The retreat that I participated in was a gathering of a dozen or so remarkable individuals, all leaders in their respective fields, together with the co-founders and directors of Earthfire, Susan Eirich and Jean Simpson. The participants included a wildlife biologist specializing in the interpretation of animal vocalization; A Buddhist master, a Zen meditation teacher; a best selling writer on the subject of leadership, an award winning documentary film maker; a founder of an innovation oriented consulting service; a Native American healer, clinical social worker and animal communicator and myself, listed in the prospectus as a “visual artist and musician”.

The main objective of the four-day council was, in the most general terms, to approach a re-examination of our accepted model for conservation with an emphasis on wildlife as active and sentient participants in the dialogue. It would be an understatement to say the experience for me was nothing less than transformative.

Now, a year later, I am still contemplating that experience – re-examining what goals were set forth, what was accomplished and what the future could be for this small but willful effort to make a real and lasting impact on the environment.

As a long time supporter of conservation, in a general and regional way, I have focused my attention primarily on the part of the world where I live in Texas. I strongly believe that the most effective way to achieve change is to act locally in the communities we live in. Seeing what Earthfire Institute is doing, independently and without government aid, in the way of connecting people and other environmental efforts, has given me a glimpse of a possible future with a master plan that could affect the entire North American continent and make room for the wild animals we share the land with.

I’m hoping to encourage connections between people in my life who share my passion for nature. I feel strongly about what Earthfire is doing. While I am inclined to feel that it may already be too late (in terms of environmental time) to influence the kinds of changes in thinking that Earthfire is fostering I also feel compelled not to give up the idea that change and redirection of energy and resources is still possible.

I think it is up to individuals to forge change. The conservation organizations and institutions that I’ve personally worked with here in Texas all have very defined regional agendas – a good thing, for sure, for those of us that live here but by definition are not holistic in scope. I think Earthfire is looking at the bigger picture.

For more information on Earthfire Institute please visit: earthfireinstitute.org

Until next time, Billy Hassell

October 2016

Playing mandolin for a grizzly bear named Teton Totem

Teton Totem

Native American healer Ramona Sierra with sibling wolf pups at Earthfire, Fall 2015

Watercolor inspired by my visit to Earthfire (giclees available from Earthfire Institute Etsy store: earthfireinstitute.org)

Hummingbirds and Cholla, 48 x 50″, oil on canvas was featured at the 40th Anniversary Show at the William Campbell Contemporary Art Gallery. Contact the gallery for more information.

As the year 2014 draws to a close, it seems appropriate to reflect upon the past year and upon the changes and good things it brought. In many ways, it was a milestone year marked by several notable anniversaries.

My galleries in Fort Worth and Dallas, William Campbell Contemporary Art and Conduit Gallery, respectively celebrated their 40th year and 30th year – milestones for both – and a testament to their endurance and commitment to the arts. The McKinney Avenue Contemporary, popularly known as the MAC, celebrated its 20th anniversary.

The year was also marked by the disbursement of two important Dallas collections of contemporary Texas Art – the expansive corporate Belo Collection and the legendary private collection of Sonny Burt and Bob Butler.

Billy Hassell’s Egypt on the Brazos, David Bates’ The Blue Heron, and Billy Hassell’s Divination at Heritage Auctions

The Belo Collection, originally curated by art consultant and folk art scholar, Murray Smither, and then for over 20 years under the stewardship of Judith Segura, represented an excellent cross section of contemporary and historic Texas art.

The private collection of the late Sonny Burt and Bob Butler, beloved supporters of the local Dallas art scene and champions to many struggling and unknown young artists, ranged from well-known blue chip names to unknown local artists.

The Belo Collection went to auction in October setting records for many of the artists represented, myself included, and the Collection of Sonny Burt and Bob Butler was placed on view and sold through Talley Dunn Gallery around the same time. I am proud to have had works in both collections.

Harry Goes Hunting, pencil drawing,

It was a milestone year for myself as well.

