In 1979, I attended a book fair in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and met Paula Hocks, who was exhibiting unique artist books she created using a new medium, Xerox printing. Little did I know at age 25, that by purchasing one of Paula’s books, we would begin a friendship based on a passion for making books that lasted until her death in 2003 at age 87.
PAULA HOCKS thought of her handmade books as miniature galleries to be held in the hand. Each page was a canvas to which she applied her photographs, collage work and writings, typed or handwritten. She established her Running Women Press in Santa Fe, New Mexico, in 1978, beginning with a series of books based on her sculptural studies called Heads & Bodies. Over the following 25 years until her death in 2003, Hocks was prolific, passionately creating artist books and small book editions she either stitched and fashioned bindings for, or had them bound by professional bookbinders. Her books are in numerous book are collections such as the Museum of Modern Art, the UCLA Jean Brown Collection, and special collections at the University of Iowa.
Click on images for biographical text about Paula Hocks. This site is still under construction, please return again to see more images and other details.
Paula Hocks and Priscilla Spitler, ca. 1997, Albuquerque. Click on image to read biographic information.
Dear Doppelgänger, autobiographical book by Paula Hocks, 2002. Click on image for biographical information.
Study in Silver, Paula Hocks Xerox and mixed media artist book page spread ca. 1985.
Paula Hocks' photomontage, Barcelona street corner, ca. 1985.
FRED HOCKS painting on paper by Paula's former husband, ca. 1961. Click on image for Fred Hocks bio.
The PAULA HOCKS ARCHIVE is now available for placement through Rulon~Miller Books in St. Paul, Minnesota. It includes many of the collage masters Paula created for her books, and represents a unique record of early Xerox and photocopy art during a pre-digital era. To Paula, Xerox —she called electrostatic printing — was the most accessible, modern print medium available in the 1970s, and natural for a collage artist. Experimenting with Xerox on art papers and transparencies, Paula achieved rich black and white text enhanced by a few early color images, creating highly visual editions built on the classics, Surrealism and Dadaism.