Hassell’s ‘Migration’ at TAMIU, Reception Sept. 4

Take a tour through the vivid, colorful world of nature created by Billy Hassell, Fort Worth-based artist, at the new fall exhibit “Billy Hassell: Migration” at Texas A&M International University’s Center for the Fine and Performing Arts (CFPA) Gallery starting Thursday, Aug. 28 – Thursday, Oct. 9. A reception will be held Thursday, Sept. 4 from 5 – 8 p.m.

Admission to the reception and the Gallery is free and open to the public. Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday, 12 – 5 p.m.

This exhibit is partially funded through a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts and the gracious support of Laredoans Mary and Evan Quiros.

The exhibit, organized by the Art Museum of South Texas in Corpus Christi, affiliated with Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi, presents work created since 1993 to the present. “Billy Hassell: Migration” features 25 works ranging from oil on canvas to acrylic on panel and lithographs.

Twenty percent of all sales will go to support the TAMIU CFPA Gallery.

“Hassell depicts the natural world, primarily in the Southwest, in an array of flora and fauna that serve as indicators of the quality of life. Birds, insects and small animals are depicted as iconic indicators of this consciousness,” according to a press release by the Art Museum.

The artist began his excursions into nature as a young boy, where he says he found wonder in the beauty of patterns created by natural forms and environments.

“Growing up in the Dallas area, not far from White Rock Lake in a time when the region was still undeveloped, the young artist experienced the wilderness seen under rocks and in creeks, and overhead in large cedars that stretched into the sky. It was a place where movement, energy, and textures collided in the mind of a curious and wandering boy. Since those childhood days, Hassell has maintained a close relationship with the natural world,” according to the Museum’s press release.

Hassell’s work can be seen in numerous public and private collections including the Menil in Houston, and the Dallas Museum of Art. His work supports the efforts of both the Audubon Society and the Nature Conservancy of Texas. Most recently, Hassell completed a mosaic design of a mockingbird that is 20 feet in diameter for the Dallas/Fort Worth Airport, International Terminal. 
After the show wraps at TAMIU, it will be stored at the Museum until fall 2009, when it will be on display at the Ellen Noel Art Museum in Odessa, Texas.

He received a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Massachusetts.

For more information, please contact Alma Haertlein, TAMIU assistant professor of studio art, at 326.3041 or e-mail almah@tamiu.edu.

Gallery hours are Monday – Thursday, 12 – 5 p.m. or by appointment.

For a complete list of upcoming arts events, click on tamiu.edu/coas/fpa/coe

Journalists who need additional information or help with media requests and interviews should contact the Office of Public Relations, Marketing and Information Services at prmis@tamiu.edu