Shirley Cleary was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1942. She earned her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Washington University in St. Louis in 1964, studied at the University of Valencia in Spain in 1965, and at the Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia in 1966, in Rome in 1967, and received her Masters of Fine Arts in 1968. 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, Vermont and group exhibitions including "Women Artists of the West" at the Tucson Museum of Art in Arizona; Maryland Waterfowl Festival; Easton Academy of the Arts (Maryland) "the Art of Flyfishing-A Visual History"; Foothills Art Center (Golden, Colorado), "Rivers: The Song of Life", "Stampede Western Invitational Exhibit", (Greeley, Colorado); The Southeast Wildlife Festival in Charleston, South Carolina; "Wild Thing" and "The Artful Angler" and the CM Russell Auction at CM Russell Museum (Great Falls, Montana). Her work is licensed through Wild Wings, Inc., Lake City, Minnesota.

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. In 2004 she participated in the International Miniature Exhibition at the Smithsonian in Washington, DC and won first place in the Casper Artists' Guild International Miniature Art Exhibition in Wyoming. 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 Moonshine Museum in Gore, New Zealand.