Alison McCreesh
All Genres and Mediums
Artist Story
The North is a great place to create art and supplies me with no end of inspiration. My surroundings, be it Yellowknife's Old Town or smaller communities throughout the Territory, make their way into a lot of my illustrations, comics and art pieces. I see a lot of humor in the small day-to-day details of life north of 60 and, focusing on these details, I like making work that is alive and relatable.
In 2009, after graduating from the University of Quebec in Chicoutimi with an Interdisciplinary Degree in Fine Arts, I came to Yellowknife for a summer. Now, over five years later, I'm glad I never left. Living in the North has offered me many opportunities, both on a personal and professional level. I have the great pleasure of working full-time as an artist and of seeing my work featured a variety of contexts and have also been fortunate to travel extensively throughout the Arctic.
A big part of my practice is fibre based. I work with wool and a variety of felting techniques to create hangings and installations. These pieces generally come together as exhibitions that reflect on contemporary life in the North. More specifically, my work takes an interest in how the traditional and the contemporary clash, mix and mesh to create striking –and often quirky- hybrids. I hope to continue to develop my work in this direction and to have more and more opportunities to exhibit nationally and internationally.
In 2014, the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre featured a six-month long solo exhibit of my fibre based work title Muffled; Snapshots From the Arctic. This followed in the tracks of solo exhibits of my work in Montreal (2013) as well as Whitehorse (2012).
Artist Bio
Alison McCreesh is an Eisner-nominated graphic novelist, illustrator and fibre artist who has lived in Yellowknife since 2009. Over the past 15 years, she has extensively travelled around the Arctic and sub Arctic and contemporary day-to-day life in the north is a theme that carries through her creative work.
As a graphic artist, writer and illustrator, Alison is the author of three books. Her debut full length graphic novel titled 'Ramshackle, A Yellowknife Story' (2015) explored the reality of living off-grid in what is otherwise a modern government town. A French translation was published a few years later by Rue de L'échiquier (2018). Her second book, 'Norths, Two suitcases and a Stroller around the Circumpolar World' (2018) was a graphic travelogue based on six months of travel around the northern part of the globe with her partner and their small child. Her most recently graphic novel, 'Degrees of Separation, A Decade North of 60' introduces readers to the vastness and diversity of the circumpolar world and was named one of the Best Canadian Comics of 2024 by CBC Books.
Over the years, Alison has spent time at several artist residencies in Canada and abroad, has exhibited her fibre art work nationally and internationally and has been a guest author and artist at numerous festivals.
Since 2010, Alison has been self-employed under the business name of Alison McCreesh Illustration and continues to enjoy developing a variety of northern-themed illustration-based products and services.
Artist Gallery
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