Bio (from Frostfire)

Elly MacKay is an acclaimed paper artist and award-winning children’s bookmaker. She is the author and illustrator of a number of picture books, including In the Clouds and Red Sky at Night, and has illustrated, among others The Enchanted Symphony by Julie Andrews and Emma Walton Hamilton and I A a Meadow Mermaid and The Secret Fawn by Kallie George. Before pursuing a career in picture books, she taught in schools and was an educator in galleries. Elly lives in the winter kingdom of Owen Sound, Ontario, where she and her family often search for snow dragons in the gardens and fields nearby.

Becoming a Paper Artist:

Elly grew up in a converted church in the countryside with artist parents, Steve and Joan Irvine. Joan wrote books such as How to Make Pop-Ups which introduced Elly to the world of paper art. As a teen, Elly and her mom took a train trip to meet members of the Movable Book Society. They gave her an informal education in papercraft and introduced her to Victorian optical toys, paper theatre and tunnel books. Elly began selling her paper sculptures at a gallery in Toronto called 1st Hand following the trip. She then went to NSCAD University in Halifax and The University of Canterbury in Christchurch for printmaking and illustration. Elly worked for a few years as an educator but after the birth of her first child, was longing to create paper art. Her husband Simon built her a paper theatre for Christmas in 2009. Since then, Elly has been creating miniature worlds out of paper, photographing them and using those photos as illustrations for children’s books.

Interviews:

Previously featured in: Chatelaine (Ms. Chatelaine), O Magazine, Flow, Cosmo (China edition)

Select Clients:

  • Penguin Random House ~ Tundra

  • Candlewick

  • Bloomsbury

  • Abrams

  • Penguin Random House USA

  • Running Press

  • Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

  • Sterling Publishing

  • OwlKids Books

  • Orca

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