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 Highlights1956 Born in Dallas, Texas1982 Bachelor of Fine Arts, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana1987 Master of Fine Arts, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MassachusettsResides in Fort Worth, Texas Selected Solo Exhibitions1983 McMurtrey Gallery, Houston, Texas, February1983 The Texas Club, Houston, Texas, October1984 McIntosh/Drysdale Gallery, Houston, Texas, July1985 Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, May1986 Caroline Lee Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, May1986 DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, January1987 Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, December1987 DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, September1987 Joseph Gross Gallery, University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona, September1988 Scott Alan Gallery, New York, New York, April1989 Davidson College Art Gallery, Davidson, North Carolina, February1989 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, October1990 Scott Alan Gallery, New York, New York, April1991 Hodges Taylor Gallery, Charlotte, North Carolina, February1992 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May1993 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, October1994 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, September1995 Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, November1996 Martin-Rathburn Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, July1996 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, November1997 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, April1998 Innsbrook Resort and Convention Center, Wright City, Missouri, July1998 MB Modern, New York, New York, March1998 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, September1999 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December1999 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, July2000 Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, March2000 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December2001 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May2002 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December2002 Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, September2002 D Berman Gallery, Austin, Texas, May2003 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, April2003 Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, September2003 William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December2004 Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, April2005 Bryant Gallery, Kingsville, Texas, April2005 Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, September2005 McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, April2005 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, December2006 LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, May2007 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, Texas, September2008 Field Notes, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, May2008 Journal, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, January2008 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Texas A&M International University, Laredo, Texas, August2008 LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, August2008 Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, Texas, November2009 Migration, 15 Year Survey, Ellen Noel Museum of Art, Odessa, Texas, September2009 Tangle, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, December2010 Breath, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, February2010 Distances, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, May2010 Memento, Mabee-Gerrer Museum of Art, Shawnee, Oklahoma, December2012 Color Lithographs, LeMieux Galleries, New Orleans, Louisiana, March–May2012 Watershed, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, April-May2012 Wild Things (with David Everett), Grace Museum, Abilene, Texas, September–January 20132013 Illuminating Nature, Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas December – March 20142014 Ephemera: Winged Creatures of Texas, Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT), Fort Worth, Texas September-November2014 Illumination, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas April2015 Compass, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Ft. Worth, Texas November-January 2, 20162016 Voices and Visions, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas May-June2017 Trace, Survey Exhibition, Louise Hopkins Underwood Center for Art, Lubbock, Texas October2018 Trace, Survey Exhibition, Michelson Museum of Art, Marshall, Texas February – April2018 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 Exhibitions1980 Alumni/Faculty Exhibition, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, October1980 Boston Community Art Exhibition, Boston City Hall, Boston, Massachusetts, May1980 Drawing Exhibition, Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, September1980 Group Show, Kaji Aso Gallery, Boston, Massachusetts, February1980 Juried Exhibition, Edison Community College, Fort Meyers, Florida, April1981 Billy Hassell/Stanton Sears, Danco Art Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts, September1981 Four Painters, Agusta Savage Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Massachusetts, May1981 Group Show, Pratt Gallery, Amherst, Massachusetts, December1981 Rocky Mountain National Watermedia Exhibition, Foothills Art Center, Golden, Colorado, July1982 Anything Goes, Zone Gallery, Springfield, Massachusetts, January1982 Eleventh Annual Competitive Art Exhibition, Ely Art Gallery, Westfield, Massachusetts, February1982 Group Show, Boston State House, Boston, Massachusetts, May1982 