The arts community of Winston-Salem and Forsyth County is saddened by the death of Anne Kesler Shields.

For decades Anne was a major figure in our arts world and instrumental in important developments along the way that now give us the right to declare Winston-Salem to be the “City of Arts and Innovation.”

Anne was a pioneer and throughout her life was ever seeking new avenues for artistic expression. She was active in the local arts community throughout her life and is credited with helping plant the seeds for both Associated Artists of Winston-Salem and SECCA.  When The Arts Council built the Hanesbrands Theater, our Public Art Committee commissioned two works by Shields for this performance venue.  In the late seventies, The Arts Council commissioned a mural by Anne that can still be seen on the side of the former Norman Stockton building downtown.

The Winston-Salem Journal described Anne as an “arts icon” and “a trailblazing artist and major force in maturing the local arts scene in Winston-Salem.”  These certainly are apt descriptions.

Anne’s work can be seen in retrospectives curated by Tom Patterson now hanging at Salem College, SECCA and Wake Forest University.

We express our sympathy to her family.  We will miss Anne, and our community is diminished by her passing.

- Milton Rhodes, President and CEO

To read the Winston-Salem Journal Article click here.