Billy Hassell

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 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 Aethetic: Thirty Contemporary Artists Redefining Texas Art, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX 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

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