Noir Blanc and The Chromatics, Leverett Craftsman and Artists, Leverett, Massachusetts, April1982 Thesis Exhibition, Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, February1982 Works on Paper, Hampden Gallery, University of Massachusetts, January1983 Maps: A Mail Art Show, Diverse Works, Inc., Houston, Texas, December1983 Synergy ’83, Glassell School of Art, Houston, Texas1984 19th Annual Juried Art Award Exhibition, Juror: Jane Livingston, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas, March1984 Artist Call, Lawndale Annex, Houston, Texas, February1984 Competition ’84, Juror: Peter Marzio, 2 Houston Center, Houston, Texas, April1984 Four Texas Artists, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, August1984 Houston Profile, Art League of Houston, Houston, Texas, November1984 Texas Only, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, September1985 Austin Annual, Mexi-Arte, Arts Warehouse, Austin, Texas, September1985 East End Show, Lawndale Annex, University of Houston, Houston, Texas, September1985 Houston Artists in Los Angeles, Los Angeles Gallery for Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, February1985 Propaganda, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, September1985 Self-Image, Midtown Art Center, Houston, Texas, April1985 Southwest ’85, Museum of Fine Arts, Santa Fe, New Mexico, March1985 Texas: A State of The Arts, The Contemporary Arts Center, New Orleans, Louisiana, March1985 Texas Visions, Transco Tower, Houston, Texas, December1985 The Horses’ Mouth, DW Gallery, Dallas, Texas, August1986 Billy Hassell/Ken Saville, Janus Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October1986 Faculty Exhibition, Snite Museum of Art, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana, November1986 Inaugural Exhibition, Scott Alan Gallery, New York New York, May1987 Going to the Dogs, Janus Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October1987 Mythmakers, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, October1987 The Fictional Figure, Caroline Lee Gallery, Houston, Texas, December1988 American Artists’ Beastiary: Armadillo to Zebra, Amarillo Art Center, Amarillo, Texas, March1988 Zoomorphism: Animals in Art, Trammel Crowe Center, Dallas, Texas, September1989 31st Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, December1989 A Family of Artists, 500X Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December1989 Artists of Oak Cliff, Modern Dallas Art, Dallas, Texas, September1989 Counter Signals, Curator: Kevin Curry, Hickory Street Annex, Dallas, Texas, August1989 Earth Day 1990, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, April1989 Feather, Fur & Fin, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, March1989 Fish Tales, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, July1989 Print Makers, Aquinas College, Grand Rapids, Michigan, February1989 Small Works, Edith Baker Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December1989 The Nature of The Beast, Hudson River Museum, Westchester, New York, April1990 Forty Texas Printmakers, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, November1990 Primal Impulse: Billy Hassell and David Winston, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, November1991 Chords and Discords, Hudson River Museum, Westchester, New York, July1991 Group Exhibition, Peregrine Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December1991 Paintings by Joanne Brigham, Billy Hassell, Jeff Delude, Hickory Street Annex Gallery, Dallas, Texas, April1991 Time is Relative, Beverly Gordon Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December1991 Ship Shape, Galveston, Texas, September1992 100 Anniversary Exhibition: Masterworks from Fort Worth Collections, Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, Texas, April1992 Contemporary Prints: The Peregrine Press Archives, Curators: Alan Govenar and Jo Ann Hart, traveling exhibit, September 1992–August 19951992 Flatbed: The First Two Years, Tarrytown Gallery, Austin, Texas, February1992 On Death y Los Dios De Los Muertos, Bridge Center for Contemporary Art, El Paso, Texas, November1992 Printmaking in Texas: The 1980’s, Laguna Gloria Museum, Austin, Texas, June1992 Second Nature, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, September1992 The Big Show, Juror: Annegreth Nill, Lawndale Art Center, Houston, Texas, September1993 Animal Attraction, University of Dallas Art Gallery, University of Dallas, Dallas, Texas, April1993 Art and the Animals, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, February1993 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, April1993 Texas Art Celebration ‘93, Juror: David Ross, Cullen Center, Houston, Texas, February1993 Texas Select Invitational Exhibition, Guest Curator: Richard M. Ash III, Wichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, Texas, October1994 All Creatures Great and Small, Curator: Jo Ann Hart, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas, June–July1994 Anonymous, West End Gallery, Houston, Texas, March1994 Collector’s Choice: Living with Art, Laguna Gloria Art Museum, Austin, Texas, June1995 Glenn Lane: Remembering, Trammell Crow Center, Dallas, Texas, April1995 Images of Nature III, Martin-Rathburn Gallery, San Antonio, Texas, March–April1995 Opening the Border: Landscapes of Texas and Mexico, The Parc Royale, Houston, Texas, January–March1995 Texas Myths and Realities, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, October1996 MB Modern Artists, Babcock Galleries, New York, New York, May1996 Rediscovering the Landscape of the Americas, Curators: Alan Gussow and Gayle Maxon-Edgerton, Gerald Peters Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, traveling exhibit, July–January 19971996 Sacred Matter, MB