Biography
Shelley Reed was born in New York City in 1958 and currently lives and works in Boston, MA. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Brandeis University, and graduated from School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1984. She has shown nationally in both galleries and museums such as Danese/Corey in New York City; Fitchburg Art Museum, MA; Columbia Museum of Art, SC; and Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York City. Furthermore, Reed’s works are in several public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; Fidelity Investment Corporation, Boston; and National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY. She is the recipient of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Travelling Fellowship in 2013, and Maud Morgan Award from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 2005.
Reed borrows visual fragments from predominantly seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Northern European art, citing the artists of these works like a dutiful scholar. She copies and recopies carefully chosen subjects – a bird or horse here, an architectural flourish there – from reproductions of historical paintings. She remains faithful to the figure’s original form but dramatically intensifies the viewer’s experience of it through bold changes in scene and scale. She also exclusively paints with a pared down palette of black and white. The result is uniquely theatrical, demonstrating the timeless emotional associations we, as observers, graft, and re-graft on to images of the natural world, and invites reflection on the present as a powerful reconfiguration of the past.
Recent Shows and/or Exhibitions
2025
Arrival Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, North Adams, MA
Still Life Stories: Beauty, Bounty, and Reflection, Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA
Hazy Shade of Winter, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2024
Art on Paper New York, Carol Corey Fine Art, New York, NY
Vita Wild, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Rigorous Fun, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Dallas, TX
Bird Stories/Human Narratives, Concord Art, Concord, MA
The Best Advice I Ever Got Was From a Bear, Visions West Contemporary, Bozeman, MT
It's all in Black and White, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2023
Shelley Reed, Antler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Fall Preview, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Wait till the Moon is Full, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
ABLOOM, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Intersect Palm Springs, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Gibbes Museum of American Art, Charleston, SC
Think Twice II, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Beating Under Cover of the Woods, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2022
Shelley Reed: Bouquet, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
To Market, The Bundy Modern, Waitsfield, CT
The Gravity of Beauty, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
On Such a Winter's Day, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Think Twice, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Spring Fling, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Intersect Palm Springs, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2021
These Green Pastures, Visions West Contemporary, Denver, CO
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY
The Dallas Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Dallas, TX
Garden Party, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2020
Winter Selections, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Shelley Reed was born in New York City in 1958 and currently lives and works in Boston, MA. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from Brandeis University, and graduated from School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston in 1984. She has shown nationally in both galleries and museums such as Danese/Corey in New York City; Fitchburg Art Museum, MA; Columbia Museum of Art, SC; and Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York City. Furthermore, Reed’s works are in several public and private collections, including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Art Institute of Chicago; Fidelity Investment Corporation, Boston; and National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY. She is the recipient of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts Travelling Fellowship in 2013, and Maud Morgan Award from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 2005.
Reed borrows visual fragments from predominantly seventeenth- and eighteenth-century Northern European art, citing the artists of these works like a dutiful scholar. She copies and recopies carefully chosen subjects – a bird or horse here, an architectural flourish there – from reproductions of historical paintings. She remains faithful to the figure’s original form but dramatically intensifies the viewer’s experience of it through bold changes in scene and scale. She also exclusively paints with a pared down palette of black and white. The result is uniquely theatrical, demonstrating the timeless emotional associations we, as observers, graft, and re-graft on to images of the natural world, and invites reflection on the present as a powerful reconfiguration of the past.
Recent Shows and/or Exhibitions
2025
Arrival Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, North Adams, MA
Still Life Stories: Beauty, Bounty, and Reflection, Cahoon Museum of American Art, Cotuit, MA
Hazy Shade of Winter, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2024
Art on Paper New York, Carol Corey Fine Art, New York, NY
Vita Wild, Maier Museum of Art, Randolph College, Lynchburg, VA
Rigorous Fun, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Dallas Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Dallas, TX
Bird Stories/Human Narratives, Concord Art, Concord, MA
The Best Advice I Ever Got Was From a Bear, Visions West Contemporary, Bozeman, MT
It's all in Black and White, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2023
Shelley Reed, Antler Gallery, Portland, Oregon
Fall Preview, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Wait till the Moon is Full, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
ABLOOM, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Intersect Palm Springs, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Gibbes Museum of American Art, Charleston, SC
Think Twice II, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Beating Under Cover of the Woods, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2022
Shelley Reed: Bouquet, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, Whatcom Museum, Bellingham, WA
To Market, The Bundy Modern, Waitsfield, CT
The Gravity of Beauty, The Zuckerman Museum of Art, Kennesaw, GA
On Such a Winter's Day, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Think Twice, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
Spring Fling, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY
Intersect Palm Springs, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Palm Springs, CA
2021
These Green Pastures, Visions West Contemporary, Denver, CO
Un/Natural Selections: Wildlife in Contemporary Art, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Jackson, WY
The Dallas Art Fair, Sears-Peyton Gallery, Dallas, TX
Garden Party, Carol Corey Fine Art, Kent, CT
2020
Winter Selections, Sears-Peyton Gallery, New York, NY