This user has not added any information to their profile yet.
I love illustrative work, things that are off-kilter and walk the line between beautiful and subversive. My hope is to inspire a sense of wonder in the viewer and to elevate the everyday things we see around us every day.
I'm currently working on a book - The Brambles - illustrated with my papercutting and represented by Rebecca Sherman, Writers House, New York.
I use only a miniature Classic Victorinox Swiss Army knife (mainly the tiny scissors) and usually choose Canson Marker Paper because of the weave, meant to stop markers from bleeding, but also fantastic at stopping the cut from extending past the end of the scissors.
I still write musicals and books and teach workshops in musical theatre writing and papercutting around the world, from Oslo to Germany, Sardinia to Mexico City, and here in the US.
Here's how I discovered the art of papercutting:
I discovered papercutting between working on the German and Broadway premieres of ROCKY - THE MUSICAL when I bumped into Producer Doug Fitch of Giants Are Small on his way to a puppetry meeting for a new production. My job planning Broadway opening nights was coming to an end that week, so I said, "Doug! You should hire me! I can make a puppet. I can make ANYTHING!" He told me to be at a warehouse in Brooklyn that Saturday for a storyboard meeting.
When I stepped through the door in Brooklyn, I realized this wasn't just any old team of puppeteers - this the studio of Matt Acheson, resident puppetry director of WAR HORSE at Lincoln Center. The puppet jobs had all been snapped up, but as the storyboard presentation began, an old-fashioned Scherenschnitte flitted across the screen. Doug Fitch turned around and called out, "Hannah Kohl. Can you do THAT?" I scanned my body to see if I had the skills and heard myself call back, "YES!" (Then ran home and desperately searched for an X-Acto knife and some plain white paper so I could teach myself how.)
My X-Acto blade was rusted, but I had promised three samples by Monday morning. I found a mini Classic Victorinox Swiss Army knife, flipped out the blade, then quickly changed to the tiny scissors. 9 hours later, I unfolded my first piece, then proceeded to make two more over the weekend. I emailed the photos, then took them into the office to prove they were mine and received my very first commission to create three pieces for A Dancer's Dream: Two Works by Stravinsky at Lincoln Center - a collaboration between the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, Matt Acheson's studio, and Giants Are Small. My pieces were turned into flat panel puppetry and cast high above the stage.
My next pieces were created for Caldecott Award winning author/illustrator Brian Selznick (The Adventure of Hugo Cabret, Wonderstruck), director John Tiffany (an opening night gift for his Broadway production of The Glass Menagerie), designer Gretchen Jones (winner of Project Runway, Season 8), and Tony-Award winning bookwriter Thomas Meehan (Annie, Hairspray).
Since then, my pieces have woven back and forth between my two worlds - papercutting and theatre. I'm often commissioned for Broadway opening night gifts and other bespoke pieces for theatre luminaries, have created two covers for The Dramatist magazine, and pieces for Shirley MacLaine's 80th birthday (on a piece of Hal Prince's personal stationery), Cameron Mackintosh's reopening of the Victoria Palace Theatre in London, the Joseph Stein Estate (for the 50th Anniversary of Fiddler on the Roof), Tony Award-winning lyricist Lynn Ahrens, and more.
My work has been profiled in The New Yorker ("A Thousand Cuts") and featured in the New York Times ("Lynn Ahrens' Little House in the Sky") and at the inauguration of One World Trade Center Observation Deck at Freedom Tower, where I was one of twelve "everyday visionaries" representing New York City. My papercutting artwork is also integrated into the set design for my new musical Hansel & Gretl & Heidi & Günter, which was set to open on March 12, 2020 at The Village Theatre in Issaquah, WA, but fell victim to the pandemic, along with thousands of other shows, and was a strong influence on my musical Die Weihnachtsbäckerei, which runs annually in Hamburg, Germany.
Â
Â