Susan Shields

Susan is a professor of Art History at the University of St. Thomas, where she also teaches an interdisciplinary honors seminar: The Art of Thinking; Creative Problem-Solving in the Digital Age. In 2004 she began teaching studio arts, art history, and creative process through MCAD CE; courses include but are not limited to the following: Figure Drawing and Art Anatomy, Portraiture, Observational Drawing, Color Theory, Portfolio Preparation, Pre-College Summer Intensive, Quick Studies in Oils, Painting for Veterans, and Mining your Creative DNA. Following her studies at Studio Art Centers, International, and the Florence Academy of Art, she has taught through the Minnesota State Arts Board, the Minneapolis Institute of Arts, Minneapolis Community and Technical College, St. Paul College, and many area art, nature, and community centers. She was the 2003–2004 fellow at Banfill-Locke Art Center, the 2007–2008 Exhibition Chair of (and a mentor for) the Women’s Art Registry of Minnesota, a 2018 Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative grant recipient, and a FY 2021 and 2022 recipient of the Minnesota State Arts Board Creative Support for Individuals grant. Shields has illustrated multiple medical textbooks for the University of Minnesota and reviewed various arts education publications for the Teaching Artist Journal. In addition to visual art, Shields teaches ballet and flute, both privately and through local performance art venues.