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 embro…