PLAYFUL PUNCH NEEDLE CHARACTER! WITH ALISA McRONALD
October 24 @ 10:00 am - 3:00 pm EDT
$150.00
Summon a soft, squishy sidekick from the depths of your creative cauldron—let’s BREW UP A PAL with ALISA McRONALD! Let the colours swirl and the characters emerge with internationally exhibited textile artist Alisa McRonald!
This Brew Up a Pal workshop will begin with playful, abstract watercolour techniques to conjure up mysterious faces and whimsical beings from the page. Through guided prompts and intuitive mark-making, you’ll invite unexpected personalities to surface—some sweet, some strange, all uniquely yours.
From your cast of painted characters, you’ll choose one special face to bring into the third dimension using hand punch needle techniques. With vibrant yarns, tactile textures, and plenty of creative freedom, you’ll poke your new pal into life—one loop at a time!
This workshop is a joyful mashup of colour magic, character design, and soft sculpture. No drawing or punch needle experience needed—just curiosity and a love for creatures who live in the margins of imagination.
Please note, there is a $20 kit fee payable in cash to Alisa at the start of class.
All materials are provided in the kit fee; punch needle, yarn, hoop and burlap.
Meet Alisa!
Alisa McRonald has exhibited nationally and internationally, including at El Room in Mexico City (2025), The Artist Project (2025), Drey Gallery (2024), the Toronto Reference Library, the Interior Design Show, CAFKA (2023), Craft Ontario (2022), and the Drake Hotel (2021). Her work has been featured in Harper’s Bazaar Japan, Untitled Magazine, and the Toronto Star. She received the 2024 Craft Ontario Rich Foundation Residency, was a 2023 Ontario Culture Days Creative in Residence, and has won awards from DesignTO (2023) and the Toronto Outdoor Art Fair (2020). Passionate about reclaimed textiles, she rescues handmade items, honouring the labour, love, and memory embedded in their fibres.
Artist Statement
“I am a scrappy alchemist of materials, transforming discarded clothing into yarn and breathing life into every remnant of fabric and fibre. I weave, sew, and punch-needle threads into whimsical, abstract, and deeply personal sculptural characters. My work draws from growing up queer in a small town in the 1980s, guided by a crafty mother, punk and glam rock influences, and a deep love of fairy tales. Inspired by folklore, craft, and family lore, I turn humble materials into vessels of memory and magic. Through craft and reclamation, I invite viewers into a world where the ordinary becomes enchanted and personal stories unfold.”