Debra Disman

Artist

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Textile Art

EXHIBITIONISTA: EMBRACING THE CRAFT at CORE Art Space

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I am thrilled to participate in

Fiber Art: Embracing the Craft

September 12 – 28, 2025
at

Fri: 5p – 9p, Sat: 12p – 5p, Sun: 12p – 5p

Core Art Space — 6501 W.Colfax Avenue, Lakewood, CO 80214

Long disparaged in the art world as mere “craft,” fiber art has been enjoying something of a renaissance in the last few years. Artists working with fabric and other fibers, such as Bisa Butler and Alexandra Kehayoglou, have gained international recognition, and the New York Times has declared that “fiber art is finally being taken seriously.” We say, it’s about time! What’s not to love about the beauty, versatility, and luxuriousness of fiber media?

In this show, Core Art Space celebrates the skill, dedication, and ingenuity required to make beautiful art out of fiber materials. We celebrate weavings, quilts, embroideries, beadwork, fiber sculptures, or wearables—all artwork using a foundation of fiber materials and processes (including fabric, yarn, thread, beads, roving, rope, etc.; stitching, weaving, felting, quilting, knotting, wrapping, lacemaking, etc.) is eligible. Both traditional and experimental forms and techniques included.

Juror

Fiber and mixed media artist Susan Dillon explores the physical manifestation of emotions and memories using fabric, thread, yarn, bones and found objects. She creates environments filled with life forms, some familiar and some more otherworldly, which are encrusting surfaces & niches and colonizing their surroundings. Susan has had her work exhibited nationally and has won numerous

awards for her fiber art. Her work is in private collections around the globe. She teaches workshops as well as private lessons on fiber art techniques. Susan lives in Denver, CO with her husband & furry “keeds”. She has her studio at Globeville Riverfront Art Center (GRACe), open by appointment and at special events.

I am showing “PROFUSION”

8.5 x 24.5 x 7.75, book board, mulberry paper, watercolor paper, raw canvas, hemp cord

In Reflection: “Three Sisters And Their Mother” and more

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I was thrilled to have a solo exhibition last winter at ReflectSpace Gallery, part of Glendale Arts and Culture, in the Glendale Central Library which opened Saturday January 28th and was 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 and founders of the gallery..

I was fortunate to have master photographer Gene Ogami document the show.

I share here two images featuring a work entitled, “Three Sisters And Their Mother”, which  engages a concept and presentation I am still exploring.

“Three Sisters and Their Mother” (2022),  made of canvas, acrylic paint, hemp cord, sunlight and gravity, is approximately 30” x 72”. Its dimensions are variable depending on how it is installed, the intervals of space between the components or sections, the way its ever-tangling cord/string wanders across each section, how high or low to the ceiling or the floor it is positioned, and how much in relief from the wall it is hung. As Eva Hesse once said about a work or works of hers… Can it be different every time…? (paraphrase). Naomi Spector writes beautifully about these ideas as regards to Hesse’s work.

Also pictured are: (below and clockwise from “Three Sisters And Their Mother”)
“I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do”, (The titular work in the show), 2022,13 x 71.5”, repurposed table runner, acrylic paint, linen thread
“Finally”, (can hang on wall in slight relief), 2022, 48 x 19.5”, canvas, lace, hemp cord, sewing thread
“Excavation of the Interior”, 2021, 12″ x 28″ x 12.5″, wood, mulberry paper, canvas, muslin, watercolor paper, hemp cord, linen thread
Our human connections, gossamer though they may seem, form a tangled web that is always changing, and in some ways unfathomable, but there and always mysterious.

 

“I Can’t I Won’t I Will I Do”, Revisited

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Gene Ogami photographs

EXHIBITIONISTA: “From Fiber…”

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The exhibition “From Fiber” will present contemporary art that utilize and showcase fibers. The works reflect a wide range of works related to the fiber medium, from raw fibers to high fashion and everything in-between. The goal of the exhibition is to showcase innovative work that explores both traditional materials and processes as well as those that expand the use of fiber with other media, processes, and disciplines.

The show will run from Friday, September 1 through Saturday, September 30. A reception and awards ceremony will be held Friday, September 8 from 5:30 to 7:30 PM. A total of $1,200 in prizes will be awarded.
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Juror:  Ann B. Coddington. Ann utilizes a variety of traditional and innovative fiber techniques including twining, looping, lashing and netting in her sculptural forms. 

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: “INTERNATIONAL FIBER ARTS XI” at Sebastopol Center for the Arts

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I am thrilled to be a part of International Fiber Arts XI!

The 11th Biennial Fiber Art juried exhibition is held every two years at Sebastopol Center for the Arts. This outstanding celebration of fiber arts presents the work of artists from all over the world. Over 3,000 attend this well publicized and reviewed exhibit. This show is held in the SCA gallery and available virtually online on the SCA website. The exhibition is co-sponsored by Sebastopol Center for the Arts and Surface Design Association.

International Fiber Arts XI is a juried exhibition presenting a distinct approach to innovative and traditional fiber techniques, and contemporary concepts for the
use of traditional and unusual materials. The selected two and three-dimensional works invite the viewer to experience the many facets of fiber art.

Jurors are distinguished fiber artists Judith Content and Ann Johnston.