Constance Sheares

Constance Alice Chengliu Sheares (born 4 October 1941) is a Singaporean arts administrator, curator, and writer. Through exhibitions, publications, and acquisitions initiated at the Museum, Sheares helped to shape the basis of art institutions and art historical discourse in Singapore. In 2025, Sheares was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.

Early life Born in Singapore in 1941, Sheares grew up in a Singapore recovering from World War II.

She attended the Raffles Girls' School from 1947 to 1958. In 1959, she moved to the United Kingdom to attend the private boarding school, Roedean School, until 1960. Between 1962 and 1966, Sheares attended the Courtauld Institute of Art, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) in European art history, later obtaining a master's degree in Asian art history from the University of Singapore, studying there from 1967 to 1970. In 1987, after six years of lobbying and discussions, it was announced that the National Museum Art Gallery would take over the St. Joseph's Institution building at Bras Basah Road, what would eventually launch in 1996 as the Singapore Art Museum.

In 1988, Sheares would leave the National Museum Art Gallery, continuing to promote art and acting as a consultant to art buyers, also lecturing on art history. She acted as consultant to Deutsche Bank in their acquisition of Singapore artworks for their local offices, and also curated exhibitions of the artists they supported, such as Henri Chen KeZhan, Eng Tow, Goh Beng Kwan, S. Chandrasekaran and Jimmy Ong.

Later curatorial work Sheares was art consultant for the Land Transport Authority's Art in Transit programme, which integrated public art into the Mass Rapid Transit stations along the North East line that began in 1997 and started operation in 2003, the most geographically extensive public art project in Singapore. Sheares would recommend and work with artists most likely to create works that could integrated within the architectural structure of the stations, featuring works by Singapore artists such as Tan Swie Hian, Chua Ek Kay and Milenko & Delia Prvački, the Art in Transit programme would continue on for future MRT lines in Singapore.

Sheares was also on the acquisition committees of the Singapore Art Museum and the National Museum of Singapore, also involved in the acquisition of art for Changi Airport Terminal 3, and is further credited for the art exhibited at locations such as The Istana and Parliament House. In 2025, she was inducted into the Singapore Women's Hall of Fame.

Publications Sheares would write her master's thesis on Southeast Asian Textiles, further writing several books and monographs on Singapore art, some of which include Batik in Singapore (1975), Contemporary Art in Singapore: Where East Meets West (1991), Bodies Transformed: Ng Eng Teng in the Nineties (1999) and Paintings by Chua Ek Kay: Collection of Merrill Lynch International Private Client Group Asia Pacific (2000). Sheares' essay, "Threads of Tradition, Dyed and Woven," was published in T.K. Sabapathy's book, Past, Present, Beyond: Re-nascence of an Art Collection (2002).