Allen Hessler was born in Winnipeg Manitoba, the son of Austrian Immigrants. He was raised and educated in Winnipeg, studying Illustration and Graphic Design and then attended the University of Manitoba School of Fine Art.

After graduating he obtained a French Government scholarship at  École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts de Paris. He taught silkscreen and woodcut printing at the University of Manitoba school of art between 1981 and 1987.

Upon moving to Montréal in 1987,  he worked in his Bleury Street Haunted studio until 2005 and then to his present studio on 137 Saint Ferdinand in Saint Henri.

He was a member of the Conseil de l’Estampe Québecois and obtained Québec Arts Council project grants to create two print portfolios ‘’Abbott Cadabra’’ 1989   and  ‘’Le Quartier Hanté’’  1997.  He taught at Saidye Bronfman Art Center,

Dawson College, John Abbott College, and was a counselor at Omer DeSerres between 1993 and 2013. He was a member of ARTS NDG and has exhibited at various Montreal galleries with Solo exhibitions at Crystal Racine Gallery. ‘’Rencontres / Encounters ‘’  ( 2012)  ‘’Voyage Graphique’’  (2015)