About

Since childhood, Gilly Shaeffer has been painting and drawing. In 1994, deeply inspired by the beauty in nature, she began doing botanical art.

Gilly has received the Watercolor Program Certificate from master botanical art instructor, Anne Marie Evans, of the New York Botanical Gardens, New York, and the Chelsea Physic Garden, London. 

Since 2000, Gilly’s work has appeared in a number of juried international exhibitions throughout the United States, including Longwood Gardens, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, the United States Botanic Gardens in Washington, D.C., the Horticultural Society of New York, the Loveland Museum/Gallery in Colorado and the Filoli Estate and Gardens, Woodside, California. In 2000, she received the Georg Jensen Award from the American Society of Botanical Artists for a painting exhibited at the Horticultural Society of New York.

Gilly has taught Botanical Watercolor Techniques for Otis College of Art and Design in Los Angeles and at the Virginia Robinson Gardens in Beverly Hills, California. She currently enjoys giving small group classes at her home studio.

Gilly is a member of the American Society of Botanical Artists and is the past president of the Botanical Artists Guild of Southern California from 1999-2005. Her work is included as a permanent part of the botanical art collection at the Hunt Institute of Botanical Documentation at the Carnegie Mellon University and in private collections around the United States.  Gilly's work was also selected to appear in the book, Today's Botanical Artists by Libby Kyer and Cora Marcus, Schiffer Publishers, 2008.