We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alison Dougherty. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alison below.

Alison, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Question not found

I’ve been an Artist as long as I can remember and hold memories of being creative even as a very young child. I was lucky enough to grow up in a time when art education was accessible in the public school system and I went to college with the intention of being a high school art teacher. I received a BA in Fine Art.
But, instead of pursuing a teaching degree, I landed a job doing commercial work painting murals and signs. I have worked in that industry the last 20 years and have painted over 100 murals. Throughout those years I continued to pursue my own personal work but I was really only half invested. I was creatively spent after a long day of commercial work.

In 2013 I really started focusing on getting into the Art scene in Portland which I found incredibly challenging. It really is a whole other world out there. One, which I didn’t know much about. We have a huge food truck culture here in Portland and that pretty much inspired me to say. “Why not build a mobile Art Gallery?” I wouldn’t be tied down to one spot in a brick and mortar or gallery and I could go anywhere and show. On my own terms.

So, I started to do some research on the type of van I would need. Size, lighting, the interior build and how the hell I was going to fund this project. In the winter of 2014 I found the perfect van. A Chevy P30 with barn-doors and 7 foot ceilings down in Lodi California. My husband and I were getting ready to go to Thailand for our honey moon and would be out of the country for a month. I asked the man who was selling the van if he would hold it for me till I got back. I sent him a check for $500 as a show of good faith. I know it sounds crazy! Right? I did not know this guy but I just knew in my gut he was legit and would not screw me over. While my husband and I were drinking beers on a beach in Ko Lanta and brainstorming names for the gallery He came up with Outlier. Explained the meaning. “See that dot way out there, that’s you.” Drew a little logo in the sand and that was it!

The week after we returned from our trip we flew down to Lodi to pick up the Truck. ( that’s a crazy story for another time) I had exactly enough in my savings to purchase it and we drove with earplugs yelling directions and clear on your right at each other the entire loud and bumpy 800miles back to Portland.
I put together a kick starter campaign and was able to raise the rest of the money for the interior build. I had my first pop-up show the summer of 2015!

The Pandemic made me reevaluate my time, as it did for a lot of people. I have been painting more than ever, I leased a studio space that I love going to. That has been a game changer. I’m just doing the work, making moves and making shit happen. No one is going to do it for me. My next goal is to road trip, pop up show style along the way down to California. Doesn’t that sound fun?! I’ll keep you posted.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your background and context?

Sure! My name is Alison Dougherty. I grew up on the small coastal town of Carmel, California. I moved up to the Pacific Northwest in 2001. I have worked in commercial art since 2002 and along with the help of creative friends and family, built The Outlier Gallery, a mobile art space in 2015. Inside this space I show my paintings Pop-up style.
I am able to drive and park the gallery anywhere I want as long as there’s a flat surface to park, throw open the doors and have a proper art show! We have done a few group shows in there and that has been a great opportunity to work with other artists and give them a space to show. We just had our fist of many Club V shows which feature all female and female identifying artists. I am looking forward to next years!

Primarily, I show my own work. I am an abstract painter who explores all the world has to offer. My paintings are my meditation. My way to process all the amazing wonders along with all the absolute bullshit that whirls around us. I strive to give the viewer a visual experience and for the collectors to make a statement in their living spaces. My work can be bold and in your face or soft and calming, most of the time both. Always full of energy and lots of color. I hope to evoke feelings of nostalgia, humor, hope, fury.

My titles are at times out of the ordinary. It is one of my most favorite parts of the process. Almost statements if you will. Subjects I think about. I can kinda go down the rabbit hole with thoughts while I work. These ideas become part of the work. They can be long, sometimes humorous and full of swear words.

Can you tell us the story of how you put together the initial capital you needed to start your business?

I was fortunate enough to have started a small Roth IRA when I was in my late 20’s. I used the money I had made form that account to purchase the step van outright. I knew I didn’t want to take out a Personal loan to purchase the truck. It’s a 1995 chevy work truck and you can’t really get a car loan for that. I launched a Kickstarter to raise the money for the rest of the interior build. This enabled my to gut the truck and build the interior to replicate a legitimate art gallery with white walls, LVT wood flooring, low profile gallery lighting and a killer alarm system to keep all of my work safe when Im parked in the city for a show.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

This is a really good question. One that if I really answer honestly is this… What’s driving me the NEED to paint. I’ve just discovered that feeling over the last few years.

When I am at my day job (yep, still doing commercial work too) all I want to do is be in my studio. I will find myself day dreaming about how I am going to finish one piece or what title I am going to give another. It’s my voice. I have a lot to say. Ask my friends, I do! Because I am passionate about what is going on the world.
I’m concerned about what’s happening to peoples rights and the planet.

This is my way of connecting with others on social, political, economic issues. My goal is to make people think, laugh, cry even. I want to capture that vibe, that moment in time, that snarky comment about life. The tragedies of the world that make us dig deep for hope and share it with someone else.
I love it when a person sees my work and they have to have it. They “get” it. They see what I am trying to say through the work. Happiness all around!

I paint to remain in the present, while simultaneously reflecting on the past, which becomes my inspiration for the future.

Thank You for letting me share. It’s been fun!

Contact Info:

• Website: alisondougherty.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/a.dougherty.fine art. instagram.com/outlier.gallery
• Twitter: outliergallery