We recently connected with Alisa McRonald and have shared our conversation below.

Alisa, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

The most meaningful project I’ve worked on would be the body of work I’m currently working on as a Creative in Residence for Ontario Culture Days.

The pandemic challenged the way that I work, access to space and supplies and other people was difficult and also opened up a whole new way of making. I dug into supplies I had at home, I started reading lots of books that were on hand (mostly books on folklore), I had time to explore my identity as an artist and person. All of this lead me to start working in different mediums and be creative in ways I hadn’t been before.

Coming out of the pandemic, I was ready to really dive into these new ideas and it has lead me to this year being chosen as a Creative in Residence and being able to focus on a body of work using punch needle and reclaimed yarn to create narrative wall-hangings exploring themes of folklore, fables and the esoteric.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

As a contemporary textile artist, I always hear the question, “Is it art or is it craft?” I have endeavoured to free myself from this question and respond, “Does it matter?” I’ve had shows in art galleries and pieces in interior design festivals with equal results of just loving the medium. I just LOVE textiles and always have, there’s even a picture in the family album of myself as a four-year-old sitting on my mom’s lap while she teaches me to sew on a sewing machine.

I love DIY culture and the ethos behind it. There are so many items around us that can be used to make art and art-making tools with very little impact on the environment and as a way disengage with capitalism. Reusing, making it myself and trading skills/goods with others is how I choose to live. I don’t believe that should exclude my approach to art-making. When I started weaving, I started making my own looms out of found materials. In sourcing raw materials, I turn to thrift stores and knitters with bins of leftover project yarn. I make my own yarns out of t-shirts and other discarded textiles. The whole process, for me, from making the tools, creating the necessary materials right through to the finished product encompasses my creative process.

I am a devoted maker of things. I am inspired by other handmade items such as quilts and afghans. I adore kitch-y art and decor, misaligned block printing, fairytales and the esoteric. Anything that is perfectly imperfect!

In your view, what can society to do to best support artists, creatives and a thriving creative ecosystem?

Consume art! Look at art online, in your town, at art fairs and galleries. Search for art in non-traditional spaces. Share what you see and like. Put art in your houses and offices, buy art online. Talk to artists and tell them you enjoy their work, ask them about their work. Look at things and try to figure out how it was made. Take an art class.

Embrace and explore your own creativity and to spend time engaging in creative thinking and play. It doesn’t have to be fancy or even to show others, it can just be for you.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I am at a stage where I’m really enjoying my studio practise and I want to balance that with doing more community engaged work. I love offering workshops and showing folks the joys of textile arts and that you don’t need fancy equipment or materials to enjoy the processes. I’m very excited to showcase the culmination my studio practise and love of community engaged work with my position of being an Creative in Residence for Ontario Culture Days. I will be showing the work I have been creating all year as well as inviting the community to participate in creating a large punch-needle piece. This will all take place at the Queen West Art Crawl in Toronto this September 23 and 24.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.alisamcronald.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alisa_mcronald/

Image Credits
Michelle Peek Photography