BILLY HASSELL (b. 1956)

Fort Worth-based fine artist Billy Hassell, who was recently referred to as “Mother Nature’s Stylist” by The New York Times, has been showing his artwork since the 1980s in galleries across the country. His bold colors and patterns inspired by nature have captured the imagination of collectors throughout the nation. Few artists use color as effectively as Hassell, and his graphically illustrative style contributes to his work’s emotional punch.

Elite museums in Texas such as the Dallas Museum of Art, the Modern in Fort Worth, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Menil Collection in Houston, among others, have acquired Hassell’s oil paintings for their permanent collections. His works also hang in many other public art collections including a U.S. Embassy, the University of Texas, the offices of HBO, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center.

National art magazines such as Art News, Southwest Art, The New York Times, and the Wall Street Journal have featured Hassell’s paintings as well as many regional publications including the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the Fort Worth Star Telegram, D magazine, and 360 West. His artwork has also been displayed on several television shows.

Because of his dedication to conservation, Hassell has donated art throughout his career to conservation organizations. The Nature Conservancy, Ocean Conservation, and Audubon have used his artwork to raise money for environmental causes and celebrate the beauty of nature.

A unique passion is printmaking—in particular, lithographs. Hassell has collaborated with a number of master printers to produce a sizeable number of color lithographs. This increasingly rare and labor-intensive form of printmaking has been, and continues to be, sought after by collectors internationally.

His talents are not limited to the canvas. Hassell has produced and designed large-scale stained-glass murals, one of which is a large floor medallion for the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport; another, a 50 foot mural at a fire station in Fort Worth. He has also worked on various public art projects.

Academia has been an ongoing interest throughout his life. Hassell earned his BFA from Notre Dame, followed by his MFA from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Upon completion of his graduate degree, Notre Dame invited him back as a professor to teach etching and watercolor. He has also taught a variety of art classes—painting, drawing, printmaking, and studio practices—at universities including Davidson College in North Carolina.

Hassell is regularly invited to people’s ranches and other landscapes across the country, as well as out of the country, to capture the unique beauty of private places for their owners. Most recently, he completed a mural at a ranch in the Texas Hill Country that was featured in the Wall Street Journal.

Today, Hassell’s work continues to show the natural world charged with life, energy, and movement. On canvases that loom larger than life, both in size and vibrancy of subject, his distinctive use of color and stylized natural elements and animals reveal why he has become such a highly-respected painter.

Selected Biographical and Career Highlights

1956 Born in Dallas, Texas

1982 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana

1987 Master of Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts

Resides in Fort Worth, Texas

Selected Solo Exhibitions

1983 McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, Texas, February

1983 The Texas Club, Houston, Texas, October

1984 McIntosh/Drysdale Gallery, Houston, Texas, July

1985 Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, May

1986 Caroline Lee Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, May

1986 DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, January

1987 Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, December

1987 DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, September

1987 Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, September

1988 Scott Alan Gallery, New York, New York, April

1989 Davidson College Art Gallery, Davidson, North Carolina, February

1989 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, October

1990 Scott Alan Gallery, New York, New York, April

1991 Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, February

1992 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May

1993 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, October

1994 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, September

1995 Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, November

1996 Martin-Rathburn Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, July

1996 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, November

1997 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, April

1998 Innsbrook Resort and Convention Center, Wright City, Missouri, July

1998 MB Modern, New York, New York, March

1998 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, September

1999 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

1999 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, July

2000 Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, March

2000 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December

2001 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May

2002 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

2002 Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, September

2002 D Berman Gallery, Austin, Texas, May

2003 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, April

2003 Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, September

2003 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December

2004 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, April

2005 Bryant Gallery, Kingsville, Texas, April

2005 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, September

2005 McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, April

2005 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, December

2006 LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, May

2007 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, September

2008 Field Notes, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, May

2008 Journal, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, January

2008 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, August

2008 LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, August

2008 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, November

2009 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Ellen Noel Museum of Art, Odessa, Texas, September

2009 Tangle, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December

2010 Breath, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, February

2010 Distances, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, May

2010 Memento, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma, December

2012 Color Lithographs, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, March–May

2012 Watershed, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, April-May

2012 Wild Things (with David Everett), Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas, September–January 2013

2013 Illuminating Nature, Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas December – March 2014

2014 Ephemera: Winged Creatures of Texas, Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), Fort Worth, Texas September-November

