Alan Shields

{{Infobox artist | name = Alan Shields | image = Alan_Shields_in_1984,_photographed_by_Susan_Mullally.jpeg | image_size = | alt = | caption = Alan Shields in 1984 | birth_date = {{Birth date |df=yes|1944|02|04}} | birth_place = Herington, Kansas, United States | baptised =  | death_date = {{death date and age |2005|12|13 |1944|02|04 |df=yes}} | death_place = Shelter Island, New York | resting_place = | resting_place_coordinates =  | education = | alma_mater = Kansas State University | known_for = Paintings, sculptures, prints, works on paper | notable_works = | style = Pattern and decoration<ref name="NYT Obit" /> | movement = | spouse = Maria Caccese<ref name="SIR" /> | partner = Marla Gagnum<ref name="NYT Obit" /> | awards = | elected = | patrons = | memorials = | website = | module = }} {{Portal|Visual arts|Biography}}

'''Alan J. Shields''' (February 4, 1944{{sndash}}December 13, 2005)<ref name="NYT Obit" /> was an American painter, and for a time during the 1980s, had a secondary career as a commercial boat operator, including as ferryboat captain.

==Early life and education== Shields was born in Herington, Kansas to a farming family{{mdash}}his great-grandfather had been a cattle farmer who had been a homesteader on the Great Plains. Shields often referenced his family in his own art-making. He grew up watching his mother and two younger sisters quilting and embroidering, living on a farm required a degree of frugality and recycling, which is where Shields learned the crafts himself.<ref name="Common Threads" />

He eventually attended Kansas State University from 1963{{ndash}}66 where he studied civil engineering and studio art. In his art education he closely studied the work of Buckminster Fuller.<ref name="Space Sisters" /> When developing his practice, Shields referenced his studies on Fuller, pointing out that if Fuller's dome-style architecture were to become common, "...there wouldn't be any flat walls to hang a painting."<ref name="Toledo" /> After graduating he went on to participate in Summer Theater Workshops at the University of Maine (1966{{ndash}}67).

==Painting career== In 1968, he moved to New York City where he began showing with Paula Cooper Gallery later that year and through 1991.<ref name="Space Sisters" /> He began his trademark three-dimensional, two-sided paintings in 1970.<ref name="Space Sisters" /> Shields was immediately distinct from his New York contemporaries, who at the time were largely concerned with minimalism. The vibrant, tactile, and labor intensive works placed him apart from the prevailing contemporary artists. His work was extremely gestural and focused on the physicality of materials. Unlike the minimalists, Shields held a great reverence for craft, sewing and beading are an essential component in Shields' practice.<ref name="Common Threads" /> In 1971, Shield's work was featured on the cover of Artforum magazine.<ref name="NGA">{{cite web |title=Outliers and American Vanguard Artist Biographies: Alan Shields |url=https://www.nga.gov/features/exhibitions/outliers-and-american-vanguard-artist-biographies/alan-shields.html |website=National Gallery of Art |access-date=30 March 2022}}</ref> In a 1975 interview with artist Howardena Pindell (the two of whom are fundamental to Postminimalism and Process Art), Shields describes how he would first draw a grid in pencil on the back of a canvas, then stitch over the pencil lines with the colored thread in the bobbin and white thread on the top: "So what I did was utilize the fact that the sewing machine could...transcribe drawings that were on the back of the canvas to the front by using the bobbin threads."{{citation needed|date=May 2022|reason=Direct quotations should be supported by a citation for verification purposes}} Shields saw the difference between painting and sewing as marginal, and used the two methods to similar ends.<ref name="Ulysses" />

