Moya Foley Art Ecuador
About the Artist
As a Canadian artist living in Ecuador, the question of home has been a recurring theme in my work. I need to feel an affinity with my physical surroundings as they affect both the way I live and the way I make art. The geography of Ontario, Canada, - the lakes and rivers, pine and granite of my youth - feeds my soul. But the palm trees and breaking waves, in front of my house in Ecuador, do as well.
I was born in Peterborough, Canada. After studying Fashion Design at Ryerson University in Toronto and later completing an honours degree in Fine Art at the University of Guelph in 1979, I moved to Ecuador. I wanted to develop my art away from the mainstream, with all its confines, dictates and pressures. Losing the Canadian winter was part of the deal. What was to have been a two-year hiatus became my life.
For the first two years in Ecuador I taught at the International schools in Quito and in Guayaquil. In 1981, my mentor and friend, Dick Maplesden, offered me free lodging outside the small coastal town of Bahia, Manabí on the condition that I try to make it as an artist. That was the beginning.
Not long after, I moved north to the fishing village of Cojimies, where I lived for five years without electricity or running water. For part of this time I lived on the island of Cojimies without a boat or any boat service to the main-land. During this period of intense isolation I developed my own iconography, moving from colourful abstract watercolours to realistic renderings of the sea and eventually to collage using materials found in nature.
In 1986 I returned to the Andes. For the next 18 years I lived in a valley outside of Quito, still without electricity or running water. My surroundings continued to supply me with materials for my art - bark, bones, cactus, dried leaves, broken glass, rusted metal. The capital city offered many venues to exhibit my work
In 2004 I returned to the coastal province of Manabí where I'd had my beginnings as an artist. I currently live in a bamboo and thatch house overlooking the Pacific, just south of the beach town and fishing village of Canoa. The house, which I designed and built, won an award from the local municipality for "enhancing the beauty of the county." Most of the time now I have electricity and running water.
As well as painting and creating collage and sculpture, I teach art in my home to expats and locals. My students and I have mounted several exhibitions of our work here in this small coastal community, improvising gallery space where we can. In 2014, I was honoured to receive an Award of Merit from La Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabí, Bahia campus, for "invaluable work in benefit of culture." More recently, in November of 2021, the municipality of San Vicente (my town) presented me with an award for Cultural Merit, at the celebration of the town's anniversary as the county seat.
Exhibitions
Fuerza Y Fragilidad, Casa Humboldt installation, Quito, 2022
2026 - OhLaLa, Hostal Olmito's, Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2024 - Casa Vesubio, Bahia de Caraquez, group show
2022 - La Casa Humboldt, Quito Ecuador joint show with Carole Lindberg
2022 - Museo Portoviejo y Archivo Historico, Portoviejo, Ecuador solo show
2021 - idiomArt, Cuenca, Ecuador solo show
2021 - Amalur Restaurant and Hostal, Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2021 - Museo Tachira, San Cristobal, Venezuela solo show
2019 - Hotel Baloo, Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2018 - Hotel Baloo, Canoa, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2017 - Hotel Baloo, Canoa, Manabí, Ecuador group show
2015 - Betty Surf and Yoga, Canoa, Manabí, Ecuador group show
2015 - Hotel Baloo, Canoa, Manabí, Ecuador group show
2014 – Paint the Beach, Fort Myer's Beach, Florida group show
- Universidad Laica Eloy Alfaro de Manabi,
Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador group show
2013 - Paint the Beach, Fort Myer's Beach, Florida group show
- Freedom Art Centre and Restaurant, Canoa, Manabi solo show
- Hotel Baloo, Canoa, Manabí, Ecuador group show
2010 - Cultural Centre of San Vicente, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2008 – Universidad de San Vicente, San Vicente, Manabi, Ecuador group show
2003 - Alianza Francesa, Quito, Ecuador, International Photography Biennale
(represented Canada, with a solo show of photography) solo show
2002 – Gamma Ray Gallery, Ottawa, Canada solo show
2002 – Posada de Artes Kingman, Quito, Ecuador solo show
2001 – Salón Amazonas, Swisshotel, Quito Ecuador group show
1998 – Galería CDX, Quito, Ecuador group show
1997 – Hotel Oro Verde, Quito, Ecuador group show
1996 - Artistas Por La Vida, Hotel Intercontinental Quito, Ecuador group show
1996 – Art Forum, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1995 – The British Council, Quito, Ecuador group show
1994 – Posada de Artes Kingman, Quito, Ecuador group show
1993 - Casa de La Cultura Ecuatoriana, Quito, Ecuador group show
1991 - Guayasamin Museum, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1989 – Lingua Franca, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1989 – Artemujer, Quito City Hall, Quito, Ecuador group show
1988 – The British Council, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1987 – The British Council, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1985 – The British Council, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1984 – Galería Futuro Uno, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1984 – American Ambassador’s Residence, Quito, Ecuador group show
1983 – Durham Art Gallery, Durham, Ontario Canada group show
1983 – The Canadian Embassy, Quito, Ecuador solo show
1981 – Interamerican Cultural Association, Guayaquil, Ecuador solo show
1981 – Artspace, Peterborough, Ontario Canada solo show
1980 - Cotopaxi Academy, Quito, Ecuador group show
1979 – Burlington Cultural Centre, Burlington, Ontario Canada group show
1979 – University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario Canada solo show
