Alison Mitchell (b. 1980) is a multi-disciplinary Canadian visual artist. Her paintings, fiber art, and collages depict simplified, stylized subjects in vibrant but limited colour palettes. Her work tends towards affectionate portraits of the people, plants, and household items that brighten her days.
Many of Alison’s most recent pieces are “yarn paintings” that she creates using a wooden rug hooking tool called a punch needle. Each one represents a unique blend of a traditional Atlantic Canadian craft with Alison's modern aesthetic. She sources nearly all of her yarn from Canada’s oldest woolen mill, Briggs and Little in New Brunswick, and dyes it in pots in her kitchen.
Originally from Ottawa, Alison now lives with her young family in the colourful seaside town of Lunenburg. Before getting serious about making art around 2021, she spent 17 as lawyer, diplomat, and adjunct law professor. Specialized in international humanitarian law and international human rights law, she worked at the International Criminal Court in The Hague, at NATO in Brussels, at the UN in New York, and in Kandahar, Afghanistan. She continues to teach international law at Queen's University.
Original artwork by Alison is available at the Teichert Gallery in Halifax, and at the Smith and Smith Gallery in Lunenburg. Prints are available through Caribou Loft Art Prints. Alison also teaches punch needle rug hooking at the Lunenburg School of the Arts and the Chester Art Center.
ABOUT ALISON
I recently found a delicate cross-stitched sampler that I spent weeks making in the summer after kindergarten. It was a lovely reminder of that my impulse to create art goes way back. (Having a fiber artist and crafting ninja for a mother probably helped too.) My maker spirit warmed the bench though for almost two decades as I focused on my legal and diplomatic career. Then, four years ago, I was fortunate enough to have an old-school nervous breakdown. I reassessed everything and moved 1500km east with my partner and our (then) 3-year-old to start a new, gentler chapter in a small house by the sea.
My worldview had darkened over the course of my last career. My art practice has lightened it back up considerably. Nowadays when I see something that lifts my spirits, I have an excuse to spend more time with it as I try to make something that invites people to see it the way it looked and felt to me. Ephemerality is no match for my punch needle.
My work today is very much centered around my desire to celebrate what makes life in Nova Scotia feel so life-affirming, from the flowers blooming in my garden and on the roadsides to the memorable people I'm meeting along the way. I have also developed a bit of an obsession with Atlantic Canada’s rich rug hooking tradition and I'm enjoying exploring how I can honour it in my own way. Finally, getting the colour palettes of my pieces just right is key, so I spend a lot of time mixing paint in my studio and dyeing yarn in my little kitchen.
I hope that the people, plants and places that have increased my dopamine levels give you a little hit as well.
- Alison Mitchell, June 2024