On Saturday, March 1, 2025, Scott A. Shields, Ph.D. and Matt Gonzalez got together with Director Greg Flood at Paul Thiebaud Gallery in San Francisco, CA, to have a conversation about the lives and art of William Theophilus Brown and Paul Wonner.
Panel Information
Scott A. Shields, Ph.D. is the Associate Director and Chief Curator at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, CA. He received his PhD from The University of Kansas in 2004 with an emphasis on American painting from 1825-1940. He has over twenty five-years of museum experience in the Midwest and California. Having curated more than fifty exhibitions, he has been the primary or sole author of numerous exhibition catalogues, including Artists at Continent’s End: The Monterey Peninsula Art Colony, 1875–1907; Edgar Payne: The Scenic Journey; A Touch of Blue: Landscapes by Gregory Kondos; David Ligare: California Classicist; Full Spectrum: Paintings by Raimonds Staprans; Richard Diebenkorn Beginnings, 1942–1955; and Breaking the Rules: Paul Wonner and Theophilus Brown.
Matt Gonzalez is an American politician, lawyer, activist, and artist. He received his B.A. at Columbia University and J.D. from Stanford Law School. After a decade working as a deputy public defender, Gonzalez served a term on San Francisco's 11-member Board of Supervisors. He thereafter co-founded a civil rights law firm Gonzalez & Leigh LLP, which was active from 2005-2012, and was Ralph Nader’s running mate in 2008 on an Independent ticket. In early 2011, he returned to the San Francisco Public Defender’s Office as Chief Attorney. In 2006 Gonzalez founded the San Francisco Collage Collective with Robin Savinar and Albert Herter. The goal of the collective is to democratize art by inviting anyone to participate, regardless of previous training. Gonzalez has worked with many artists in the collective including Gustavo Ramos Rivera, Theophilus Brown, and Glenna Putt. He has exhibited his paper collage art works at a number of venues in the San Francisco Bay Area since 2006.