In 1971, Shields purchased a house on Shelter Island. He kept his studio in New York City for a year until the Shelter Island home became his permanent residence in 1972.<ref name="Space Sisters" /> He did not give up his SoHo loft until the mid-1980s, at which point he decided to raise his family, grow his own food, become a commercial fisherman and a licensed ferryboat captain.<ref name="Common Threads" /><ref name="SIR">{{cite news |last1=Galligan |first1=Carol |title=Profile: Artist's daughter settles in to motherhood |url=https://shelterislandreporter.timesreview.com/2012/10/18/island-profile-the-artists-daughter-settles-in-to-motherhood-and-politics/ |access-date=15 May 2022 |publisher=Shelter Island Reporter |date=18 October 2012}}</ref> In 1983 he received his first license to operate a commercial watercraft for up to six passengers. He would go on to get a one-hundred ton boating license and become a captain for the North Ferry Company, connecting Shelter Island and Greenport, New York.<ref name="Aspen" /> He converted a greenhouse attached to his home into a studio space.<ref name="Common Threads" /> He began to focus on print and papermaking, making over thirty editions between 1971 and 1974. During this period, he would receive the Guggenheim Fellowship and travel to South America for three months in 1973.<ref name="Space Sisters" />

In 1980, he went to the Ahmadabad retreat in India.<ref name="Space Sisters" /> After becoming a ferryboat captain and pursuing an additional career as a commercial fisherman, Shields' passion for fishing began to have a dialectic relationship with his artmaking. The three-dimensional works that are suspended from the ceiling use the same ball bearing swivels used in fishing tackle and fishing gear, and he would also use backing line and monofilaments in the pieces.<ref name="Aspen" />

In 1999, he decided to move again on Shelter Island, and relocated to a ranch for the remainder of his life.<ref name="Aspen" /><ref name="Space Sisters" />

===Significant works=== thumb|''J + K'' (1972) industrial webbing, canvas, paint, fishing line and beads ''J + K'' (1972) – The outer framework is constructed from industrial webbing and canvas enclosing a web of fishing line strung with beads.<ref name="Are.na">{{cite web |title=J + K |url=https://www.are.na/block/6306401 |website=Are.na |date=27 February 2020 |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref> The work, which is in the collection of the Whitney Museum of American Art, refers to the "countercultural aesthetics of the time from tie-dye to love beads."<ref name="MM">{{cite web |last1=Wiggers |first1=Namita Gupta |title=Can Craft Save America? |url=https://metropolismag.com/viewpoints/can-craft-save-america/ |website=Metropolis Magazine |access-date=26 May 2022}}</ref> The New York Times notes that Shields "reinvented painting" by doing away with stretcher bars, resulting in painted canvas elements combined with other media such as fishing nets, rope, and industrial materials. ''J + K'' is described as "a cat’s cradle of intersecting beaded fishing line and tackle." The curvature of the fishing lines, weighted by tackle recalls the ocean waves.<ref name="NYT-review">{{cite news |last1=Beckenstein |first1=Joyce |title=Old Belts and Fishing Tackle Transformed |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/11/nyregion/a-review-of-alan-shields-in-motion-and-steven-and-william-ladd-mary-queen-of-the-universe-at-the-parrish-art-museum.html |access-date=26 May 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=9 January 2015}}</ref>

== Selected solo exhibitions == After his first show with Paula Cooper Gallery in 1969, Shields continued to exhibit there with solo shows until 1991.<ref name="Paula Cooper" /> After this period he had two more solo exhibitions with the gallery, in 2013 and 2019. Throughout his life, Shields exhibited in commercial gallery spaces throughout the U.S., Europe, South America, and Asia. In 2011 he had his first show with his subsequent New York gallery: Greenberg Van Doren, who would go on to exhibit his famous ''Maze'' installation in 2012 at their gallery space and in 2013 at SITELAB: 3.<ref name="Aspen" /> When the gallery became Van Doren Waxter Shields continued to have solo exhibitions in 2016 with ''Alan Shields: Space Sisters work from the 1970s'',<ref name="Space Sisters" /> again in 2018 with ''Alan Shields Rolling Orbit: Prints from the 1970s'',<ref name="Van Doren Waxter 1" /> and in 2020, with ''Alan Shields: Worms with Bedroom Eyes''.<ref name="Van Doren Waxter 2" />

