Alan Shuptrine (born March 31, 1963) is an American painter known for his Southern and Appalachian Mountains genre. He is a frame-maker, water gilder, and watercolorist. He is the son of painter Hubert Shuptrine (1936-2006).[1]
Born in 1963, Shuptrine was raised in more than 20 Appalachian Mountain towns along the Eastern seaboard. His father, Hubert, travelled all over the South for his inspirations, and would often take him along, becoming his mentor and teacher. In 1975, the family returned to Chattanooga, Tennessee, where Shuptrine attended school on Lookout Mountain before beginning at the Baylor School in 1976. After graduating from high school, Shuptrine continued his education at The University of the South and the University of Tennessee.[2]
In 1985, after graduation from college, Shuptrine began working his father, who at the time was writing his second book, Home to Jericho. Shuptrine began framing for his father, handcrafting custom water gilded frames. This led to framing for other artists including Andrew Wyeth. In 1987 Shuptrine began his own company, Gold Leaf Designs, Inc.[3] (Chattanooga, TN). While continuing to frame for his father, he also began framing for museums, art galleries, artists, historical institutions, designers, and interior decorators. Shuptrine's frames and period restorations can be found in The Greenville County Museum of Art, The Hunter Museum of American Art, The Birmingham Museum of Art, The Huntsville Museum of Art, The Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, The Tennessee State Museum, The New Orleans Museum of Art, and The Columbia Museum of Art.[4]
In 2005, following the devastation from Hurricane Katrina, The New Orleans Museum of Art employed Shuptrine to make on-site repairs and restorations of the frames and gilded objects within the permanent collection.[5] He has also provided extensive period restoration and conservation for Melrose Plantation at Natchez National Historical Park, The Philip Schutze Collection at the Atlanta History Center's historical Swan House, the Governor's Mansion of Georgia, the Governor's Mansion of South Carolina, the President James K. Polk Home and Museum, and Cheekwood Estate and Gardens (Nashville, TN). Shuptrine has been invited to be an Artist in Residence for the Palmetto Bluff / Montage Resort in Bluffton, SC for August, 2023.[6]
Though framing and restoration became a primary focus, Shuptrine continued to paint and be mentored by his father. Alan Shuptrine's painting style is Realism, much like his father's, with highly detailed and dramatic lighting in his landscapes and figurative paintings. Shuptrine's medium is primarily watercolor which he applies and controls in various techniques, from wet-in-wet to dry-brush. He also creates using egg tempera, oil paint, water gilding with genuine gold leaf, wood carving, and sgraffito.[7] He prefers to handcraft and carve his own frames for his paintings, a practice of two of his influences: James McNeill Whistler, and Charles Prendergast. His other influences include the works of his father, Hubert Shuptrine, Andrew Wyeth, Winslow Homer, Thomas Eakins, Stephen Scott Young, and John Singer Sargent.
Shuptrine was asked to participate in an exhibit, "In the Tradition of Wyeth: Contemporary Watercolor Masters", at the Vero Beach Museum of Art in 2010. Following the Vero Beach exhibition, Shuptrine participated in a solo two-year, four-museum run in 2017-2019 with the exhibition, Alan Shuptrine: Appalachian Watercolors of the Serpentine Chain. The exhibition was displayed at the Morris Museum of Art, the Huntsville Museum of Art and The Tennessee State Museum. All three museums selected Shuptrine's watercolors for their permanent collections. His solo exhibition opened at the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville and celebrated the Celtic roots of the Appalachian Mountains.
In 2019-2020, Shuptrine collaborated with author and Appalachian Trail expert Jennifer Pharr Davis. This book is self-published and titled I Come From A Place. This book contains a collection of images from Shuptrine's museum exhibition, as well as newer watercolors. The book was awarded the Independent Publisher's Book Award for Best Southeastern Non-Fiction Book for 2020.[8]
Alan Shuptrine and his wife Bonny reside in Lookout Mountain, Georgia. They own Shuptrine's Gallery, located in the Broad Street Design District in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The gallery exhibits American art and provides custom framing and period restoration.[9]