Alan Shields

1944 Born in Harrington, Kansas, United States of America

1963 Attends Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas; enrols in civil engineering program and takes art classes

1968 Moves to New York City, New York

1968–69 Attends summer theatre workshops at University of Maine, Orono; involved with stage design and scenery painting

1969 First solo exhibition, at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City; completes first print, a screenprint, at Maurel Studios, New York City, for the Ten New York ‘69 portfolio, published by Tanglewood Press, New York

1971 Completes first mixed-media print with William Weege at Jones Road Print Shop and Stable, United States Paper Mill, Oregon, Wisconsin

1972 Moves to Shelter Island, New York; completes first papermaking project with Joe Wilfer at Upper United States Paper Mill, Oregon

1973 Receives John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship; included in Biennial exhibition, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York City; included in Biennial exhibition, Musée d'Art Moderne, Paris, France

1975 Included in Biennial exhibition, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC

1976 Solo exhibition, at Musée de Saint-Etienne, Saint-Etienne, France; included in Venice biennale, Italy

1977 Included in International biennale of graphic art, Ljubljana, Yugoslavia; completes mixed-media prints at Jones Road Print Shop and Stable, Barneveld, Wisconsin

1978 Experiments with papermaking techniques with John Koller of HMP Papers, Woodstock Valley, Connecticut; completes first series of mixed‑media prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York; completes monotype series at Institute of Experimental Printmaking, San Francisco, California

1980 Completes mixed‑media prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York, included in Venice biennale; invited to work at Gandhi Ashram Paper Mill, Ahmedabad, India

1981 Solo exhibition, Alan Shields: painting and prints, at Williams College Museum of Art, Williamstown, Massachusetts

1981–85 Completes prints at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village, New York, including: Bull pen, Gas-up, Milan fog, Odd job, Santa’s collar, The castle window set, The raggedy circumnavigation

1983 Travelling retrospective exhibition, 1968–1983: The work of Alan Shields, originating at Brooks Memorial Art Gallery, Memphis; included in travelling exhibition Paper as image, organised by Arts Council of Great Britain, London; included in exhibition, The American artist as printmaker: the 23rd annual print exhibition,Brooklyn Museum, New York City

1984 Included in exhibition, Prints from Tyler Graphics, at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota

1985 Completes The raggedy circumnavigation series at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Bedford Village; included in Ken Tyler: printer extraordinary, at Australian National Gallery (now National Gallery of Australia), Canberra

1986 Included in exhibitions: Made in India, at Museum of Modern Art, New York City; 70s into 80s: printmaking now, at The Lois and Michael Torf Gallery, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Massachusetts

1987 Included in exhibitions: A view of a workshop: selections from Tyler Graphics, 1974–1987, at Katonah Gallery, Katonah, New York; Artists from the Paula Cooper Gallery, at Galeria EMI-Valentim de Carvalho, Lisbon, Portugal

1988 Solo exhibition, Alan Shields: big and in-between, at Sawhill Gallery, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, Virginia; included in travelling exhibition, The cutting edge: new directions in handmade paper, originating at Kalamazoo Institute of Arts, Michigan

1989 Included in travelling exhibition, First impressions: early prints by forty-six contemporary artists, originating at Walker Art Center, Minneapolis; included in exhibition, Ken Tyler: 25 glorious years, Heland Wetterling Gallery, Stockholm, Sweden

1990 Included in exhibition, Prints of the eighties, at Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York City

1991 Solo exhibition, Alan Shields: works on canvas and paper, at Paula Cooper Gallery, New York City

1992 Completes Shorebirds identification chart series at Tyler Graphics Ltd., Mount Kisco, New York; included in travelling exhibition, Innovation in collaborative printmaking: Kenneth Tyler, 1963–1992, originating at Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan

1993 Included in International biennale of graphic art, Ljubljana, Slovenia

1997 Included in exhibition, Beyond print: masterworks from the Ken Tyler collection, Dr Earl Lu Gallery, LASALLE-SIA College of the Arts, Singapore

1998 Solo exhibition, Alan Shields: images in paper, at Center for Contemporary Graphic Art and Tyler Graphics Archive collection, Fukushima, Japan

1999 Commission to create a new work by Dieu Donné Papermill, New York City; solo exhibitions, Alan Shields: The worm returns (to the big city); Nicholas Davies & Co., New York; Alan Shields: a survey, The Beach Museum of Art, Kansas State University, Manhattan

2001 Completes Pop-up nature series

2005 Alan Shields died on Shelter Island, New York

Barbara Delano © Tyler Graphics Ltd., revised Kate Buckingham, 2006
This chronology provides an overview of selected biographical information, major solo and group exhibitions held within the artist's own lifetime.