In 1973, Shields had a two-person show with Richard Artschwager at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago.<ref name="MCA-C">{{cite web |title=Richard Artschwager/Alan Shields |url=https://mcachicago.org/Exhibitions/1973/Richard-Artschwager-Alan-Shields |website=Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago |access-date=3 April 2022}}</ref> In 1975, Shields exhibited at the Spencer Museum of Art, University of Kansas, Lawrence,<ref name="Aspen" /> and in the following year his work was presented at the Museu de Arte Moderna, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.<ref name="Space Sisters" /><ref name="NGA-A">{{cite web |title=Alan Shields |url=https://nga.gov.au/media/dd/documents/Alan_Shields_Nine_prints.pdf |website=National Gallery of Art, Australia |publisher=Tyler Graphics |access-date=3 April 2022}}</ref> In 1977, the Musée d’Art Moderne de Strasbourg presented a one person show of his work; followed by a solo show at P.S.1 in 1978. In 1979, a one-person exhibition was held at the Williams College Museum of Art, Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, and an additional show of his paintings and prints was presented at the Williams College Museum in 1981.<ref name="Aspen" />

In 1983 a survey of his work, ''1968-1983: The Work of Alan Shields'', was organized by the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art as a traveling exhibition covering 15 years of the artist's production. It traveled to Lowe Art Museum, Coral Gables, and to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art.<ref name="Space Sisters" /><ref name="Aspen" /> In 1986, a retrospective show of prints by Shields was shown at the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Arts presented his work, the show included an exhibition catalog.<ref name="Aspen" /><ref name="CCA">{{cite book |last1=Shields |first1=Alan |last2=Cohen |first2=Ronny |title=Alan Shields print retrospective : an exhibition organized by the Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art, May 16 through June 21, 1986 |publisher=Cleveland Center for Contemporary Art |oclc=15630959 }}</ref>

In 1999, another survey exhibition of Shield's work, ''Alan Shields: A Survey'', was organized and presented by the Beach Museum of Art.<ref name="Aspen" /> In 2007, the Parrish Art Museum, in Southampton, New York presented ''Alan Shields: Stirring Up the Waters''; later in 2014 and in 2017 the Parish Art Museum presented solo exhibitions of the artist.<ref name="Aspen" /> In 2016, another survey show of his work, ''Alan Shields: Protracted Simplicity (1966-1985)'', was held at the Aspen Art Museum.<ref name="Aspen" /> More recent exhibitions have been held at the Shelter Island Historical Society,<ref name="Shelter Island" /> ''Alan Shields: Where Art Life Met Island Life'', at Pace Prints, New York,<ref name="Pace Prints" /> (both in 2017) and at Goya Contemporary in Baltimore, ''Alan Shields: Of His Time and Ahead OF His Time'', in 2022.<ref name="Goya" />

== Selected public collections == Shields' work can be found in the following public collections: * Ackland Art Museum;<ref name="Ackland" /> * Akron Art Museum;<ref name="Akron" /> * Allen Memorial Art Museum;<ref name="Allen"/> * Beach Museum of Art;<ref name="Beach Museum" /> * Cincinnati Art Museum;<ref name="Cincinnati"/> * Cleveland Museum of Art;<ref name="Cleveland" /> * Dallas Museum of Art;<ref name="Dallas" /> * Fogg Art Museum;<ref name="Fogg" /> * Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center;<ref name="Vassar" /> * Herbert F. Johnson Museum;<ref name="Cornell" /> * High Museum;<ref name="High" /> * Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Jane Voorhees Zimmerli Art Museum;<ref name= "Rutgers" /> * Kansas State University;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Memphis Brooks Museum of Art;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Metropolitan Museum of Art;<ref name= "Met" /> * Milwaukee Art Museum;<ref name= "Milwaukee" /> * Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago;<ref name="MCA Chicago" /> * Museum of Fine Arts, Boston;<ref name="MFA" /> * Museum of Modern Art;<ref name="MoMA" /> * National Gallery of New Zealand;<ref name="NZ" /> * Nelson-Atkins Museum;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Parrish Art Museum;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum,;<ref name="Beach Museum" /> * Spencer Museum of Art;<ref name="Spencer" /> * Tate Britain;<ref name="Tate" /> * University of Arizona Museum of Art;<ref name="Arizona" /> * Walker Art Center;<ref name="Aspen" /> * Whitney Museum of American Art.<ref name="Whitney" />

