Shelley Kaplan is a painter who began her art career in New York City in the 1980s. She exhibited at the New Museum, Edward Thorp Gallery, and Peder Bonnier Gallery before taking time to raise her family and open a restaurant.

Her work has also appeared in national exhibitions including Zilkha Gallery at Wesleyan University, Blum-Helman Warehouse, the Phoenix Art Museum, Metropolitan Museum and Art the Centers in Coral Gables and Ted Greenwald Gallery. Today, she shows her work at Hudson Valley MOCA and LABspace, among other venues.

Publications including Newsweek Magazine, Art News, Arts, and Bomb Magazine have mentioned her work. Collectors Paul Schnell, Ed Downe and Charlotte Ford, and Patricia Hamilton have acquired her pieces, as has American Express for their corporate collection.

Kaplan studied Art History and Political Theory at New York University, where she earned her BA. and continued her art education at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, DC, and the California College of the Arts in Oakland.She spent time studying in Florence, Italy.

After decades in New York City, Kaplan now lives and works in the Berkshires, where she continues to develop her practice.