2014 Illumination, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas April

2015 Compass, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Ft. Worth, Texas November-January 2, 2016

2016 Voices and Visions, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas May-June

2017 Trace, Survey Exhibition, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for Art, Lubbock, Texas October

2018 Trace, Survey Exhibition, Michelson Museum of Art, Marshall, Texas February – April

2018 Vestiges, Dowd Gallery, Cortland College, Cortland, New York October-December

2018 Shadows, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas November-December

2022 Billy Hassell: Topography, Art Museum of South East Texas, Beaumont, Texas, March - June

Selected Group Exhibitions

1980 Alumni/Faculty Exhibition, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, October

1980 Boston Community Art Exhibition, Boston City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, May

1980 Drawing Exhibition, Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, September

1980 Group Show, Kaji Aso Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, February

1980 Juried Exhibition, Edison Community College, Fort Meyers, Florida, April

1981 Billy Hassell/Stanton Sears, Danco Art Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts, September

1981 Four Painters, Agusta Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, May

1981 Group Show, Pratt Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts, December

1981 Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado, July

1982 Anything Goes, Zone Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts, January

1982 Eleventh Annual Competitive Art Exhibition, Ely Art Gallery, Westfield, Massachusetts, February

1982 Group Show, Boston State House, Boston, Massachusetts, May

1982 Noir Blanc and The Chromatics, Leverett Craftsman and Artists, Leverett, Massachusetts, April

1982 Thesis Exhibition, Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, February

1982 Works on Paper, Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, January

1983 Maps: A Mail Art Show, Diverse Works, Inc., Houston, Texas, December

1983 Synergy ’83, Glassell School of Art, Houston, Texas

1984 19th Annual Juried Art Award Exhibition, Juror: Jane Livingston, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas, March

1984 Artist Call, Lawndale Annex, Houston, Texas, February

1984 Competition ’84, Juror: Peter Marzio, 2 Houston Center, Houston, Texas, April

1984 Four Texas Artists, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, August

1984 Houston Profile, Art League of Houston, Houston, Texas, November

1984 Texas Only, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, September

1985 Austin Annual, Mexi-Arte, Arts Warehouse, Austin, Texas, September

1985 East End Show, Lawndale Annex, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, September

1985 Houston Artists in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Gallery for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, February

1985 Propaganda, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, September

1985 Self-Image, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, April

1985 Southwest ’85, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, March

1985 Texas: A State of The Arts, The Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, March

1985 Texas Visions, Transco Tower, Houston, Texas, December

1985 The Horses’ Mouth, DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, August

1986 Billy Hassell/Ken Saville, Janus Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October

1986 Faculty Exhibition, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, November

1986 Inaugural Exhibition, Scott Alan Gallery, New York New York, May

1987 Going to the Dogs, Janus Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October

1987 Mythmakers, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, October

1987 The Fictional Figure, Caroline Lee Gallery, Houston, Texas, December

1988 American Artists’ Beastiary: Armadillo to Zebra, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas, March

1988 Zoomorphism: Animals in Art, Trammel Crowe Center, Dallas, Texas, September

1989 31st Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, December

1989 A Family of Artists, 500X Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

1989 Artists of Oak Cliff, Modern Dallas Art, Dallas, Texas, September

1989 Counter Signals, Curator: Kevin Curry, Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, Texas, August

1989 Earth Day 1990, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, April

1989 Feather, Fur & Fin, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, March

1989 Fish Tales, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, July

1989 Print Makers, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, February

1989 Small Works, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

1989 The Nature of The Beast, Hudson River Museum, Westchester, New York, April

1990 Forty Texas Printmakers, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, November

1990 Primal Impulse: Billy Hassell and David Winston, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, November

1991 Chords and Discords, Hudson River Museum, Westchester, New York, July

1991 Group Exhibition, Peregrine Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

1991 Paintings by Joanne Brigham, Billy Hassell, Jeff Delude, Hickory Street Annex Gallery, Dallas, Texas, April

1991 Time is Relative, Beverly Gordon Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

1991 Ship Shape, Galveston, Texas, September

1992 100 Anniversary Exhibition: Masterworks from Fort Worth Collections, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, April

