Catch up with our Meet the Maker Event with Florence Hoy (Timid Elk)
This event was a unique opportunity to meet paper artist Florence Hoy (Timid Elk) who also co-ordinates our card section here in the gallery. Visitors asked Florence questions, saw her at work and some of her beautiful finished lampshades which are displayed with the gallery at the moment.
Florence, who works under the name Timid Elk is a Wakefield based designer/maker. She originally trained in ceramics but found more joy in creating the paper test pieces. She is currently exploring the theme of repetition through her curious commodities collection. The potential that repetition can bestow on an item is fascinating; the most rudimentary of objects can evolve into something grandiose, something which far exceeds its previous status. It transforms the insignificant and overlooked.
Florence has two strands to her practice, she creates site-specific large scale paper installations and then using the same themes and techniques creates a more accessible homeware range. She uses a selection of papers but always tries to recycle, some of her most popular products are constructed from used train tickets and outdated ordinance survey maps. Florence has worked extensively with the National Trust and was offered a three month residency as Nostell Priory in which she had to respond to a set of Etruscan Vases which had been a part of the property for hundreds of years. The work was then on display, along with the vases, for the next 4 months. Following that, she was asked to return in December 2017 and create hundreds of paper ornaments for an 18ft Christmas tree which would be in situ in the Top Hall of Nostell.
She delivers a range of creative workshops including bookbinding, sculptural lampshade making, origami ornaments – please contact Florence for details via her website www.timidelk.com