDA exhibitions, and I am honored to be in the company of other SDA artist members showing around the country! Thank you SDA, for all you do for all of us.

“LA Foret I, II and III” Adding complexity with each piece, as a stand alone, and components of a whole. They are made from hundreds of pieces of cord, glued to a raw canvas surface, painted on the reverse, and hanging at a slight remove from the wall.


(a different image of this piece is on Instagram)
“KnoW Safe Place”, 2023, 60 x 48 x 48″, canvas, hemp/nylon/cotton cord, lace, netting, lace, ribbon, acrylic paint, wood, archival adhesive.  Is there no safe place?  Do we ever know safe space?

“The Body Politic: Like White on White”, 2024, 9x16x7
book board, hemp, canvas, hemp/assorted cord, trim, acrylic paint, archival pva
Three dimensions reaching into three dimensions.


A treasured part of my practice is sharing the wealth as a teaching artist across LA County. I teach bookmaking and more in libraries, schools, museums and other venues. I value these collaborations with others such as librarians, whose expertise I respect and learn from! Thank you to the @culture_la and others for the opportunities you afford teaching artists in all disciplines.

Studio shot from the back by André Smits 
@artistintheworld713


Girrrrl powerFUL students from my “Making Art Inspired By Great Artists” class…creating their own textile hangings inspired by Faith Ringgold‘s extraordinary Story Quilts. Age range 1-5th grade, quite a range, and so talented.


It has been an honor to collaborate with the @surface_design over the past three days, and thank you, SDA for inviting me to do so. I leave you with “The Body Politic: Black and Gold“, 2024, 8.5 x 23 x 7”, made of book board, canvas, cord, netting, lace, trim, metallic leaf and beads. A book-inspired object that references the body as well as adornment and asks is what is precious; which can be presented in multiple states of open and closed; hints and glints at secrets, yet contains nothing on its pages except that which we project. Wishing all a healthy and peaceful holiday and strength for the New Year.

INTERPLAY of Texture, Color, Form and Materials

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INTERPLAY, the Surface Design Association exhibition at the The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s O’Bleness Gallery

I am thrilled to participate in INTERPLAY, organized by the SDA!
(The awesome Surface Design Association!)
Presented at the The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s O’Bleness Gallery
8000 Dairy Lane
Athens, OH 45701
June 28 – September 5, 2024
Opening Reception:
June 28, 6 – 8PM
I am showing:
“Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair”
64 x 68 x .5″, (variable), canvas, paint, hemp cord, string, lace

SEE THE SHOW HERE!

Interplay presents works that explore parallels, synergies, or tensions between two or more ideas. Artworks may examine connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, map relationships between maker and materials, or reflect interactions between maker and tools. Works employ traditional, interdisciplinary, or collaborative methodologies.

Honoring the diverse range of approaches within fiber art and highlighting the rich tapestry of multicultural links, Interplay looks toward a future informed by the past, bringing together ideas for fresh reflection, reinterpretation, and deeper understanding.

Juror:
Due to her inimitable curiosity, Annet Couwenberg has pursued the ongoing conversations between traditional textile production and digital technologies throughout her art and teaching career. Couwenberg’s art, informed by her early work in the fashion industry, is diverse and includes sculptural forms and jacquard weavings as well as work with fish fossils and skeletons inspired by her study with a fish scientist as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History. Couwenberg’s interdisciplinary work has demonstrated her capacity to create new realms. As a researcher of both traditional textiles and emerging techniques, she embraces a multi-directional knowledge exchange between new and established, creating art that visualizes methodologies to protect and preserve traditional practices while also expanding upon them. Born in The Netherlands, Couwenberg moved to the United States to receive MFA degrees at Syracuse University and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has worked internationally, including in Korea, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and The Netherlands.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, July 31, 2PM ET for the Interplay Textile Talk and be on the lookout for our online gallery –  links coming soon!

SEE THE SHOW
LISTEN TO AND VEIW THE Interplay: Limitless Connection TEXTILE TALK

Interplay: Limitless Connections
Surface Design Association

THIS TEXTILE TALK
Join us as we celebrate three exhibitions highlighting the very best contemporary fiber art. We’ll hear from Interplay award winners Lyndsi Schuesler and Ji Young Kim, along with exhibition juror Annet Couwenberg. Interplay honors the diverse range of approaches within fiber art and looks toward a future informed by the past while bringing together ideas for fresh reflection, reinterpretation, and deeper understanding. Held in conjunction with Interplay, Echoes: A Solo Exhibition by Rena Wood pays tribute to textile histories and past makers. Rena will give us an inside look into the ways she imagines repetitive hand work and its connection to time. Moderated by Nora McGinnis, Interplay: Limitless Connections features artists who encourage us to think in new ways while also honoring tradition.