1992 Contemporary Prints: The Peregrine Press Archives, Curators: Alan Govenar and Jo Ann Hart, traveling exhibit, September 1992–August 1995

1992 Flatbed: The First Two Years, Tarrytown Gallery, Austin, Texas, February

1992 On Death y Los Dios De Los Muertos, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas, November

1992 Printmaking in Texas: The 1980’s, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, Texas, June

1992 Second Nature, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, September

1992 The Big Show, Juror: Annegreth Nill, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas, September

1993 Animal Attraction, University of Dallas Art Gallery, University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, April

1993 Art and the Animals, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, February

1993 Talleres en Fronteras: An Exhibition of Contemporary Art from South Texas and Baja California, Weil Gallery, Corpus Christi State University, Corpus Christi, Texas, traveling exhibit, April

1993 Texas Art Celebration ‘93, Juror: David Ross, Cullen Center, Houston, Texas, February

1993 Texas Select Invitational Exhibition, Guest Curator: Richard M. Ash III, Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, Texas, October

1994 All Creatures Great and Small, Curator: Jo Ann Hart, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, June–July

1994 Anonymous, West End Gallery, Houston, Texas, March

1994 Collector’s Choice: Living with Art, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, June

1995 Glenn Lane: Remembering, Trammell Crow Center, Dallas, Texas, April

1995 Images of Nature III, Martin-Rathburn Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, March–April

1995 Opening the Border: Landscapes of Texas and Mexico, The Parc Royale, Houston, Texas, January–March

1995 Texas Myths and Realities, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, October

1996 MB Modern Artists, Babcock Galleries, New York, New York, May

1996 Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas, Curators: Alan Gussow and Gayle Maxon-Edgerton, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, traveling exhibit, July–January 1997

1996 Sacred Matter, MB Modern, New York, New York, July

1996 Shared Passions, MB Modern, New York, New York, September

1997 New Horizons 1997, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, August

1998 Texas Roots, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, Texas, September

1998 Inaugural Exhibition: New Works by Contemporary Artists, Gerald Peters Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico, August

1998 The Hurlbutt Bestiary, Hurlbutt Gallery, Greenwich, Connecticut, April–May

1999 Inaugural Exhibition, G.O.C.A.I.A. Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, October

2000 Summer Show, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, June

2001 Faculty Biennial Exhibition, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, October–November

2001 Five Star Texans, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, September

2001 Fresh Voices, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, June–July

2001 Invitational Group Exhibition, D Berman Gallery, Austin, Texas, November–December

2001 Made in Texas, Art Center of Waco, Waco, Texas, September

2001 The American Landscape Today, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May

2002 42nd Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, April

2002 Landscapes, Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, July

2003 Art in the Metroplex, Juror: Diane Karp, Moudy Gallery, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, September

2003 For the Birds, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, April–May

2004 30th Anniversary Exhibition, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, October

2004 Fall Group Exhibition, Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, November

2006 Artists for the New Century, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, Vermont, August

2006 Blurring Boundaries, Ellen Noel Art Museum, Odessa, Texas, September

2007 Margarita Cabrera and Billy Hassell, The Gallery, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas, January

2008 Art, Science and the World Around Us, Curator: Margie Crisp, Art Center of Waco, Waco, Texas, October

2008 Public Art in Fort Worth, Billy Hassell, Benito Huerta, and Anitra Blayton, Curator: Janet Tyson, Forth Worth Public Library, Fort Worth, Texas, April

2009 Recess, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December

2010 25 Years of Adair Margo Gallery, Satoa Gallery, El Paso, Texas, December

2010 Advancing Tradition: 25 Years of Printmaking at Flatbed Press, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, December

2010 Collections, Cultures & Collaborations, Curator: Tracee Robertson, Art Gallery, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, January

2014 Texas Critters, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, September–October

2014 Second Nature (with David Everett), Davis Gallery, Austin, Texas, April

2015 Painting in the Texas Tradition: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, February–April

2015 Ties that Bind: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Turner House, Dallas, Texas, February

2015 William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado August

2015 In Good Company, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri April

2015 Texas Visions: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas June

2017-18 Of Texas Rivers & Texas Art touring exhibition, San Angelo Musuem of Fine Art, San Angelo, Texas; Rotunda Gallery at the Texas State Capitol, Austin, Texas; The Witte Museum, San Antonio, Texas; and The Mayborn Museum at Baylor University, Waco, Texas

