Allyson Clay has a BFA in Painting from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design, Halifax, and a MFA in Painting from the University of British Columbia, Vancouver.  She lives in Vancouver and is on faculty in the School for the Contemporary Arts at Simon Fraser University.

Clay has exhibited locally, nationally and internationally and her work belongs to many Canadian and international public and private collections. Public collections include the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia, the Banff Centre, and the Art Gallery of Windsor.

Clay has been the beneficiary of many awards including Senior Artist Grants from the Canada Council, the B.C. Arts Council, the Mexico/Canada/USA Artist Exchange Residency, and the Rockefeller Foundation Bellagio Residency Program.

Local, national and international group exhibitions in which Clay has participated include Facing History at the Canadian Cultural Centre in Paris and WHARF, Centre d’art Contemporain de Basse-Normandie in Herouville-St., France, Vancouver Perspective at the Taipei Fine Arts Museum in Taiwan, and Civic Art Gallery, Yokohama, Japan. Solo exhibitions include Imaginary Standard Distance at the Walter Phillips Gallery in Banff, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, Victoria, B.C, Mount Saint Vincent Art Gallery, Halifax, N.S., and Bris de Lumière. Maison Patrimoniale Barthète, Boussan, France, la la city, Numark Gallery, Washington D.C. U.S.A., Irregular Lines, McLaren Art Gallery, Barrie, Ontario, and solo shows at Leo Kamen Gallery and Katzman Contemporary in Toronto, Ontario. Clay is currently represented by Katzman Contemporary in Toronto.