The Alchemy of Book Art: 8 Works by Tim Ely

Master bookbinder Tim Ely's elaborate art books are sophisticated otherworldly mash-ups of landscapes, diagrams, and architecture meant to inspire and provoke. The Snohomish, Washington native has been making books for almost his entire life, finding inspiration on heaven and in earth, fusing science and art with paper and ink. Contemporary art bookbinding specialist Abby Schoolman recently prepared a catalog of eight of his art books entitled Timothy C. Ely 8 Books.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     

Cover for Bones of the Book. Photo courtsey of Abby Schoolman Books.

                                                                                                                                                                   If the name sounds familiar, that's because Ely pops up frequently here on the FB&C blog, and he was featured in the winter 2011 print issue, as well. His mastery of bookbinding techniques coupled with artistic innovation follow in the footsteps of monastic illuminators and bookbinders, continuing the long legacy of book arts. "Beyond deep reading, I have found that the best way to become informed about an event or gather a bit of enlightenment is to make an expressive book," Ely says in the catalog. 

Close-up of Ely's binding technique. Photo courtesy of Abby Schoolman Books.

Some of the books are biographical, such as Bones of the Book ($100,000), in which Ely examines when his parents met at a paper mill, and how this serendipitous association of people and paper somehow led the artist to a lifelong fascination with the art of the book. "Bones of the Book reflects my identity as a maker of things, bones as structural supports, and how that metaphor maps itself onto the cultural object/artifact of the book," Ely writes. Other creations are more speculative, ruminations on mechanical worlds in outer space, the transmission of thought, and the alchemy of creating spellbinding objects. No matter how you look at them, each is a multidimensional, multisensory work of art.