Texts

From January through March, Cambridge Art Galleries and the Cambridge Public Library welcomed artist Alisa McRonald as the inaugural Belonging Artist in Residence. Over the course of ten weeks, McRonald transformed the Preston Art Gallery into an open studio and gathering space—one where visitors were invited to participate in the process of making, to experiment with textiles, and to find connection through creative play.

Curatorial Statement

Alisa McRonald’s practice is rooted in imagination, materiality, and community. Her work bridges contemporary art and communal making, blurring the boundaries between personal storytelling and collective experience. Through the Belonging Residency, McRonald extended her studio practice into a public space, turning art-making into an inclusive social act. Visitors of all ages and backgrounds were invited to join in—reclaiming materials, weaving narratives, and collaboratively shaping artworks that continue to evolve within the gallery.

Community participation lies at the heart of McRonald’s approach. Under her guidance, repurposed materials—unraveled afghans, reclaimed clothing, salvaged textiles from beloved toys—became vessels of shared history and emotion. Each thread carries traces of its former life, while each stitch represents a new encounter. The resulting works—large-scale weavings, punch-needle pieces, and ongoing textile experiments—embody the layered, living quality of belonging itself.

This blending of contemporary and community art reflects a larger trajectory within modern practice: a move away from isolated creation and toward collaboration, improvisation, and care-based methodologies. Rather than presenting a static exhibition, McRonald’s Belonging: Made by Many becomes an open conversation—an artwork that grows through the hands of many. In doing so, it questions who art is for, how it’s made, and where it lives.

The Artist and Her Practice

McRonald’s work is deeply informed by her own story. Growing up in the 1980s and 1990s, she found creative refuge in the fantasy worlds of Labyrinth, The Last Unicorn, and The Dark Crystal—films that resonated with her sense of otherness and her early understandings of queerness. These mythic and musical influences—echoed by artists such as David Bowie, Prince, and Annie Lennox—continue to shape the dreamlike imagery and vivid palette of her textiles.

Her practice also emerges from lived experiences of anxiety, obsessive-compulsive tendencies, and the profound need to bring order and meaning through making. Repetition, ritual, and storytelling are more than aesthetic choices; they are tools of survival, repair, and empathy. In this way, McRonald’s art functions as both personal exorcism and communal invitation—a way to externalize the unseen psychological and emotional currents that run beneath everyday life.

Equally significant are the intergenerational and material histories embedded in her methods. Born into a family where craft and frugality intertwined, McRonald was taught to save and repurpose textiles, to respect the inherited labour of domestic making. In her hands, each scrap of cloth carries the quiet persistence of memory, endurance, and care. These principles—alongside her queer, feminist, and DIY sensibilities—anchor her art in a lineage of both resistance and tenderness.

A Living Exhibition

Belonging: Made by Many bridges individual expression and collective authorship. Visitors are encouraged to engage directly with the works—adding a stitch, weaving a thread, or simply sitting among the materials. Techniques such as weaving, punch needle, stitch, and collage become democratic tools of participation rather than specialized skills reserved for artists.

In this way, McRonald’s project situates contemporary art within a shared social framework. It transforms the gallery from a site of observation into one of belonging—where art, process, and community coalesce. The exhibition remains open, unfixed, and evolving, echoing the very themes it explores: identity, memory, participation, and care.

This project is made possible through the generous

support of the Keith and Winifred Shantz Fund for the Arts, held at the Waterloo Region Community Foundation.

On Alisa McRonald’s Professional Practice

Alisa McRonald was a featured exhibitor in the CAFKA.23: Stay With Me biennial exhibition of

contemporary art in public spaces throughout Waterloo Region, where she presented “My Little

Arcana”, a jolly series of three larger-than-life, imaginative woven portraits at The Yeti Cafe,

presented with an intuitive weaving workshop. Alisa’s artist page on cafka.org reads:

As a witchy queerdo growing up in a small town in the 80s/90s, Alisa McRonald sought out alternative influences wherever she could: her aunt’s punk rock records, Fashion Television, the occasional free MuchMusic weekend, and the occult section of the local library. Looking back, she can pinpoint certain moments (and the characters that inhabited them) as being profoundly influential. These became the three woven panels of My Little Arcana. The first panel is The Creep, evoking the cringe-worthy men that lurked around 90s rock shows, creeping on the artist and her friends. The second panel is The Witch, a culmination of the artist’s fascination with the figure of the witch, depicted historically and in pop culture. The third panel is The Pierrot, reflecting McRonald’s pre-teen interest in mime and theatre while combining The Fool from tarot, (an outsider who is melancholic but content), and vestige of a comedic clown.

As part of her project for CAFKA.23, Alisa will be leading a free intuitive weaving workshop July 7.

Alisa’s “My Little Arcana” was well positioned on The Yeti’s outdoor patio during the summer of

2023, enjoyed by a weekly stream of over 10,000 viewers visiting the Kitchener Market each

Saturday, in addition to The Yeti’s ample brunch, lunch, and cafe clientele. The Yeti’s owners

shared with me that they were truly going to miss Alisa’s work at their cafe at the end of

CAFKA.23 as “My Little Arcana” brought so much cheer, reflection, and curiosity to their space.

“My Little Arcana” remains a stand-out exhibition in my experience working at CAFKA, partly

due to Alisa’s joyful art being activated by an associated intuitive weaving workshop, where she

shared her methods of making accessible DIY weaving tools and materials—PVC pipe and

cardboard looms, and upcycled t-shirts and eclectic yarns—and skillshared with our community.

I fondly recall the sun setting warmly on The Yeti patio and looking around at the happy

workshop participants sharing drinks and laughs, and moving from table to table to enjoy each

others’ work. From my perspective as an arts administrator and teammate helping to realize

CAFKA.23, Alisa’s workshop ran smoothly and was well attended, making our job so easy that

CAFKA staff got to join in and enjoy the calm, welcoming, and accessible community moment.

Wishing you the best in your art practice, Alisa, and looking forward to working with you again.

Julie Hall

Executive Director

CAFKA – Contemporary Art Forum Kitchener + Area