After 25 good years with Meredith Long and Company in Houston, I left the gallery on amicable terms and began a new partnership with William Reaves Fine Art in Houston and we are already off to an excellent start.

An introductory show in October at William Reaves Fine Art included some early works, like the pencil drawing on the right, Harry Goes Hunting, as well as more recent works.

In addition to the show at the Reaves Gallery, I exhibited at the Tyler Museum of Art in Tyler, Texas, the Davis Gallery in Austin, Conduit Gallery in Dallas and the Botanic Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) in Fort Worth. It was a busy year.

Martin and Heather Kohout, Madroño Ranch

While mindful of all the good things that have come to pass, I would like to take this opportunity to remember several good friends and acquaintances that passed away this year.

Heather Kohout, who, with her husband Martin, co-founded the Madroño Ranch Residency program in Medina, Texas, passed away in October. I got to know Heather while working on a large scale mural project that she and her husband commissioned me to do at the ranch. I feel grateful and blessed to have had the opportunity to know this amazing and remarkable spirit and to be part of the legacy she left behind.

This year also saw the passing of well known and respected Dallas artists, Tracy Hicks, a local artist devoted to natural history and the environment, and James Wattral, beloved teacher of ceramics and clay artist.

I wish everyone a wonderful holiday season and a productive and profitable New Year!

Billy Hassell

After 25 good years with Meredith Long and Company it was time for a change, and I have joined the William Reaves Art Gallery in Houston.

The Reaves Gallery represents a very small group of Contemporary Texas Regionalist artists – only 15 other artists – who paint in either a style or subject matter directly inspired by earlier Texas masters who were at work in the early decades of the twentieth century.

I have a lot of respect for Bill’s vision and mission and my intuition says it will be a good fit. He has been active in the early Texas art community for over thirty years as a collector, author and guest curator.

The timing is great as he has just moved his gallery out of its former residential location on Brun Street in the Montrose neighborhood of Houston to a more accessible, more visible and larger location on Westheimer (just west of Shepherd).

To that end, he is “re-introducing” me to the Houston community with a little retrospective exhibition in his new space that will open on Friday, October 17th. He wants to show work from every stage of my development (which makes me feel a little old but its also one of the things I like about the gallery’s mission with its interest in historic overview – (there aren’t too many galleries showing contemporary work with that sort of focus); the show will feature about 20 works going back to 1981 (the year before I moved to Houston). I am excited to be re-connecting with the Houston community again.

BUMBLEBEES AND HORSEMINT 16 x 16″ watercolor

My show, EPHEMERA, at the BRIT is on view through Mid- November!

EPHEMERA:Winged Creatures of Texas, will be on view at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas here in Ft. Worth through mid-November (Ft. Worth Botanic Gardens, Hours: Monday through Friday 10AM – 5 PM).

On a more personal note…

WHEATFIELD WITH CROWS

Emily and I just returned from a two and a half week long trip to Europe which was intended to be our belated honeymoon. We started in Paris where we spent four nights, the highlight of which was a daytrip pilgrimage to the small town of Auver-sur-Oise (about 20 miles north of Paris) to visit the last home and eternal resting place of Vincent Van Gogh (and his brother Theo). I wa amazed to learn many things I didn’t know about Van Gogh, most notably that he only lived there for 70 days and during that brief time produced over 80 paintings many of which are the ones considered to be his classic masterpieces including his last painting.

After spending a little time in the room where he slept and worked, and walking through the village and countryside around the town visiting the various spots he immortalized I spent an hour or so watercoloring a view of the river Oise wondering if Vincent had ever contemplated the same view. For anyone interested in Vincent Van Gogh I highly recommend a visit to Auvers-sur-Oise.

Detail of the Altarpiece

From Paris we took a train to the town of Colmar, on the Swiss border, to see the region and visit the Unterlinden museum which is best known as the home of the Issenheim Alterpiece by Matthias Grunwald. It was truly amazing to see this elaborate masterpiece in real life.

