Benjamin Elbel

Books On Books Collection – Sarah Maker

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Within Every Room There is an Echo of the First (2018)

A stack of triangular pyramids made of textured cards, displaying different colors and patterns, set against a dark background.
A small, folded piece of paper or booklet with a textured surface, resting on a dark background.
A geometric sculpture made of stacked square pages in varying shades of brown and gray, forming a pyramidal shape with a solid base.
A top view of a paper object resembling a miniature pyramid, made from folded paper with a glossy texture on one side, resting on a dark surface.

Within Every Room There is an Echo of the First (2018)
Sarah Maker
Diagonally halved box, painted-paper over millboard, paste paper. H65 x W65 x D65 (closed) mm, W730 (extended diagonally) mm. [45] panels Unique. Acquired from Ink and Awl, Seattle, US, 10 December 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection. Displayed with permission of the artist.

This small sculptural artist’s book that enacts its title is an engineered accordion with architectural pencil drawings on paste paper. Every aspect is remarkable. The millboard “cover” is a diagonally halved cube that forms the “corner” of the room from which its echoes will unfold. The accordion spine consists of folded tabs into which the pages are pasted. The pages have been shaped so that as the book is opened (the top page being pulled by its tab), they curve against each other like artichoke leaves and then spread as the angled spine pleats push them outwards.

A sculptural book with a zigzag design, featuring textured pages in shades of gray and purple, resting on a dark surface.
An arrangement of layered, textured paper shapes in various shades of brown and gray, placed on a dark background.
A collection of variously shaped and colored wooden pieces arranged in an overlapping pattern, showcasing a range of natural hues and textures.
An artistic arrangement of layered, curved metal pieces forming a pyramid-like structure against a dark background.
An artistic arrangement of layered, folded paper pages in varying shades of gray, pink, and brown, fanned out and partially stacked.
A close-up of several folded paper pieces arranged in a spiral, showcasing a mix of brown and reddish tones on a black background.
A series of abstract, curved metal shapes arranged in a zigzag pattern, showcasing a gradient of muted colors from gray to bronze against a dark background.

The engineering recalls the ingenuity of Benjamin Elbel, Ed Hutchins, and Hedi Kyle, and Within Every Room exemplifies what happens when “material meets metaphor” in the hands and mind of an original book artist. The phrase comes from Richard Minsky, founder of the Center for Book Arts in New York, whose path Maker seems to be following and extending in Seattle, Washington. In 2017, she initiated (and still runs) the online program “areyoubookenough“, a bookbinding challenge to artists to create works within a month that respond to the month’s theme. In the same year, she founded Editions Studio, a community for book artists run by book artists. All that activity — along with Within Every Room and the next work — suggests that this artist is not only a maker but a builder.

The House that Book Built (2018)

Artistic representation of a book shaped like a house, showing the spine and opened pages.

The House that Book Built (2018)
Sarah Maker
Case-bound hard cover, felt and paper over boards, seven stub-sewn gatherings of folios of cotton printmaking paper, six loose twice-folded gatherings of folios of Cave(?) paper inserted between the stub-sewn gatherings. H85 x W105 x D58 mm. [220] pages in stub-sewn gatherings; [96] pages in loose gatherings Unique. Acquired from Ink and Awl, Seattle, US, 10 December 2025.
Photos: Books On Books Collection. Displayed with permission of the artist.

In another connection to Richard Minsky, all of the paper and boards for The House that Book Built were salvaged from recycling at the Center for Book Arts in New York City. Like the book artists’ studios and homes I have seen, The House that Book Built is stuffed to the rafters with its core material. Of course, even the roof and exterior walls enter into the spirit. It would not be the same artwork with a flat roof of asphalt tiles and plexiglas siding.

A small, creative book with a unique shape, featuring a black and gray cover and several blank pages, set against a dark background.

The color of the laid-in folios reminds me of Your House (2006) by Olafur Eliasson, which in turn reminds me how inadequate a simple side-by-side exhibition of the two works would be. Both demand the viewer’s touch.

A closed, blank book with multiple pages, viewed from the side, resting on a dark background.

Below, the laid-in folios have been removed, letting the house exhale and give more visual room to the stud-sewn gatherings of cotton printmaking paper. If viewers were allowed do this in an exhibition, they would be appreciating the contrast between the rough cotton paper and the smoother book paper just removed as well as appreciating how the house front now takes on a semblance to a Gothic window without the stained glass.

A small, book-like object with a dark cover resembling a house, featuring pages that are tightly stacked.

Your House and The House that Book Built both offer the pleasure of nosing through another’s house. Your House invites the viewer to a page-by-page meditation of laser-cut interior space while doing so. Maker’s snug abode offers the Quaker-like contemplation of the homespun that has been spun with tools made by the spinner.

A small, beige cardboard box with an angled interior, placed on a wooden surface next to several circular paper cutouts and a pointed crafting tool.

Punch cradle made specifically to punch the sewing stations for The House that Book Built.
Photo: Courtesy of the artist.

Further Reading

“Architecture“. 12 November 2018. Books On Books Collection.

“Celebrating the 250th Anniversary of Steingruber’s Architectural Alphabet“. 1 January 2023. Books On Books Collection.

“Olafur Eliasson“. 17 May 2021. Books On Books Collection.