 

Showing (love) Around

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We Are Doing It All Wrong, Edward A. Dixon Gallery, Dayton, OH, Juror/Curator: Ed Dixon:   “The exhibition is a challenge to artists and viewers to recognize, react and learn about the many ways humanity continually fails itself.  These issues are not always mainstream and sometimes are hidden.” Jurors: Ed Dixon/Stacy Kranitz/Judith L. Huacuja
See the SHOW!
See the VIDEO!

It is not only a joy to “show around” in group exhibitions at various venues around the country, it is a gratifying, enriching  experience,  and a heartwarming one at that, to discover, interact with and support so many inspiring and dedicated individuals,  organizations, endeavors, missions and visions. I meet new folks, but also “run into” friends and colleagues that “show up” in some of the same places: showing at some of the the same shows, sharing in some of the same artist talks and panels, featured in some of the same catalogues and publications. It is exciting to connect, and see both not only an overlap of interests materially and thematically, but also how we all approach things differently, and can learn from one another.

For example, I am currently showing at:
Word and Weft: Visualizing the Word, Webster Arts, Webster Groves, MO, Juror: Noriko Yuasa 
Women. Defining Our Representation, Black House Artist, Juror/Curator: Ellen Mattesi (online)  
We Are Doing It All Wrong, Edward A. Dixon Gallery, Dayton, OH, Jurors: Ed Dixon/Stacy Kranitz/Judith L. Huacuja 
Evidence of Joy, Intersect Arts Center, Saint Louis, MO, Curator: April Parvitz  
Soliloquy, presented by The Bridge Arts Foundation at The Scholarts Selection, San Gabriel, CA
Jurors: Charles Christopher Hill, Xin Song, Curator: Tia Xu  
Whisper, Verum Ultimum Gallery, Portland, OR, Curator: Jennifer Gullia Cutshall  (catalogue)
Interplay, presented by the Surface Design Association at The Dairy Barn Arts Center O’Bleness Gallery, Athens, OH,  Juror: Annet Couwenberg
Northern National Art Competition, Nicolet College Art Gallery, Rhinelander, WI, Juror: Debra Brehmer 
The Circular Ritual of Spring, BG Gallery, Santa Monica, CA, Curator: Susan Lizotte (online)

And earlier this year:
Midway Marvels,ArtBarLA, Los Angeles, CA, Curator: Randi Matushevitz
Materiality Matters, Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseville, OR, Juror Panel: UVA Staff and Pacific NW professionals
Pulp: Book and Paper Arts, Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA, Juror: Donna Seager
Fantastic Fibers 2024, Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY, Juror: Sandro Tiberi, (catalogue) 
String Theory, The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA, Curator: Molly Demeulenaere  
Art of the Word, Sasse Museum of Art, Pomona, CA, Jurors: Fatemeh Burnes, Maurice Quillinan, Niamh Cunningham (catalogue)
By the Book,  Artopia Gallery, Arcadia, CA, Curator: Rosie Getz

Through this experience I am able to be exposed to and interact with :
Individuals: artists, curators, critics, collectors, gallery, museum, art center, library and academic/university directors/staff (on all different levels of responsibility and experience and in varying roles,  offices and positions)
Organizations: galleries, museums, art centers, universities/academic institutions, artist studios and alternative spaces (of different sizes, renown, reputation, influence and “status” in the “art world” and world at-large)

I plan to highlight and share about various of these individuals and entities over the next several posts. I will share particularly about Art Centers, which are an enormous source of vitality, creation, care and joy throughout the country and beyond. xxxooo

I begin with Gallerist Ed Dixon, in whose show We Are Doing It All Wrong I am honored to be in.  Presented at the Edward A. Dixon Galleryin Dayton, OH. Of the show says Owner/Curator: Ed Dixon:  “The exhibition is a challenge to artists and viewers to recognize, react and learn about the many ways humanity continually fails itself.  These issues are not always mainstream and sometimes are hidden.” The illustrious jurors Ed Dixon/Stacy Kranitz/Judith L. Huacuja hold a wealth of knowledge, expertise, care and passion among them in addition to many accomplishments.

