Shirley Cleary received her BFA Degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her MFA Degree from Tyler School of Art of Temple University in Philadelphia and Rome, Italy. She also studied at the University of Valencia (Spain) and the Corcoran in Washington, DC. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, has lived in Montana since 1971 and spends part of the winter painting and fishing in New Zealand.
Shirley Cleary's paintings have been featured in many publications including “American Artist,” “Art West,” “The Artist’s Magazine,” “US Art,” “Inform Art,” “Fly Fisher’s Magazine,” “Angler’s Journal,” “Disegnare and Dipingere,” and in several issues of “Wildlife Art.” She is listed in Samuel’s “Contemporary Western Artists” and “An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West.”
Shirley was the winner of the 1990 Oregon Trout Stamp/Print competition and the 1992 Association of Northwest Steelheaders Stamp Print. In 1999 she received the “Communication in Conservation Award” from National Trout Unlimited and was the 2001 print artist of the year for National Trout Unlimited. She was commissioned to paint two patron paintings for Trout Unlimited in 2002. Six of her paintings have been in the top 100 Arts for the Park Competition and one in the top 200.
Shirley Cleary's work is represented in such collections as the National Parks Foundation, the Federal Reserve Bank, the Federation of Flyfishers International Flyfishing Center, First Bank System, the Washington Post, and Herning Hojskole (Denmark).
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