Edward "Ed" Hutchins is known as "one of the most inventive book artists" and proprietor of Editions, a
small press
A small press is a publisher with annual sales below a certain level or below a certain number of titles published. The terms "indie publisher" and "independent press" and others are sometimes used interchangeably.
Independent press is general ...
publisher of
artists' book multiples, since 1989.
Biography
In the 1980s, Hutchins started taking classes at The
Center for Book Arts
Center for Book Arts (CBA) is a non-profit arts organization, founded in 1974. It is the first organization of its kind in the United States dedicated to contemporary interpretations of the book as an art object while preserving traditional pract ...
in New York City. In 1996, he enrolled in the Fine Arts graduate program at
Purchase College to study book arts. Paper engineers and artists who have influenced him include
Vojtěch Kubašta
Vojtěch Kubašta (1914, in Vienna – 1992) was a Czech architect and artist. He created pop-up books.
Vojtěch Robert Vladimír Kubašta was born in Vienna. His family moved to Prague when he was four years old and he lived there his entire li ...
, Ruth Tilden (author, ''What's in the Fridge?: A Tasty Pop-up ABC''), and
Julian Wehr
Julian Wehr (1898–1970) was known as the "American Master of Animated Books". Around 9 million copies of Wehr's books were sold in the United States and Great Britain, and were translated and sold in France, Germany, and Spain during the 1940 ...
.
Hutchins's subscribes to a "guerrilla bookmaking" philosophy where "everyone is a maker of books because everyone has a story to tell". Books are made with materials at hand and simple skills available to anyone interested.
The books Hutchins creates often involve innovative styles such as books made using a single sheet of paper folded multiple times,
tunnel books
The term pop-up book is often applied to any book with three-dimensional pages, although it is properly the umbrella term for movable book, pop-ups, tunnel books, transformations, volvelles, flaps, pull-tabs, pop-outs, pull-downs, and more, each ...
that allow the reader to "see through" the book, and
flexagon
In geometry, flexagons are flat models, usually constructed by folding strips of paper, that can be ''flexed'' or folded in certain ways to reveal faces besides the two that were originally on the back and front.
Flexagons are usually square or ...
s, where pages fold into themselves to create new pages. Anne Anninger, Houghton Library, Philip Hofer Curator of Printing & Graphic Arts, collected Hutchins' books for Harvard's library and has said "...Hutchins' little books made the point: begin with a deep concern for human issues and a strong sense of empathy, and express them in a few simple words; add funky imagery; present the whole in a unique, humorous, and expressive structure, which requires years of experience yet the irreverence of youth... Impossible, you say? Not for Ed Hutchins."
In 1989, Hutchins started Editions, a press for publishing limited editions of art books.
In 1998, he founded Book Central, a catalog of the most useful how-to books for bookbinding, structures, papermaking, printing, pop-ups, paper engineering and creating books with children. The catalog business was later sold in 2000.
Books
Books by Hutchins include:
* ''Album'', 1997, an autobiographical tetra-tetra-flexagon (four edges, four faces book).
* ''Do Sit Down'', 1992, book's text can be pulled from seat cushion of an actual miniature chair.
* ''Explosive Politics: Contrasting Views of Civic Discourse'', 2016, a book within a firecracker case.
* ''Gay Myths'', 1993 and 2002, sewn pamphlet with multiple foldouts and social commentary. Inspired by the
1993 March on Washington for Gay Rights.
* ''Grandma's Closet'', 1991, tunnel book.
* ''Mystery of the Magic Box'', 1995, a single sheet of paper is cut and folded into 56 pages and box cover.
* ''Twisted'', 1992, twisting the book covers automatically advance or unfold the book pages.
* ''Voces de México'', 2000, rotating flexagon with Mexican sayings and quotations.
Awards
* Honorable Mention, "Exhibition Catalogues" category, American Association of Museums, 1996 for ''The Mystery of the Magic Box''.
Exhibitions
Book contributions
* ''The Art of the Pop-up'', by Jean-Charles Trebbi,2014. Pattern of a spiral petal book by Hutchins is on pages 156–157.
* ''Making Handmade Books: 100+ Bindings, Structures and Forms'' by Alisa Golden, 2010. Hutchins' ''Album'' and ''Voces de México'' and pictured. Instructions for making tetra-tetra-flexagon and cross-flexgons are included on pages 130, 132–133.
* ''Paper Engineering: 3-D Design Techniques for a 2-D Material'' by Natalie Avella, 2009. Profile on Ed Hutchins on pages 148-153, including photos of six artists' books.
* ''Playing with Pop-ups: The Art of Dimensional, Moving Paper Designs''
by Helen Hiebert, 2014. Ed Hutchins' books are featured on page 106.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutchins, Edward H.
Living people
1948 births
American art curators
Book artists
Pop-up book artists
Gay artists
University of Arizona alumni