Ayşe Gülcan Özbalak was born in Istanbul in 1966. She is a graduate of Arabic Language and Literature Department. She completed her illumination training with Nilüfer Kurfeyz, which she started in 1986, and received completion certificate from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism. She also completed the illumination courses at the History and Nature Foundation. Özbalak attended Nilüfer Kurfeyz’s courses at the Classical Turkish Arts Center at Yıldız Palace Şale Kiosk and received her diploma. She gave illumination classes at various institutions, and still gives illumination training courses at Profil Art and Istanbul Classical Arts Center. Some of the students she trained are Tuğçe Özkara, Zeynep Üstün, Ayşe Balıkçı, Canan Odabaşı and Fatma Nazlı Ulusoy.