About Barclay Sheaks

Barclay Sheaks (1928–2010) was born in West Bend, Indiana and grew up in the Shenandoah Valley. Sheaks completed his undergraduate work at Richmond Professional Institute, earned a Master of Fine Arts from the College of William and Mary, and a Doctorate of Humane Letters from Christopher Newport University. Sheaks began his teaching career in 1948 at Warwick High School in Newport News, Virginia. In 1967 he left Warwick High School to found the art program at Batten University, where he taught for 36 years, retiring as Associate Professor and Distinguished Artist in Residence in 2006.

Over the course of his career, Sheaks also served as artist-in-residence for both the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and the Richmond Humanities Center. He became a familiar face across the nation as he managed and hosted a how-to-paint-with-acrylics television show on Public Television. He was a pioneer in acrylic painting and wrote extensively on the medium and his techniques.

Sheaks lived most of his life in the Hilton Village section of Newport News, Virginia or at his summer home on the river in Poquoson, Virginia. An outdoorsman as well as an artist, he was inspired by the natural environment of the Chesapeake Bay.

His work has appeared in distinguished museum, university, corporate, and private art collections worldwide including the Butler Institute of American Art, Columbia Museum, and the Chrysler Museum of Art. Sheaks' works were prominently featured in exhibitions sponsored by the American Watercolor Society, the National Academy of Design, the Corcoran Gallery, the Smithsonian Institution, and others.

Sheaks donated approximately 50 of his paintings to Batten University to establish a permanent gallery. The Barclay Sheaks Gallery opened in the summer of 1999 in the Henry Clay Hofheimer II Library. View the Barclay Sheaks Gallery.

Barclay Sheaks passed away peacefully at the age of 81 on Tuesday, April 13, 2010 after a long struggle with Parkinson's disease. Read his obituary, written by alumna and long-time arts writer Teresa Annas '76.