Artists: Shirley Cleary

   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.
Her 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 & Dipingere” and in several issues of “Wildlife Art”.  She is listed in Samuel's "Contemporary Western Artists", "An Encyclopedia of Women Artists of the American West" and "Who's Who in American Art" (since 1987).   Shirley has participated in many invitational and juried exhibitions including a one woman exhibition at the American Museum of Flyfishing in Manchester, VT and group exhibitions including "Women Artists of the West" at the Tucson Museum of Art and  “Masters in Miniature”, “Wild Thing” and “The Artful Angler” and the CM Russell Auction at CM Russell Museum (Great Falls, MT). Her work is licensed through Wild Wings, Inc., Lake City, MN.
One of her floral paintings was selected as a finalist in the “International Artists Magazine” floral competition. She was the winner of the 1990 Oregon Trout Stamp/Print competition and the 1992 Assoc. 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. In 2004 she participated in the International Miniature Exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and won first place and a merit award in the Casper Artists’ Guild International Miniature Art Exhibitions. She won the Wyoming CARES Grand Award in the 2005 Rocky Mountain Art Show and Auction Her 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, Herning Hojskole (Denmark); and the Eastern Southland Art Gallery and Hokonui Museum in Gore, New Zealand.      
She annually participates in Collector’s Covey’s Miniature Exhibition (Dallas, TX), Settlers West Small Painting Exhibition (Tucson, AZ),  the Southeast Invitational Miniature Exhibition (Germanton, NC), Light Street Gallery (Baltimore) Miniature Exhibition and Wild Wings Fall Festival (MN) and ESCAPE in Gore, New Zealand. In September she had a one woman show at the Holter Museum
Upcoming shows include the Holter Museum Annual Auction, Big Names/Small Canvases at the Riverton Art Center (New Zealand), Ponderosa Gallery Fall Classic and “Montana Landscape: the Eye of the Beholder at the Holter Museum
Shirley is represented by galleries across the United States and in New Zealand. Several of her paintings have been selected for covers for Cabella’s catalogue. She is one of 10 artists profiled in a recently released book “The Art of Fly Fishing: Ten Modern Masters”.