Debra Disman

Artist

  •

the Kelso Art Center

Art Centers and the Like: The HeART of Art

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Art and Cultural Centers are amazing places.

They are CENTERS. Centers of art and culture to be sure, but also centers of learning, personal and collective growth, education, care, community, cooperation and love.

Amazing to show in, but especially amazing in the services they provide, the opportunities they offer and the roles they play for their near and far communities.

I am going to explore these worthy and precious resources and entities in the next few posts, but firstly, I need to get my arms around them in a big, collective heARTfelt hug!

I will add to, or write further interactions of this post over time.  I would also like to write about Libraries, College and University Art Galleries and smaller galleries as exhibition spaces and hubs of community and world culture.

These are the art and cultural centers I have shown in over the last few years, essentially since 2018:
(I included some very special organizations such as Blue Roof Studios, Shoebox Arts and ArtShare LA in Los Angeles, CA, “We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County in Fayetteville, NC, the Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI, and the Springfield Art Association, in Springfield, IL, even though they don’t have the word “CENTER” in their monikers, as I believe they serve many of the same heART-FULL functions as those that do.)

18th Street Arts Center,  Santa Monica, CA

O’Hanlon Center for the Arts, Mill Valley, CA

Webster Arts, Webster Groves, MO

Intersect Arts Center, Saint Louis, MO

The Dairy Barn Arts Center O’Bleness Gallery, Athens, OH

Umpqua Valley Arts, Roseville, OR

 The Cultural Center of Cape Cod, South Yarmouth, MA

Springfield Art Association, Springfield, IL

The Korean Culture Center, Los Angeles, CA

“We Are The Arts”/The Arts Council of Fayetteville|Cumberland County, Fayetteville, NC

Artworks Center for Contemporary  Art, Loveland, CO

ArtShare LA, Los Angeles, CA

Shoebox Arts, Los Angeles, CA

Kelso Art Center, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX

Tubac Center for the Arts, Tubac, AZ

Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Sebastopol, CA

The Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA
  
The Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for the Arts, Lubbock, TX

Hera Educational Foundation and Gallery in Wakefield RI

Blue Roof Studios, Los Angeles, CA

San Francisco Center for the Book, San Francisco, CA

The Center for Contemporary Art, Bedminister, NJ

Yeiser Art Center, Paducah, KY

Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA

The Minnesota Center for Book Arts, Minneapolis, MN;

Foothills Art Center, Golden, CO

“Fifty Years of Fiber” Show Catalogue!

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It was an honor to participate in:

See the online exhibition  catalogue HERE!

The annual Fiber Artists of San Antonio 2022 Art Exhibition was held November 6 through December 9 2022, at the Kelso Art Center, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX. The theme of the exhibit, “50 Years of Fiber Art,” celebrated the organization’s half century history. The show presented fiber artists from across the U.S. considering each decade since the 1970s as inspiration for their fiber art work.

*DEFINITION OF FIBER, as extracted from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: 1. A thread or structure or object resembling a thread; 2. A slender and greatly elongated natural or synthetic filament) such as wool, cotton, gold, asbestos, glass or rayon) which typically can be spun into yarn; 3. Material made of fibers (includes paper), fabric, plastic or metal fibers, tapestry, art cloth.

The exhibition was juried by Paula Owen.
Owen, president emerita of Southwest School of Art, began her tenure in1996, following 11 years as the Director of the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, Virginia. Under her leadership the school’s size, scope, and reputation grew significantly, and in 2014 a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program was added. In 2022 Southwest School of Art and University of Texas at San Antonio announced a merger to create a new and expanded school of art.

Owen has served as curator of numerous exhibits and on national and regional boards and panels, including the Pew Artist Fellowships, the Bush Foundation Fellowships, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a published arts writer and co-authored the book, Objects and Meaning: New Perspec5ves on Art and Craft:, published by Scarecrow Press. Most recently, her essay “Fabrication and Encounter: When Content is a Verb,” was published in Maria Elena Buzcek’s book, Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art.

Owen earned an MFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and continues to show her work in group and solo shows throughout the nation.

I was thrilled to win the second place award for my work:
“Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair”, 2022, 64 x 68″ (dimensions variable), Triptych Installation
This exhibition was the first time this triptych was shown outside of Los Angeles.

See the online exhibition  catalogue HERE and see the wondrous works of all the accomplished artists in whose company I was honored to show.
Thank you to all involved.

EXHIBITIONISTA: “50 Years of Fiber”

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The annual Fiber Artists of San Antonio 2022 Art Exhibition will be held November 6 through December 9, at the Kelso Art Center, University of Incarnate Word, San Antonio, TX. The theme of the exhibit, “50 Years of Fiber Art,” celebrates the organization’s half century history. The show presents fiber artists from across the U.S. considering each decade since the 1970s as inspiration for their fiber art work.

*DEFINITION OF FIBER, as extracted from Merriam-Webster Dictionary: 1. A thread or structure or object resembling a thread; 2. A slender and greatly elongated natural or synthetic filament) such as wool, cotton, gold, asbestos, glass or rayon) which typically can be spun into yarn; 3. Material made of fibers (includes paper), fabric, plastic or metal fibers, tapestry, art cloth.

The exhibition is juried by Paula Owen.
Owen, president emerita of Southwest School of Art, began her tenure in1996, following 11 years as the Director of the Visual Arts Center in Richmond, Virginia. Under her leadership the school’s size, scope, and reputation grew significantly, and in 2014 a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree program was added. In 2022 Southwest School of Art and University of Texas at San Antonio announced a merger to create a new and expanded school of art.

Owen has served as curator of numerous exhibits and on national and regional boards and panels, including the Pew Artist Fellowships, the Bush Foundation Fellowships, and the National Endowment for the Arts. She is a published arts writer and co-authored the book, Objects and Meaning: New Perspec5ves on Art and Craft:, published by Scarecrow Press. Most recently, her essay “Fabrication and Encounter: When Content is a Verb,” was published in Maria Elena Buzcek’s book, Extra/Ordinary: Craft and Contemporary Art.

Owen earned an MFA in painting and printmaking from Virginia Commonwealth University and continues to show her work in group and solo shows throughout the nation.


I am thrilled to be showing:
“Rent Wound Tear, Mend Heal Repair”
The first time this triptych will be shown outside of Los Angeles.