Enjoy October!

Dear Friends,

I have lots of news this month! After 25 good years with Meredith Long and Company it was time for a change, and I have joined the William Reaves Art Gallery in Houston. The Reaves Gallery represents a very small group of Contemporary Texas Regionalist artists – only 15 other artists – who paint in either a style or subject matter directly inspired by earlier Texas masters who were at work in the early decades of the twentieth century. I have a lot of respect for Bill’s vision and mission and my intuition says it will be a good fit. He has been active in the early Texas art community for over thirty years as a collector, author and guest curator.

Hi Everyone,

I’m back from Colorado and working in my studio painting and getting ready for Ephemera, the show I’ll be having at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT) here in Fort Worth. The opening reception will take place September 6th on Fall Gallery Night. I’m going to have paintings and watercolors based on the flora and fauna of Texas. I don’t produce many watercolors for sale and it has been a lot of fun painting these.

In fact, you can expect to see the flora and fauna of beautiful Colorado in my upcoming work!

Currently, I’m north of Steamboat Springs outside the town of Clark for the next week or so — plein air watercoloring, sketching, hiking and scouting out places to paint.

Three very generous collectors (Thank you Barbara and David and Dan!) have offered me their second homes in New Mexico and Colorado this month and I am making the most of my time here.

I think this is as close to Heaven as it gets.

If you’d like to receive my monthly updates in your inbox, you can sign up for my newsletter.  I write an article occasionally and send out invitations to upcoming events – and I will send you a calendar every month.

By the way, look for news on a show opening at the Botanical Research Institute of Texas (BRIT)  in Fort Worth on August 29th. I’ll send out more information on that later this month. Check out their website. They have some really great programs this summer for families and kids.  

Okay, this isn’t me, but I was very close to my skunk, too.

“Have you ever found yourself unexpectedly influenced by a moment from your past?”

I think much of our fascination with the natural world begins with experiences we’ve had as children, whether it’s catching your first fish or discovering a snake curled under a woodpile.

It seems to me that this appreciation carries over into adulthood. You can see many elements of the outdoors that we’ve brought into our home – houseplants, china patterns, textiles, aquariums, and the artwork we choose.

My experiences with the outdoors as a child definitely inspired my work. My first pet, a skunk named Jackson, provided the original idea for my first oil painting and probably started me on my path as an artist to capture the wild on canvas.

The Suburban Wildness

My fascination with urban animals has something to do with my perception as a child of them being wild – creatures of the fields and woods. Seeing a skunk crawl out from under a neighbor’s house one evening in the summer when I was maybe 6 years old added a great element of mystery to our otherwise plain suburban neighborhood. It was as if something wild had just crawled through a portal into our civilized neighborhood.

Acquiring Jackson

A National Geographic article introduced the possibility to me of having my own skunk. I discovered and pored over an article about skunks as pets. There were photos of kids playing with their skunks outdoors, walking them on leashes and feeding them with baby bottles. They were as cute as could be and I wanted that wildness as my own.

John Anderson: Wild Animals for Sale!

Around the same time as the National Geographic article, Frank Tolbert, who had a column in the Dallas Morning News, wrote an article about John Anderson, a man who lived in a little town called Newharp outside of Forestburg. John lived in a ramshackle cabin surrounded by pens and enclosures of every description with a menagerie of animals that he had collected close to his cabin. He had kit grey foxes, great horned owlets, raccoons, box turtles, bull snakes, and skunks. He raised and sold the skunks, which he had de-scented himself. His practices of acquiring these animals wouldn’t be considered environmentally friendly in today’s world, but as a boy…

I begged and pestered my dad for months before he agreed to drive 80 miles to purchase my first pet ever. I bought Jackson as a baby skunk for $13.50 with money I had saved delivering papers. I took Jackson home to live with me, excited about my skunk, an animal I would be the only one to have in my neighborhood.

