Nan Sheets

Stanislav Rembski, Portrait of Nan Sheets, Oil on Canvas. Courtesy Oklahoma Hall of Fame Archives.

Inducted: 1953

Hometown: Oklahoma City, OK

Patron of the Oklahoma City Museum of Art

After working as a pharmacist for several years, Nan Sheets decided to pursue a formal art education in 1919 at the Broadmoor Art Academy in Colorado Springs. Living most of the year in Oklahoma City, Sheets spent the summers learning from a number of art masters. Over the next several years, Sheets impressed both her teachers and the jurors at art shows, winning one of three purchase prizes at the Mid-West Artist's exhibition in Kansas City in 1924.

Nan Sheets and 'Menaggio on Lake Como'", 1950. Photo by Ronald Pyer. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

Sheets was a pioneer in establishing Oklahoma City's art museums, and her Paseo home, now home to JRB Art at the Elms, even functioned as Oklahoma City's first public art gallery. In the 1930s, Sheets was appointed director of the Works Progress Administration Art Center located in Oklahoma City. Here she became nationally known for helping with economic recovery following the Great Depression. Federal funding ended in 1942 as a result of World War II, but Sheets started a membership program to keep the Art Center open.

Nan Sheets receiving a check, April 1950. Photo by Joe Miller. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.

In 1958, with the help of funds donated by John and Eleanor Kirkpatrick, Sheets established a new home for the Oklahoma Art Center. After 30 years as director, Nan Sheets retired in 1965. A little more than 20 years later, the Oklahoma Art Center merged with the Oklahoma Museum of Art to create the Oklahoma City Museum of Art.

Jurors for an art show pictured from left, include Doel Reed, Glenn Wheete, Oscar B. Jacobson, Nan Sheets, Joesph Taylor, and Elmer W. Pollock, December 1938. Photo by George Cauthen. Courtesy Oklahoma Historical Society.