Virginia Shackles, painter of vivid scenery, dies at 99
The First Art Newspaper on the Net    Established in 1996 Tuesday, October 8, 2024


Virginia Shackles, painter of vivid scenery, dies at 99
In a family photo, Virginia Shackles, a watercolor painter, celebrating her 99th birthday on Dec. 4, 2020. Shackles loved to paint cliffs and ocean scenes in the coastal city of Monterey, Calif. She died of complications of Covid-19 on Dec. 16. Family photo via The New York Times.

by Christina Morales



NEW YORK (NYT NEWS SERVICE).- Virginia Shackles was painting a foggy scene on canvas one day when she gave her young grandson a lesson in how to make infinite colors with different blends of shades. Colors don’t exist only in a box of crayons, she told him.

Using photos, sketches and postcards from trips, Shackles painted elaborate scenes with oil and watercolors throughout her life. She often included her grandson on her inspiration-seeking travels, part of her effort to expose him to the world.

Shackles died Dec. 16 at the Riverview at the Park nursing home in Ste. Genevieve, Missouri. The cause was complications of COVID-19, her daughter Paula Dustman said.

Shackles celebrated her 99th birthday at the nursing home Dec 4, without family but with cards and her favorite dark chocolate cake. The next day, as she was painting a watercolor landscape, a nurse interrupted to inform her that she had tested positive for the coronavirus. She was transferred to a ward in the home with other COVID-19 patients, where she died.

Virginia Frances Turner was born in 1921 in Wichita, Kansas, to Wyotte Dellavan Turner, a piano salesman, and Frances (Land) Turner. She moved to California with her parents as a young girl.

Shackles, in her 20s, took care of her mother, who had rheumatoid arthritis. Her mother’s ailment moved Shackles to convert to Catholicism, where she found meaning in her mother’s pain and her own experience of it, according to Shackles’ daughter Rosemary Valeska.

Shackles worked in a store that supplied religious items for Catholic churches and met her husband, Frank J. Shackles, there. They married in 1950. Virginia Shackles also worked as an advertising representative for a local newspaper.




After his death in 1976, Shackles felt lonely as she learned to navigate her life without her husband. She never remarried.

After Valeska became a single mother in Monterey, California, Shackles moved in with her in 1983, helping take care of her grandson, Alex Goldberg, while Valeska had a job as an office assistant in Monterey City Hall’s planning department, often working late into the night.

In addition to Dustman and Valeska, Shackles is survived by another daughter, Teresa Cruise; a son, Stephen Shackles; four grandchildren; and four great-grandchildren.

Goldberg recalled that his grandmother taught him to appreciate things more often savored by adults, including bitter dark chocolate and opera. She took him on trips to the Monterey Peninsula and on long bus rides to Big Sur, a rugged coast in central California. Shackles was drawn to the Monterey coastline and inspired to paint it, her family said.

“She was painting the scenery of my childhood,” Goldberg said. “It’s all these places and things we experienced together.”

Shackles believed in her artwork and heartily defended it. At a fair, she entered a piece in which she experimented with gloomy colors, using a dark branch as her piece’s subject. The judges tried to disqualify her, telling her that she had entered it in the wrong category. She felt she had been wronged, Goldberg said.

“It was like watching a coach yell at an umpire,” he said.

© 2020 The New York Times Company










Today's News

December 25, 2020

Seeing the Met's greatest hits as artists painted them

FIFA lodges criminal complaint against Blatter over museum

The Cleveland Museum of Art announces new acquisitions

Los Angeles based artist John Outterbridge dies at 87

Leslie West, 'Mississippi Queen' rocker, is dead at 75

Art Paris to take up residence in the Grand Palais Éphémère

Scientific team finds surprising connection between dinosaurs and mammals

Estate collection of rare rock concert posters to be auctioned Jan. 1 by Stephenson's

Virginia Shackles, painter of vivid scenery, dies at 99

Israel's violin genius Gitlis dies at 98

Three new exhibitions at Asian Civilisations Museum spotlight the people behind the museum

Amazing and spectacular original comic book art in Heritage Auctions' January event

A new Pinocchio film returns to the tale's dark origins

"Travelling across the Italian Art" exhibition opens at Ottocento Art Gallery

New publication brings together a variety of authors and artists reflecting on darkness

Ayyam Gallery exhibits works by Mouteea Murad at the Roger Dubuis boutique

After catastrophic year, Bollywood hopes for a 2021 comeback

Foreigners shake up Egypt's belly dancing scene

Museo di San Marco opens Fra Angelico Room with new layout and enhancements

This band is fun on TikTok. In Belarus, it's serious.

With a beloved cafe threatened, Broadway stars put on a show

'Blue' Gene Tyranny, whose music melded genres, dies at 75

Aristocratic British model Stella Tennant dies at 50

The year of Telfar

Long Island Exterminator

Importance of Clothing Labels (and Popular Materials Used for Them)

Musical instruments and History

Stylish Neon Signs - Ideas for Your Home

The Best Art Museums To Visit In New York

How to Style Aztec Rugs for Inspired Living




Museums, Exhibits, Artists, Milestones, Digital Art, Architecture, Photography,
Photographers, Special Photos, Special Reports, Featured Stories, Auctions, Art Fairs,
Anecdotes, Art Quiz, Education, Mythology, 3D Images, Last Week, .

 



Founder:
Ignacio Villarreal
(1941 - 2019)
Editor & Publisher: Jose Villarreal
Art Director: Juan José Sepúlveda Ramírez
Writer: Ofelia Zurbia Betancourt

Attorneys
Truck Accident Attorneys
Accident Attorneys
Holistic Dentist
Abogado de accidentes

Royalville Communications, Inc
produces:

ignaciovillarreal.org juncodelavega.com facundocabral-elfinal.org
Founder's Site. Hommage
to a Mexican poet.
Hommage
       

The First Art Newspaper on the Net. The Best Versions Of Ave Maria Song Junco de la Vega Site Ignacio Villarreal Site Parroquia Natividad del Señor
Tell a Friend
Dear User, please complete the form below in order to recommend the Artdaily newsletter to someone you know.
Please complete all fields marked *.
Sending Mail
Sending Successful