Rejecting painting with oil, he created colorful collages from various materials (cloth, thread, etc.), attached to unstretched canvas and colored with acrylic paint. While some of his work recalls the psychedelic 1960s, others reflect the colors of his country childhood, and his spirit of adventure.
Shields was born in 1944 in Harrington, Kansas, and grew up on the family farm. It is here where he picked up his sewing skills, later used in his collages, from his mother and sisters. For a while, he studied engineering, and from 1963 to 1966 theater and art at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. In 1966, he left for New York City without graduating, and began working as an artist. He acted and desi...