Ayşe Gülcan Özbalak was born in Istanbul in 1966. She graduated from the Department of Arabic Language and Literature. She completed her illumination (tezhip) courses, which she began taking from Nilüfer Kurfeyz in 1986, and received a graduation certificate from the Ministry of Culture and Tourism.

Özbalak also completed illumination courses at the History and Nature Foundation and obtained a diploma by attending Nilüfer Kurfeyz’s classes at the National Palaces Chalet (Milli Saraylar Şale Köşkü).

Özbalak has taught illumination courses at various institutions and currently offers illumination education at Profil Sanat and the Istanbul Classical Arts Center. Tuğçe Özkara, Zeynep Üstün, Ayşe Balıkçı, Canan Odabaşı, and Fatma Nazlı Ulusoy are among the students trained by Özbalak.