Early Life and Education Alan Shields (February 4, 1944 – December 13, 2005) was born in Herington, Kansas, to a farming family—his great-grandfather had been a cattle farmer who had been a homesteader on the Great Plains. Shields’ upbringing instilled a deep appreciation for frugality and recycling, experiences that profoundly shaped his artistic sensibilities. He grew up watching his mother and two younger sisters quilting and embroidering, honing skills that would become integral to his distinctive painting practice. He attended Kansas State University from 1963–66 where he studied civil…