Allyson Clay (born 1953) is a Canadian visual artist, curator, and educator based in

Vancouver, BC Vancouver is a major city in Western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The Met ...

Life

Clay was born in Vancouver, British Columbia in 1953, and spent much of her childhood and adolescence in

Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. She obtained a BFA in Painting from the

Nova Scotia College of Art and Design NSCAD University, also known as the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD), is a public university, public art school, art university in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university is a co-educational institution tha ...

in 1980, and an MFA from the

University of British Columbia The University of British Columbia (UBC) is a Public university, public research university with campuses near University of British Columbia Vancouver, Vancouver and University of British Columbia Okanagan, Kelowna, in British Columbia, Canada ...

in 1985. She was a professor at the School of the Contemporary Arts at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a Public university, public research university in British Columbia, Canada. It maintains three campuses in Greater Vancouver, respectively located in Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, British Columbia, Surrey, and ...

Artistic practice

Clay has an interdisciplinary artistic practice that encompasses photography, painting, and installation. Her artwork has often examined "the problematic, contradictory nature of contemporary urbanism" through "experiments with conceptual theory and traditional colour." Clay's artistic research draws upon work by feminist writer and scholar

Donna Haraway Donna Jeanne Haraway (born September 6, 1944) is an American professor emerita in the history of consciousness and feminist studies departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a prominent scholar in the field of science and te ...

, and American artist Mary Kelly. Clay looks at the role of "women through the city, through the social, and through the history of art making." Her artwork has been exhibited at Canadian galleries including the

Vancouver Art Gallery The Vancouver Art Gallery (VAG) is an art museum in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. The museum occupies a adjacent to Robson Square in downtown Vancouver, making it the largest art museum in Western Canada by building size. Designed by Fr ...

and the Banff Centre for the Arts. Clay is represented by Costin & Klintworth Gallery in Toronto. Clay's work is in several public collections including the

Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery is a contemporary art gallery in Vancouver, British Columbia, on the campus of the University of British Columbia. The gallery is housed in a building designed by architect Peter Cardew which opened in 1995 ...

, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art, and the

University of Lethbridge The University of Lethbridge (also known as uLethbridge, uLeth, and U of L) is a public comprehensive and research university located in Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada, with a second campus in Calgary, Alberta. Founded in the liberal arts traditio ...

Art Gallery.

Selected exhibitions

* 2018 ''Beginning with the Seventies: GLUT,'' Jan 12 - April 9,

, Vancouver, BC. * 2009 ''Mall/Flip,'' Jan 17 – Feb 18, Leo Kamen Gallery, Toronto, ON. * 2004 ''The shadow of production,''

, Vancouver, BC. * 2002 ''Imaginary Standard Distance,'' Walter Phillips Gallery, Banff, AB. * 1995 ''Allyson Clay and Shonagh Alexander,''

Contemporary Art Gallery A contemporary art gallery is normally a commercial art gallery operated by an art dealer which specializes in displaying for sale contemporary art, usually new works of art by living artists. This approach has been called the "Castelli Method ...

, Vancouver, BC. * 1992 ''Traces of a City in the Spaces Between Some People,'' Charles H. Scott Gallery, Vancouver, BC. * 1988 ''LURE,'' Artspeak Gallery, Vancouver, BC. * 1985 ''Hold It,'' Western Front Gallery, Vancouver, BC.

Grants

Clay has received grants from the Canadian Council for the Arts, the BC Arts Council, and the

Rockefeller Foundation The Rockefeller Foundation is an American private foundation and philanthropic medical research and arts funding organization based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The foundation was created by Standard Oil magnate John D. Rockefeller (" ...

Bellagio Residency Program.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Clay, Allyson Artists from Vancouver 1953 births Living people 20th-century Canadian artists 20th-century Canadian women artists 21st-century Canadian artists NSCAD University alumni University of British Columbia alumni Academic staff of Simon Fraser University Canadian women curators