Shelley Thorstensen is a printmaker based in Pennsylvania. She works in printmaking as a direct, physical process—one that holds both the body and the mind in the act of making. Her work is held in numerous public and institutional collections, including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Royal Museum of Fine Arts, Antwerp, Belgium; the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Woodmere Art Museum, Philadelphia; and the New York Public Library, among others.

Thorstensen has presented solo exhibitions at institutions including the Woodmere Art Museum, The Print Center, and the Delaware Contemporary, and has exhibited widely in national and international venues, including the International Centre of Graphic Arts, Ljubljana; the Guanlan International Biennial, China; and the Douro Biennial, Portugal.

She is a former President of the Society of American Graphic Artists and the founder and director of Printmakers Open Forum, an artist-run initiative active from 2013–2023 that connected printmakers through workshops, collaborations, and international exchange. Her writing and editorial work includes guest editorship of the Mid America Print Council Journal, along with published essays, lectures, and contributions to texts including Modern Printmaking (Watson-Guptill) and Contemporary American Printmakers (Schiffer).

Thorstensen is represented by Dolan/Maxwell, Philadelphia. A retrospective of her work is forthcoming at the Plains Art Museum.