Shirley Ann Galbrecht was born and raised in Norfolk, Virginia. She moved to North Carolina to study at Barton College, where she received a bachelor of fine arts degree. Her first job took her to the coastal town of Elizabeth City, where she worked for the North Carolina Arts Council as a resident artist. While there, the surrounding beauty of the rural farms and coastal scenery took root in her heart, and her lifelong love affair with nature flourished. Later, during her years as a graphic designer in central North Carolina, she kept her connection to the environment alive. Perhaps the greatest contribution to this has been her choice of residence in a beautiful natural area, covered in a forest canopy and bordering a scenic river. Shirley has always had a love for art and adventure, and that has inspired her to do such things as travel in Europe alone, land in a small plane on the top of an Alaskan glacier, sing in an a cappella group, and begin horseback riding lessons in her fifties. She now works as a fine artist, exploring the role nature plays in our lives. She lives with her husband near Chapel Hill and is a mother and a grandmother.
"The clearest way into the universe is through a forest wilderness." - John Muir