My time with Jackson

I was very responsible with Jackson. I had a complete book, Your Pet Skunk from the pet store. I followed the recommendations to the letter – taking him to the vet for shots, – just like a cat, and more. He slept in my room when he was a kitten, which didn’t work for long due to the musky smell that permeated my sheets and I’m sure me too. To the great amusement of the people in my neighborhood, I attempted to train him to walk on a leash. That didn’t work very well and I never got him housebroken.

At a year old, it became obvious that he was a wild animal that wasn’t happy kept indoors as a pet. Jackson had never lost his desire to be in the wild.

I was sad to come home one day and find him dead in my bedroom. He just wasn’t meant for captivity.

Skunk. My first oil painting ever.

The Painting

I think I chose the subject of the skunk as my first painting because skunks have occupied a place in my heart and in my imagination for as long as I can remember. I am intrigued with creatures of the wild. However, I have found a different way of experiencing my passion. Now I use wild creatures as subjects in my artwork.

Skunk was my first real oil painting effort. I didn’t really know how to handle paint and parts of that painting (a thick area of Alizarin crimson in the lower right-hand corner of the painting for example) did not dry completely for over 30 years and may still not be completely dry!

The skunk with its bold markings and limited palette of black and white was an ideal subject for an early painting. Set against a sky of flat grey punctuated by a slice of yellow moon it covered the whole value scale (from light to dark).

Through sheer intuition, I stumbled onto the graphic simplicity of a reduced palette and realized, perhaps unconsciously, the power of simplified forms. In that painting I achieved simplicity and complexity simultaneously and more than half by accident. It remains to this day one of the favorite paintings that I have ever done.

Night Garden  60″ x 72″

My experience with Jackson taught me skunks are not meant to be in captivity. I realize now how apt the quote is: If you love something set it free, if it comes back to you it’s yours, if not, it was never meant to be. This experience influenced my work today. Nearly 50 years later, I am still inspired by the creatures of the Earth – whether it be turtles, fish, or the blue jay in my backyard.

Bringing the outdoors into people’s homes satisfies a longing we have to connect every day with nature.

Questions? Comments?

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Peter Webb, my lithographer in Austin, pulling Roadrunner.

In traditional lithography there is a kind of magic when all the elements come together. There is no original image (as many people think or assume there to be) that is reproduced. The image is achieved when all the plates are printed – one on top of the other – and all the colors come together.

And this IS the big difference between a digital print and a traditional lithograph – as well as the primary difference from an off-set lithograph – the standard, for years, for posters and other reproductions – a lithograph is not a reproduction; it is the result of a series of hand-made drawings transferred onto light sensitive aluminum plates that are hand-printed – one at a time. Lithographs are printed in editions so they are multiples but due to the hand inking and hand-printing; each print is, in a very real way, a one-of-a-kind – no two are exactly alike.

My color lithographs are produced in collaboration with a master printmaker, Peter Webb, whose shop is in Austin, Texas. I plan to write a blog soon for my website that will go into more detail about our process of working together but essentially what I do is – I make a separate drawing on mylar for almost every color that I intend to use in the final print (the one exception being drawing for plates with large areas of flat, solid color intended for blended color rolls). These are the color separations – figured out in my head and drawn manually.

Inking the blue plate of Brown Pelican, Turbulent Sea (Blue).

Then, each mylar (which is essentially a black drawing made with black Stabilo brand pencils… the kind intended for drawing on glass or plastic … you may be familiar with them, they are very black and a little greasy – like traditional litho crayons – but hard enough to sharpen in a standard pencil sharpener so I can get relatively detailed with my drawing) is exposed or “burned” onto a light sensitive aluminum plate (a plate treated with a photographic emulsion). For large flat areas I use black gesso – which sticks very well to the smooth mylar – applied with a soft bristle brush; for more subtle gradations I use a more textured mylar.