In a time of such fraught difference, fear, and loathing, it is heartening and illuminating to see and be a part of all of these individuals and entities, making a difference. I have to feel that that all of our work, no matter what the outcome, does make a difference.

Thank you to You all.

 

 

 

EXHIBITIONISTA: INTERPLAY with the SDA

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I am thrilled to participate in INTERPLAY, organized by the SDA!
(The awesome Surface Design Association!)
Presented at the The Dairy Barn Arts Center’s O’Bleness Gallery
8000 Dairy Lane
Athens, OH 45701
June 28 - September 5, 2024
Opening Reception:
June 28, 6 - 8PM

SEE THE SHOW HERE!

Interplay presents works that explore parallels, synergies, or tensions between two or more ideas. Artworks may examine connections between seemingly unrelated concepts, map relationships between maker and materials, or reflect interactions between maker and tools. Works employ traditional, interdisciplinary, or collaborative methodologies.

Honoring the diverse range of approaches within fiber art and highlighting the rich tapestry of multicultural links, Interplay looks toward a future informed by the past, bringing together ideas for fresh reflection, reinterpretation, and deeper understanding.

JUROR

Due to her inimitable curiosity, Annet Couwenberg has pursued the ongoing conversations between traditional textile production and digital technologies throughout her art and teaching career. Couwenberg’s art, informed by her early work in the fashion industry, is diverse and includes sculptural forms and jacquard weavings as well as work with fish fossils and skeletons inspired by her study with a fish scientist as a Smithsonian Artist Research Fellow at the National Museum of Natural History. Couwenberg’s interdisciplinary work has demonstrated her capacity to create new realms. As a researcher of both traditional textiles and emerging techniques, she embraces a multi-directional knowledge exchange between new and established, creating art that visualizes methodologies to protect and preserve traditional practices while also expanding upon them. Born in The Netherlands, Couwenberg moved to the United States to receive MFA degrees at Syracuse University and Cranbrook Academy of Art. She has worked internationally, including in Korea, Turkey, Germany, Italy, Portugal, Poland, and The Netherlands.

Mark your calendars for Wednesday, July 31, 2PM ET for the Interplay Textile Talk and be on the lookout for our online gallery -  links coming soon!

Sharing Shows: Summer 2023

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I am honored to participate in several shows this summer, and share a bit about them below.


SAFEKEEPING 
SAFEKEEPING Artist Talk


Text/Message

Brand 51


Engulfed
About Engulfed


Contemplating Boundaries


Fiber Art international


Material World: A Contemporary Fiber Exhibition

From Fiber…

EXHIBITIONISTA: SAFEKEEPING: SDA’s 2023 Member Exhibition

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I am thrilled to be a part of “SAFEKEEPING“, the 2023 Member Exhibition of the Surface Design Association! (SDA)

EXHIBITION THEME:

This is a time for safeguarding both body and land, for seeking refuge through ritual and narrative, and for defending precarious boundaries and issues.

Sanctuary Cities, Nature Conservancies, Safe Houses, Communities of Care are at the forefront of public consciousness. As an artist, how do you sustain both the earth and its communities? How do you protect yourself in body and spirit as well as strengthen connections with others? How can you tend values that matter most? How do you use heritage, ritual, and the making process to anchor yourself? Safekeeping brings together works that explore these questions and the role artists play in stewarding communities, values, and the earth.

 Safekeeping will celebrate works that push the evolution of textiles through the use of color, design, processes, and meanings.

View the Show HERE!
Listen to the Artists’ Talk HERE!

JUROR

Born in Oklahoma, Anita Fields is a contemporary Native American multi-disciplinary artist of Osage heritage. She is known for her works which combine clay and textile with Osage knowledge systems. Fields explores the intricacies of cultural influences at the intersection of balance and chaos found within our existence, explaining that: “The power of transformation is realized by creating various forms of clothing, coverings, landscapes, and figures. The works become indicators of how we understand our surroundings and visualize our place within the world.” In this way, the early Osage concepts of duality, such as earth and sky, male and female, are represented throughout her work.

IMPORTANT DATES: 

*June 2, 2023: Exhibition Opening, First Friday Art Crawl
*June 21, 2023: Textile Talk Virtual Program
*July 23, 2023: Exhibition Closes