Sheldon Tapley

BIOGRAPHY

Sheldon Tapley is a painter, draftsman, and teacher. His art came to national attention at Tatistcheff Gallery in New York City and can be found in public and private collections across the country. It has been reviewed in The New Yorkerandpublishedinmajor articles in American Artists, and the artist's Magazine.

“Tapley masterfully blends the discipline of a hard-earned classical technique with a vision that is thoroughly modern and personal,” wrote BillCreevyinAmericanArtist. The artist's pastel, Jury Rig, was on the cover of the magazine. KentuckyEducational Televisionfeaturedthe artist in the documentary series Looking atPaintingandanepisode of Kentucky Life.

Museum solo exhibitions of Tapley’s art have been presented by The Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, and The Evansville Museum. His paintings and drawings have been shown in public institutions across the country, including the Naples Museum of Art, The Arkansas Arts Center, The University of Kentucky Art Museum, The Southern Ohio Museum, the Manifest Gallery, and Grinnell College, his alma mater. Tapley is an exhibiting member of Zeuxis, a select association of still life painters that presents touring shows for museums and universities.

Tapley is the H. W. Stodghill, Jr. and Adele H. Stodghill Professor of Art. He has taught at Centre College since 1983 and will retire in August 2022.

AWARDS/GRANTS

2015    Kirk Award for Excellence in Teaching, Centre College
2005    Stodghill Professorship, Centre College
2004    Martha & Merrit deJong Memorial Artist-in-Residence, Evansville Museum, Indiana
2002    Cantrell Professorship, Centre College
1998    Al Smith Fellowship; Kentucky Arts Council
1980    Phi Beta Kappa, Grinnell College

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS/MEMBERSHIPS

Zeuxis: An Association of Still-Life Painters, http://www.zeuxis.us/tapley

COURSES TAUGHT

ARS 110 Introduction to Drawing
ARS 210 Introduction to Painting
ARS 220 Intermediate Drawing: Figure and Landscape
ARS 320 Intermediate Painting: Figure and Landscape
ARS 321 Advanced Painting
ARS 420 Advanced Projects: Painting and Drawing
ARS 499 Senior Exhibition

EXHIBITIONS

SOLO
2021    Norton Center for the Arts, Danville, Kentucky 
2020    Aegon Gallery, Centre College 
2016    Lexington Art League, Lexington, Kentucky 
2008    Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, California 
2004    Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana 
2003    Owensboro Museum of Fine Art, Owensboro, Kentucky 
2002    Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
1998    Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
1996    Linda Schwartz Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky 
1994    Linda Schwartz Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky 
1992    Linda Schwartz Gallery, Lexington, Kentucky 
1991    Harris Gallery, Houston, Texas 
1991    Barucci Gallery, St. Louis, Missouri 
1990    Norton Center for The Arts, Danville, Kentucky 
1988    Harris Gallery, Houston, Texas 
1986    Morehead State University, Morehead, Kentucky 
 
GROUP
2022      Zeuxis: For the Love of Chardin, Miller Art Museum, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
2020    This is America*, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, Kentucky 
2019-20    Zeuxis: My Studio, Robert & Elaine Stein Galleries, Wright State University, Dayton, Ohio; First Street Gallery, New York, New York; Alabama Center for The Arts, Decatur, Alabama 
2019    The Sublime: Romantic Landscapes, Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2018    Return to The Garden, Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2017    Fresh Paint Biennial, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2017    State of Time, Georgetown College, Georgetown, Kentucky 
2017     Sketch, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2017    Drawn 2017, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio  
2017    Zeuxis: The Unstilllife, The Painting Center, New York, New York; the University of Mississippi Museum, Oxford, Mississippi; Windgate Art & Design, Fort Smith, Arkansas 
2017    Kentucky Regional Showcase, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2017    Zeuxis: Flowers as Metaphor, Notre Dame de Namur University, Belmont, California 
2016      Kentucky Visions 50/50, Kentucky State Capitol, Frankfort, Kentucky 
2015-16    Zeuxis: Beyond the Window, University of Southern Mississippi, Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Norton Center, Centre College, Danville, Kentucky; Bowery Gallery, New York, New York; Hogue Gallery, University of Tulsa, Tulsa, Oklahoma; Potter Gallery, Taft School, Watertown, Connecticut 
2016    Tapped 6, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2014      Drawn, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2014    Artist in Residence: 20 Years, Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana 
2014    National Contemporary Realism 2014, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2014    Tapped 5, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2014    Zeuxis: Still, Blue, First Street Gallery, New York, New York; Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts, Annapolis, Maryland  
2014    UnCommon Wealth, Kentucky Arts Council, Lexington, Kentucky 
2014    Nude 6, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2013      National Contemporary Realism 2013, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2013    Fast Forward to The Renaissance, The Southern Ohio Museum, Portsmouth, Ohio 
2012    National Contemporary Realism 2012, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2012    Nude 4, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2012    Beyond the Still Life, Cincinnati Art Galleries, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2011      National Contemporary Realism 2011, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2011    Tapped 2, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2011    Observed, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2010    National Contemporary Realism 2010, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2009    30th Anniversary Celebration Show, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2009    Nude, Manifest Gallery, Cincinnati, Ohio 
2008    Visions: The James Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings, Naples Museum of Art, Naples, Florida; Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas 
2006    Artists At And After Grinnell, Faulconer Gallery, Grinnell College, Iowa 
2005    Gallery Artists, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
2005    Annual Collector's Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas 
2005    Dances of Death, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
2005    The Ever-Changing Landscape, Kentucky Museum of Art+Design, Louisville, Kentucky 
2003    Contemporary American Realism VI, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2002    Annual Collector's Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas     
2001    Gallery Artists, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
2001    Contemporary American Realism IV, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
2000    Gallery Artists, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
2000    Contemporary American Realism III, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
1999     Summer Group & Introductions, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York 
1999    Contemporary American Realism II, M. A. Doran Gallery, Tulsa, Oklahoma 
1998    Annual Collector's Exhibition, Arkansas Arts Center, Little Rock, Arkansas 
1998    Summertime, Tatistcheff Gallery, New York, New York         
1998    Something New Under the Sun, University of Kentucky Art Museum, Lexington, Kentucky 
1997    Annual Collector's Exhibition, Arkansas Center for Contemporary Art, Little Rock, Arkansas 
1992    Realism Today, Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana 
1992    New Talent in Charlotte, Jerald Melberg Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina 