2018 In/Sight, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri September-October

2018 Texas Aviary, William Reaves/Sarah Foltz Fine Art , Houston, Texas February-March

2018 The Texas Aesthetic XI: The Search for "Texas" in Contemporary Art & Culture, William Reaves | Sarah Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2019 The New Show, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2019 The Texas Aesthetic: Thirty Contemporary Artists Redefining Texas Art, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX

2020 The Texas Aesthetic, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2021 Contemporary Texas Regionalist Landscapes, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas

2023-24 The Art of Texas State Parks, Bullock Museum, Austin, TX; Houston Museum of Natural Science, Houston, TX; Panhandle Plains Historical Museum, Canyon, TX; Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX; Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas

Selected Honors and Awards

1981 Best in Show Cash Award, New England Artist Festival & Showcase, NEAF Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts

1983 Synergy ’84, Arts Symposium of Houston, Houston, Texas

1984 Cash Award, 19th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Juror: Jane Livingston, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas

1984 Cash Award, Competition ’84, Juror: Peter Marzio, Assistance League, Houston, Texas

1984 Best of Series, Emerging Artists, 1984; Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas

1984 Cover of the 1984 Houston Arts Calendar & Directory, Houston, Texas

1985 Anne Giles Kimbrough Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

1989 Honorable Mention, 31st Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, December

2002 Best of Show, 42nd Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas

Selected Public Art Commissions

1981 New England Artist Festival, Northampton, Massachusetts, poster

1982 University of Massachusetts, Fine Arts Center Auditorium, Art for a Public Space, Amherst, Massachusetts, two murals (4 x 25 feet)

1983 Butler & Binyon, Allied Bank Building, Houston, Texas, mural (5 x 25 feet)

1983 Foreman and Dyess, Interfirst Plaza, Houston, Texas, mural (6 x 18 feet)

1991 Methodist Medical Center, Dallas, Texas, oil on canvas (72 x 60 inches)

1991–92 Cistercian Abbey, Irving, Texas, Tabernacle door (bronze)

1992 Home Box Office (HBO), Dallas, Texas, oil on canvas (72 x 60 inches)

1992 Texas Nature Conservancy, San Antonio, Texas, color intaglio edition printed at Flatbed Press in Austin, Texas

1994 8.0 Club, Houston, Texas, mural (8 x 25 feet)

1994 Mesa Restaurant, Houston, Texas, mural (15 x 50 feet), ironwork (4 x 44 feet), and painted wood wall relief (4 x 7 feet)

1995 VHA, Inc., Dallas, Texas, two oils on canvas (each 50 x 50 inches)

2002 University of Texas at Austin, A.C.E.S. Building, Austin, Texas, oil on canvas (72 x 96 inches)

2002–05 Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Terminal D, DFW, Texas, design for mosaic floor medallion, Early Morning Flight, 2005 (20 feet in diameter)

2002–07 Audubon Society of Texas, Austin, Texas, five limited-edition color lithographs (editions of 30 each)

2007–08 Fire Station #34, Sendera Ranch, Fort Worth, Texas, design/implementation of exterior mosaic (3 x 50 feet)

Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation, Dallas, Texas, 2015 - 2018; 5 limited edition color lithographs (editions of 30 each), collaboration with Master Printer Peter Webb, Lucky Strike Press, Austin, Texas

Selected Public Collections

Nelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, Missouri

Sioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa

Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas

Cistercian Abbey, Irving, Texas

Crescent Collection, Dallas, Texas

Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas

Ellen Noel Museum of Art, Odessa, Texas

Frito-Lay, Inc., Department of Research and Development, Plano, Texas

George W. Bush Presidential Center, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, Indian Blanket, South Texas, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 inches

Home Box Office (HBO), Dallas, Texas

Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas

Menil Collection, Houston, Texas

Methodist Medical Center, Dallas, Texas

Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas

Texas Instruments, Dallas, Texas

Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas

University of Texas, Austin, Texas

U. S. Consulate General, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Perdenal, 2007, oil on canvas

VHA, Inc., Dallas, Texas

Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, Texas

Billy Hassell

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