Bronze Books: Tom Novak’s new sculpture installed in downtown Baker City

Published 5:00 am Tuesday, July 29, 2025

BAKER CITY — Tom Novak circled the bronze sculpture, pointing here to Humpty Dumpty and there to Huck Finn’s raft.

Then to Little Miss Muffet, the balloon from “Around the World in 80 Days” and Sherlock’s hat perched on the edge of a book.

This literary lore is preserved in Novak’s “Tower of Books,” a sculpture he carved from foam that was recently turned into bronze at Blue Mountain Fine Art in Baker City.

“Isn’t it cool?” Novak said on July 1, keeping his eyes on the piece as it was secured to the sidewalk on the east side of Main Street, near Royal Artisan and Delicioso Mexican Restaurant.

The idea for this sculpture started in the late 1990s when a call went out for public art along the Leo Adler Memorial Parkway.

No one entered.

“Someone asked me if I could come up with something,” Novak said. “I thought it should be totem poles, but I don’t work with wood.”

Novak is a painter, known for detailed paintings as well as murals around Baker City.

Although that project went on hold, he never forgot the idea.

Around 2015, Novak returned to the totem pole and started carving shapes out of blueboard foam. He carved books, affixed the names of 65 authors, and created small figures related to the novels. At the top is a lamp, with a cord plugged into a book on electricity.

“I enjoyed making all the shapes,” he said. “It took two years to build it.”

He added a few pieces from his artistic life — eyeglasses, pencil, tube of paint and a paintbrush.

He put the model on display first at Short Term Gallery, then later at Royal Artisan.

For more information about the bronze piece, check at Royal Artisan, 1912 Main St.