==Personal life== Shields had two children, a daughter and son, from his first marriage. His companion later in life was Marla Gagnum.<ref name="NYT Obit" />

==Death== Shields died in his sleep at his home on Shelter Island on December 13, 2005.<ref name="NYT Obit">{{cite news |last1=Smith |first1=Roberta |title=Alan Shields, Artist of 70's Style, Dies at 61 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/21/arts/alan-shields-artist-of-70s-style-dies-at-61.html |access-date=29 March 2022 |work=The New York Times |date=21 December 2005}}</ref>

== References ==

<ref name="Space Sisters">{{cite book |author= |date=2016 |title= Alan Shields Space Sisters Work from the 1970s|url=https://issuu.com/vandorenwaxter/docs/als_space_sisters |location= |publisher=Van Doren Waxter |page= 32|isbn=}}</ref> <ref name="Common Threads">{{cite book |last1= Longwell|first1= Alicia G.|last2= Sultan|first2= Terrie|author-link= |date= 2017 |title= Alan Shields Common Threads|url= |location= Water Mill, NY|publisher= Parrish Art Museum|page= |isbn=9780943526782}}</ref> <ref name="Toledo">{{cite book |author= |date= 1975 |title= Image, Color, and Form: Recent Paintings by Eleven Americans, exh. cat.|url= |location= Toledo, OH|publisher= Toledo Museum of Art and the Toledo Modern Art Group|page= 26|isbn=}}</ref> <ref name="Ulysses">{{cite interview |last= Shields|first= Alan|subject-link= Alan Shields|interviewer= Howardena Pindell|title= "Tales of Brave Ulysses: Alan Shields"|work= |date= February 1975|publisher= The Print Collector's Newsletter 5|location= |url= https://pindell.mcachicago.org/the-howardena-pindell-papers/tales-of-brave-ulysses/|access-date= 19 March 2022}}</ref> <ref name="Aspen">{{cite book |last1= Brienza|first1= Jill|last2= Halbreich|first2= Kathy|last3= Ratcliff|first3= Carter|last4= Shields|first4= Jason|last5= Weselk|first5= Victoria|last6= Zuckerman|first6= Heidi|author-link= |date= 2016 |title= Alan Shields Protracted Simplicity|url= |location= Aspen, CO|publisher= Aspen Art Press|page= |isbn=978-0-934324-74-8}}</ref> <ref name="Ackland">{{cite web |url= https://ackland.emuseum.com/objects/1783/new-side-of-the-tracks?ctx=65dcdc34a1f4d489330480d37b66cc1abc933213&idx=0 |title= Alan Shields New Side of the Tracks|last= |first= |date= |website= ackland.emuseum.com |publisher= |access-date= 22 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Akron">{{cite web |url= https://akronartmuseum.org/collection/?objects=all&artist=467 |title= Objects by Alan J. Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= akronartmuseum.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name=Allen>{{cite web |url= https://allenartcollection.oberlin.edu/people/1163/alan-shields/objects |title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= allenartcollection.oberlin.edu |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Beach Museum">{{cite book |last1= Hughes|first1= Robert|last2= Brienza|first2= Jill|last3= North|first3= Bill| date= 1999 |title= Alan Shields: A Survey|url= |location= Manhattan, KS|publisher= Kansas State University|page=|isbn=1-890751-02-2}}</ref> <ref name="Cincinnati">{{cite web |url= https://cincinnatiartmuseum.org/art/explore-the-collection?keyword=alan%20shields&classification=&department=&specialCollection=&startYear=&endYear=&imagesOnly= |title= Explore the Collection|last= |first= |date= |website= cincinnatiartmuseum.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Cleveland">{{cite web |url= https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1974.191|title= Sun Moon Title Page|last= |first= |date= 31 October 2018|website= clevelandart.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Dallas">{{cite web |url= https://collections.dma.org/search?facet_artist_creator=alan%2Bshields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= collections.dma.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Fogg">{{cite web |url= https://harvardartmuseums.org/collections?q=alan+shields&sort=rank|title= Browse our collection|last= |first= |date= |website= harvardartmuseums.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Vassar">{{cite web |url= http://emuseum.vassar.edu/people/189/alan-shields/objects|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= emuseum.vassar.edu |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Goya">{{cite web |url= https://www.goyacontemporary.com/exhibitions/alan-shields#tab:slideshow|title= Alan Shields Of His Time and Ahead Of His Time|last= |first= |date= |website= goyacontemporary.