Modern, New York, New York, July1996 Shared Passions, MB Modern, New York, New York, September1997 New Horizons 1997, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, August1998 Texas Roots, Center for the Visual Arts, Denton, Texas, September1998 Inaugural Exhibition: New Works by Contemporary Artists, Gerald Peters Galleries, Santa Fe, New Mexico, August1998 The Hurlbutt Bestiary, Hurlbutt Gallery, Greenwich, Connecticut, April–May1999 Inaugural Exhibition, G.O.C.A.I.A. Gallery, Tucson, Arizona, October2000 Summer Show, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, June2001 Faculty Biennial Exhibition, University of Texas at Arlington, Arlington, Texas, October–November2001 Five Star Texans, Adair Margo Gallery, El Paso, Texas, September2001 Fresh Voices, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri, June–July2001 Invitational Group Exhibition, D Berman Gallery, Austin, Texas, November–December2001 Made in Texas, Art Center of Waco, Waco, Texas, September2001 The American Landscape Today, Meredith Long & Company, Houston, Texas, May2002 42nd Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, April2002 Landscapes, Elliot Smith Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri, July2003 Art in the Metroplex, Juror: Diane Karp, Moudy Gallery, Texas Christian University, Fort Worth, Texas, September2003 For the Birds, Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas, April–May2004 30th Anniversary Exhibition, William Campbell Contemporary Art, Fort Worth, Texas, October2004 Fall Group Exhibition, Parchman Stremmel Galleries, San Antonio, November2006 Artists for the New Century, Bennington Center for the Arts, Bennington, Vermont, August2006 Blurring Boundaries, Ellen Noel Art Museum, Odessa, Texas, September2007 Margarita Cabrera and Billy Hassell, The Gallery, University of Texas at Arlington, Texas, January2008 Art, Science and the World Around Us, Curator: Margie Crisp, Art Center of Waco, Waco, Texas, October2008 Public Art in Fort Worth, Billy Hassell, Benito Huerta, and Anitra Blayton, Curator: Janet Tyson, Forth Worth Public Library, Fort Worth, Texas, April2009 Recess, Conduit Gallery, Dallas, Texas, December2010 25 Years of Adair Margo Gallery, Satoa Gallery, El Paso, Texas, December2010 Advancing Tradition: 25 Years of Printmaking at Flatbed Press, Austin Museum of Art, Austin, Texas, December2010 Collections, Cultures & Collaborations, Curator: Tracee Robertson, Art Gallery, University of North Texas, Denton, Texas, January2014 Texas Critters, McKinney Avenue Contemporary, Dallas, Texas, September–October2014 Second Nature (with David Everett), Davis Gallery, Austin, Texas, April2015 Painting in the Texas Tradition: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas, February–April2015 Ties that Bind: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Turner House, Dallas, Texas, February2015 William Havu Gallery, Denver, Colorado August2015 In Good Company, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri April2015 Texas Visions: Contemporary Texas Regionalism, Nave Museum, Victoria, Texas June2017-18 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, Texas2018 In/Sight, Sherry Leedy Contemporary Art, Kansas City, Missouri September-October2018 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, Texas2019 The Texas Aesthetic: Thirty Contemporary Artists Redefining Texas Art, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, TX2020 The Texas Aesthetic, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas2021 Contemporary Texas Regionalist Landscapes, Foltz Fine Art, Houston, Texas2023-24 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 Awards1981 Best in Show Cash Award, New England Artist Festival & Showcase, NEAF Gallery, Northampton, Massachusetts1983 Synergy ’84, Arts Symposium of Houston, Houston, Texas1984 Cash Award, 19th Annual Juried Art Exhibition, Juror: Jane Livingston, Jewish Community Center, Houston, Texas1984 Cash Award, Competition ’84, Juror: Peter Marzio, Assistance League, Houston, Texas1984 Best of Series, Emerging Artists, 1984; Galveston Arts Center, Galveston, Texas1984 Cover of the 1984 Houston Arts Calendar & Directory, Houston, Texas1985 Anne Giles Kimbrough Award, Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas, Texas1989 Honorable Mention, 31st Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas, December2002 Best of Show, 42nd Annual Invitational Exhibition, Longview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, Texas Selected Public Art Commissions1981 New England Artist Festival, Northampton, Massachusetts, poster1982 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, Texas1994 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 CollectionsNelson Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MissouriSioux City Art Center, Sioux City, Iowa Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TexasCistercian Abbey, Irving, TexasCrescent Collection, Dallas, TexasDallas Museum of Art, Dallas, TexasEllen Noel Museum of Art, Odessa, TexasFrito-Lay, Inc., Department of Research and Development, Plano, TexasGeorge W. Bush Presidential Center, Southern Methodist University, Dallas, Texas, Indian Blanket, South Texas, oil on canvas, 60 x 70 inchesHome Box Office (HBO), Dallas, TexasLongview Museum of Fine Arts, Longview, TexasMenil Collection, Houston, TexasMethodist Medical Center, Dallas, TexasModern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth, TexasMuseum of Fine Arts, Houston, TexasTexas Instruments, Dallas, TexasTyler Museum of Art, Tyler, TexasUniversity of Texas, Austin, TexasU. S. Consulate General, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Perdenal, 2007, oil on canvasVHA, Inc., Dallas, TexasWichita Falls Museum and Art Center, Wichita Falls, Texas *Artist Interview