Allyson Clay

Allison Clay (b. 1953) is an interdisciplinary visual artist, curator and educator. Clay received a BFA from Nova Scotia College of Art and Design and MFA from the University of British Columbia. Her work engages painting, photography, artist books and publications, video and performance with critical discussions relating to feminist theory, modernism and discursive practices of art history. She often employs aspects of the female body and performance in her work to address the “role” of women in spaces, such as the urban environment, social environment, and throughout the history of art making. Clay has exhibited across Canada at venues including the Vancouver Art Gallery, Walter Phillips Gallery, the Contemporary Art Gallery, Artspeak and Western Front in Vancouver. Her work is held in the collections of the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, the Museum of Contemporary Canadian Art and the University of Lethbridge. She is the recipient of numerous awards including two Senior Artist Grants from the Canada Council, the Mexico/Canada/USA artist exchange residency and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Program. Clay currently lives on the Sunshine Coast, BC and recently retired as a professor from Simon Fraser University in the School of Contemporary Art.