Born in 1949, in Toronto, Canada, Shirley Wiitasalo is an awarded Canadian painter who studied at the Ontario College of Art from 1967 to 1968. Her works are widely exhibited across Canada in museums, artist-run centres, and commercial galleries. Notably, her first solo exhibition was at the Carmen Lamanna Gallery, and she has been included in the exhibition organized by the National Gallery of Canada, Some Canadian Women Artists, and had a solo exhibition at The Power Plant. Wiitasalo was awarded the Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award from the Canada Council in 1986, and The Gershon Iskowitz Prize in 1998 for a cash prize and a solo exhibition at the Art Gallery of Ontario.