A painter who uses art history as a point of departure, Shelley Reed is represented by the Sears-Peyton Gallery in New York and Los Angeles, Carol Corey Fine Art in Kent, CT, and Visions West Contemporary in Montana and Colorado.

A 2023 MacDowell fellow, Reed was an artist-in-residence at the Lux Art Institute in 2017. She was awarded Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grants in 2015 and 2006, as well as Berkshire Taconic Artist's Resource Trust Grants in 2015 and 2005. In 2013, Reed was awarded a Traveling Fellowship from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and was a finalist for a Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellowship in 2012. She was the recipient of the Maud Morgan Award from the Boston Museum of Fine Arts in 2005.

Reed's work can be found nationally in public and private collections including: The Art Institute of Chicago, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Columbia Museum of Art, National Museum of Wildlife Art, Fidelity Investment Corporation, Wellington Management Company, 21c Museum Hotels, Bank of Boston, Rose Art Museum, Fitchburg Art Museum, Danforth Museum, and the DeCordova Museum and Sculpture Park.