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Shelter Island">{{cite web |url= https://www.shelterislandhistorical.org/alanshields2019.html|title= Alan Shields: Where Art Life Met Island Life|last= |first= |date= |website= shelterislandhistorical.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Pace Prints">{{cite web |url= https://paceprints.com/2019/alan-shields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= 19 April 2019|website= paceprints.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Paula Cooper">{{cite web |url= https://www.paulacoopergallery.com/exhibitions/alan-shields#tab:slideshow;tab-1:thumbnails|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= paulacoopergallery.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Van Doren Waxter 1">{{cite web |url= https://www.vandorenwaxter.com/exhibitions/alan-shields5|title= Alan Shields Rolling Orbit: Prints from the 1970s|last= |first= |date= |website= vandorenwaxter.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Van Doren Waxter 2">{{cite web |url= https://www.vandorenwaxter.com/exhibitions/alan-shields7|title= Alan Shields Worms With Bedroom Eyes|last= |first= |date= |website= vandorenwaxter.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Whitney">{{cite web |url= https://whitney.org/artists/1212|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= whitney.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Tate">{{cite web |url= https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/alan-shields-6670|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= tate.org.uk |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Rutgers">{{cite web |url= https://zimmerli.emuseum.com/search/Alan%20Shields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= zimmerli.emuseum.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Spencer">{{cite web |url= https://spencerartapps.ku.edu/collection-search#/artist/19639|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= spencerartapps.ku.edu |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Met">{{cite web |url= https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search?q=Alan+Shields&sortBy=Relevance&pageSize=0|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= metmuseum.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Milwaukee">{{cite web |url= https://collection.mam.org/details.php?id=25811|title= Tadinske B.O. Oviler|last= |first= |date= |website= collection.mam.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="MCA Chicago">{{cite web |url= https://mcachicago.org/About/Who-We-Are/Artists/Alan-Shields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= mcachicago.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Arizona">{{cite web |url= http://uarizona.pastperfectonline.com/Webobject/0C88F1BE-3F80-4554-A3E7-420113844453|title= Object Record|last= |first= |date= |website= uarizona.pastperfectonline.com |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="NZ">{{cite web |url= https://collections.tepapa.govt.nz/agent/2082|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= collections.tepapa.govt.nz |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="MFA">{{cite web |url= https://collections.mfa.org/advancedsearch/Objects/peopleSearch%3AAlan%20Shields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= collections.mfa.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="MoMA">{{cite web |url= https://www.moma.org/artists/5396|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= moma.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="Cornell">{{cite web |url= https://emuseum.cornell.edu/people/4954/alan-j-shields|title= Alan Shields|last= |first= |date= |website= emuseum.cornell.edu |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref> <ref name="High">{{cite web |url= https://high.org/collections/lonely-night-from-new-york-ten69-portfolio/|title= Lonely Night (From "New York Ten/69" Portfolio)|last= |first= |date= |website= high.org |publisher= |access-date= 23 March 2022 |quote=}}</ref>

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Shields, Alan}} Category:1944 births Category:2005 deaths Category:20th-century American painters Category:Kansas State University alumni Category:20th-century American male artists Category:American male painters Category:Painters from Kansas Category:American fishermen Category:Ferrymen Category:People from Shelter Island, New York Category:Painters from New York City Category:People from Herington, Kansas

Alan Shields

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