Allan is a native of the prairies of northern Illinois and grew up on a farm overlooking the bluffs of the Illinois River Valley. He entered the fine arts through disciplined studies in the J.S. Bach tradition of composition and performance, and has enjoyed many years of professional singing and conducting.

A tour in the United States Air Force took him to the Pacific Rim early in his career, where he traveled extensively and studied the garden architecture of Angkor-Wat, the canal systems of Bangkok, and the rain forests and terraced crop fields of the Philippine Islands and Hawaii. He has also lived and studied landscape design in the western plains of North America and coastal waters and mountains in central and northern Italy.

He began professional work in the plastic arts with box constructions recalling the style of the late Joseph Cornell. Sustained studies in drawing, painting, and sculpture led him to the Art Students League of New York City, where he was named the Frank Vincent Dumond Merit Scholar. His mentor in oils, Will Barnet, encouraged him to begin printmaking, and he has worked extensively in lithography, etching, and serigraph. In the year 2000 he enjoyed Visiting Artist privileges at the American Academy in Rome.

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