About the Artist

Ron Allen is a self-taught cartoonist and caricaturist based in Aylmer, Ontario. His best-known work is his series of editorial cartoons, Oh! Oh!, which has been featured in the weekly Aylmer Express newspaper since September 15, 1982. With a focus on local events, Allen provides a voice for our community through humour and good-natured quips.

With an early interest in cartooning, Allen has been honing his craft for as long as he can remember. Born in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia, he moved to Ontario in 1963 and settled in Aylmer with his wife, Yvonne, in 1974. Inspired by events in his daily life, Allen would illustrate cartoons surrounding topics like his workplace, General Motors, or the local men’s Slo-Pitch baseball league. One such cartoon caught the eye of John Hueston of the Aylmer Express while it was posted in the West End Snack Bar in Aylmer. After granting permission for the cartoon to be published in the Express, Mr. Allen offered to have a piece ready for the paper each week and has since published nearly 3,500 cartoons.

A pillar of our community, Ron Allen intends to continue cartooning as long as he has ideas to draw from and topics to illustrate.

Ron Allen, photographed by Rob Perry for his third published volume of cartoons. Image courtesy of the Aylmer Express.