Born in December 1962 in Scarborough
Ontario, Kevin Dollery was allowed the
privilege of residing in a variety of provinces
and countries throughout his youth.
His quaint, yet unusual British parents raised their four children to experience “the simple
life” in different environments and scenarios. From living on a 160 acre farm on St. Joseph’s Island in Ontario, to immigrating far south to a small island in the Caribbean off the coast of Belize, with no electricity and only hand pumped water. Then years later, moving back to Canada and experiencing life in a remote log cabin 30 miles north of Thunder Bay, again with no power and only hand drawn well water.
With influence from his artistically creative father, Kevin spent much of his time drawing during his childhood, and dreamed of becoming a comic artist. At the age of 13, his parents wished to return to their homeland, and moved the family overseas to southern England in rural Cornwall, enrolling him in a high school with an excellent fine arts course and teacher.
In 1979 after graduating from high school and again having moved back to Canada, he left home at the young age of 16 with his parents' blessing, and a mere 300 bucks in his pocket. He hopped a train to Toronto, rented a room for $32 a week and hit the streets (with home-grown portfolio in hand) and literally pounded the pavement during a hot sticky summer, in search of any employment within the arts industry.
Fortunately after a couple of weeks, he got his foot in the door and was hired on at a downtown Toronto advertising agency working as a darkroom assistant, photo-stat camera operator and typesetter. A few years later he got 'on board' as a junior graphic artist with another agency in Don Mills, Toronto.
As years passed, Kevin moved on to other media firms, including a silk-screen garment company for whom he produced cartoons and illustrations. For almost 37 years (since 1987) he worked in the art department of a well established printing company, Bounty Print Ltd in Halifax, Nova Scotia.
The beginning of a new year in 2024 presented a new adventure, with his joining another well established print media company "Atlantic Digital Reproductions" in Dartmouth NS. (atlanticdigital.ca)
Also since 1987, Kevin has enjoyed being a published cartoonist, writing and drawing “DrollerybyDollery” for newspapers in Halifax such as “The Bedford Monthly" and “The Burnside News." His cartoons are presently published in a local publication distributed up and down the south shore of Nova Scotia, "The Masthead News." (themastheadnews.ca)
Since 1994, Kevin has resided in the beautifully scenic area of St. Margaret’s Bay, Nova Scotia.