Mel Antuna Hewitt

Bookbinder and Book Artist

Bio

Mel Antuna Hewitt is a German Mexican-American book artist based in Spokane, WA. She attends the American Academy of Bookbinding while teaching private classes from her home studio. She co-founded Inland Northwest Book Arts Society, bringing together individuals anywhere on the spectrum of book arts knowledge. Mel has served as a board member of Spokane Print & Publishing Center where she also spearheaded the creation of a bookbinding studio and curriculum within the organization, the only one available in Spokane. Mel is a recipient of a Spokane Arts Grant Award for her artist book "Grown Up's First Alphabet” in 2021 and an Artist Trust Grants for Artist Projects 2024. Her work ranges from printmaking to sculptural artist books to finely bound leather tomes. It is her mission to explore the narrative of the book: as an art piece and as a means of holding and conveying knowledge. ​In Mel’s books she attempts to force a new view on what a book is, specifically by changing how the viewer interacts with it. It becomes an experience; one that she hopes furthers the definition of what a book is.