EXHIBITION CATALOGS

"Sheldon Tapley: Painter and Draftsman," Aegon Gallery and Norton Center for the Arts, Centre College; 2020
"Visions: Selections from the James T. Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings,"  Townsend Wolfe, Arkansas Art Center & Naples Museum of Art, 2007    
"Sheldon Tapley," John Streetman, Evansville Museum of Art, History and Science, 2004
"Natural Collections,"  Rachel Sadinsky, Linda Schwartz Gallery, 1996

PRESS

This is America at UK Art Museum, Lexington, Natalie Weis, Burnaway, 2021 Review: This is America* at UK Art Museum, by Kevin Nance, Under Main, 2020 Got to Draw: Drawn: 4th Annual International Exhibition of Contemporary Drawing at Manifest Gallery, April 21-May 19, 2017. July/August Aeqai, 
Master of the Not-So-Still-Life,  The Artist Magazine, Daniel Brown. 2012
"New Old Masters", The Sacramento Bee, by Victoria Dalkey, March 2008
Magical Believability, Cynthia Rush, Kentucky Homes and Gardens Magazine, Nov-Dec 2005
"American Realism' Exhibit seeks the Dreams Beneath the Surface". Tulsa World, 2001    
New American Paintings, Volume 28, Open Studios Press.  Selected by Charlotte Kurik, Curator of Contemporary Art, The Brooklyn Museum of Art, 2000
Where Past and Present Meet, Bill Creevy, American Artist Magazine, November 1999    
"Goings on About Town". The New Yorker, October 19, 1998
Tapley Landscapes are Visions of Poetic Grandeur, Michael Holdren, Lexington Herald-Leader, October 9, 1994.
Pastel Exhibit Shows Medium's Versatility, by David Minton, Lexington Herald-Leader.  October 16, 1990.    
Sheldon Tapley: Paintings and Pastels, Jane Wilson Joyce, Dialogue Magazine, Nov/Dec 1990.

TELEVISION    

"Looking at Painting," Kentucky Educational Television, 2001    
"Kentucky Life," Kentucky Educational Television,  2019

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Aegon Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky
Ale-8-One Bottling Company, Winchester, Kentucky
Art Center of the Bluegrass, Danville, Kentucky    
Bank One, Dallas, Texas
Brown-Forman Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky
Capital Holding Corporation, Louisville, Kentucky
Central Bank and Trust, Lexington, Kentucky
Centre College, Danville, Kentucky
Columbia Gas, Lexington, Kentucky
Compaq Computer, Houston, Texas
Enterprise Leasing, St. Louis, Missouri
James T. Dyke Collection of Contemporary Drawings, Little Rock, Arkansas
Ernst and Young, Inc., St. Louis, Missouri
Ethicon-Endo Surgery, Blue Ash, Ohio 
Evansville Museum, Evansville, Indiana
Grinnell College, Grinnell, Iowa
Fidelity Investments, Cincinnati, Ohio
Hilliard and Lyons, Louisville, KY
Houston Industries, Houston, Texas
Jewish Hospital, Louisville, Kentucky
Kentucky Clinic, Lexington, Kentucky
Louisville Gas and Electric, Louisville, Kentucky
Methodist Hospital, Houston, Texas
Moody Gardens, Galveston, Texas
Morehead State College, Morehead, Kentucky
Nations Bank, Charlotte, North Carolina
Owensboro Museum of Fine Arts, Owensboro, Kentucky