Shirly Stark, born in New York City in 1927, was an African American artist, an art professor who specialized in sculpture, and a poet. Stark moved to Detroit, Michigan, with her second husband where she discovered her love of sculpting and began studying art at Wayne State University. Only five years later, Stark left her job at the Internal Revenue Service to study art in Italy. When Stark returned from Europe, she received a grant for a residency at MacDowell Colony in New Hampshire and a work-study grant from the Wurlitzer Foundation in New Mexico to continue her work as an artist.