Alan Shields (1944-2005) was born in Herington, Kansas.  He attended Kansas State University from 1963-66. In college he studied civil engineering and studio art. He moved to New York City in 1968 and showed with the Paula Cooper Gallery from 1968-1991. Using unconventional found materials and a counterculture aesthetic, Alan Shields received noted recognition for his kaleidoscopic free-hanging constructions. He used the stitched line to both construct his works and as a drawing tool in both his double-sided “paintings” and his print and handmade paper works. Shields received a Guggenheim Fellowship in 1973. His work is in the collections of major museums throughout the US and abroad including the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington D.C., the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, The Museum of Modern Art in New York, the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Tate Collection in London, the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, and the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York.