BIOGRAPHY

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Standing proud in a red cap and gown, Alison Galvan, a Canadian Westcoast artist,  graduated from Parsons School of Design in 1993. She had spent four years in both New York and Paris studying art and was now returning home to British Columbia, Canada to start her first of many creative business ventures.

Three years later, Alison, always with a penchant for travel, set off to spend the holidays in New Orleans, Louisiana, unexpectedly meeting, and falling in love with her husband while sailing down the Mississippi River on a ten-day cruise. 

A romantic whirlwind commenced and the next year saw her spending time in India and the Philippines and ultimately getting married in the Visayas region of this warm and friendly country. 

Returning back to Canada, Alison and her husband began a family and it was during this time that, while homeschooling her children, Alison’s work, inspired by her children's energy, utilizing a playful colour palette.

  2010 saw Alison and her family moving across the country in support of their daughter studying dance at The National Ballet School.    

Ensconced in Ontario culture, or in her mind, the lack thereof, Alison found herself creating art not out of inspired creative energy, but from a far more pragmatic direction. Sticking with landscapes and Canadiana, it was boring, but profitable drivel. This was how she thought of it.

Then in 2017, her children grown, Alison and her husband made the bold and risky move of selling their home and opening a restaurant. 

This was the opportunity she had been waiting for and Alison utilized the restaurant as her gallery showcasing not only paintings, but also sculpted mobile installations that she motorized and hung throughout the restaurant ceiling capturing the attention of not only the local foodies, but also art collectors and celebrities alike. 

 Awards and recognition came their way and very quickly the gamble paid off. Living above the restaurant, investing all of their successes, Alison and her husband, once again made an audacious move and selling their business, they ditched all their possessions, heading to South America for a new life in 2024. 

 Early retirement. It was a dream come true. They bought a condo, furnished it with beautiful local pieces, spent their days hiking, exploring, painting and cooking. All was perfect, until quite suddenly it was not.   

Pancreatic Cancer. Stage 4. 4-6 weeks.

Alison’s husband didn’t make it that long. He died three and a half weeks later. Her world imploded. The life they had planned was no more. Their future stolen.

In the days since Alison has had time to meditate on her next chapter, and reflecting, she says…

“I've been a fool. Like a child playing house, I've been playing at Artist. Creating what I believed people wanted. Keeping my soul safely tucked away from any critique.”

In grief she finally got the message.

She is stepping into her light. 

Today Alison lives in Cuenca, Ecuador. Her art, her life. Her canvases alight with the energetic representation of the gut-wrenching cost of death and the impact on the self as one sets about seeking solace. 

Fool no more. All pretense set aside; Alison creates to live before she dies.