I use two kinds of mylars for the drawings – one kind that is smooth and almost completely transparent (for the “flats”) and one kind that has a slightly “pebbly” texture that is very similar to a traditional litho stone and is more translucent than transparent. The drawings on the mylars are all black even though they will eventually be printed in a color (or in a blend of colors) so that they can be used like photographic negatives (except in this case they are photographic  positives) so that they can be transferred onto a light sensitive aluminum plate.

Both types of mylar are transparent enough to “burn” onto a light sensitive plate either upside-down or right-side-up so they can be placed on the plate burner so the printed image is not reversed as it is in traditional stone lithography; the printed image can be – and IS for me – in the same orientation as my drawing instead of a mirror image (only another printmaker would appreciate this).

Pulling a proof of Brown Pelican, Turbulent Sea (Blue).

The burning of the plates is the only photographic element of the entire process; everything else is hand-made, hand-drawn and hand-printed … like traditional stone lithography. The big advantage of this, besides saving time and reducing the labor-intensive chemistry involved in etching the stone, is a reduction in health hazardous chemicals.

Once I have all the mylars drawn out I number them according the order I think they should be printed in and assign them a color or a blend of colors and I give my printer (my collaborator), a numbered, color chart to work from as a guide. This process involves the same kind of intuition the color separating requires and usually I am pretty close in terms of the sequence but frequently my printer will switch the order of one color or another for a sometimes subtle, sometimes fairly dramatic shift in color. The litho inks, unless intentionally made opaque in order to cover up or tone down another color, are transparent but it still makes a big difference which one is printed first and on top of what.

The mylars are all punched with registration holes that fit into a registration bar with pins that line up with the holes and that match holes punched into the paper the image will be printed on so everything, at least theoretically, stays in registration.

Peter Webb, master print maker, in his shop in Austin.

All kinds of factors can interfere, air temperature and humidity, for example, on the days the editions are printed – which usually takes between 3 or 4 days and up to a week depending upon the number of plates involved. Only about two colors, maybe three, can be printed in one day because of the drying time involved after each color is printed. Most of my color lithographs involve at least 9 plates and sometimes as many as 12.

Most good printmaking papers expand and contract according to the relative climate conditions thwarting even the best efforts to maintain precise registration. Experience helps to anticipate and avoid some of these occurrences and I make every effort in my drawings to maintain enough “overlap” of edges to account and compensate for such shifts but some “out-of-registration” is unavoidable but I consider this part of the process – part of the “hand-made” look. You know it’s not a digital print.

Ink is rolled onto the dampened surface of an etched aluminum plate with an18″ wide to 30″ wide roller and printed on a large 42″ x 70″ Takach litho press. Most of my editions are between 15 or 30, sometimes 20, but typically they are 30. I consider 30 to be a good, modest number for an edition… big enough to be a multiple run but small enough to truly be called “limited” … to call an edition of 10,000 (or even 1,000) limited is ludicrous.

In the end, there really is a kind of magic when it all comes together. There is no original image – just an image in my head and the faith of my printer. The image is achieved when all the colors come together.

— Billy Hassell

Origins (1993) illustrates Hassell’s use of layers and patterns to draw attention to the beauty of nature and the importance of conserving it.

Those familiar with Hassell’s work will recognize the singular world view he brings to life in scintillating colors.

But in this exhibition, Ken Tomio, curator of the Tyler Museum, selected pieces that highlight Hassell’s layering of visual space and patterns.

In Origins (1993), the background, the fish, and the bison create three distinct layers. In the shape or silhouette of the bison, a deliberate ambiguity exists in the patterning; the shape of the bison sits in the foreground while the patterning and the white polka-dots on the bison can be read as a starry sky.

In Full Flower Moon (2013), Hassell creates three layers of pictorial space — the starry sky, the cholla cactus with flowers and the most prominent image, and the ladder-backed woodpecker.

Full Flower Moon, a 60 x 72 oil on canvas, is one of the pieces included in Illuminating Nature, which opens in Tyler on Sunday, December 14.

The stars in the night sky background establish a polka-dot pattern that’s carried throughout the painting and echoed in the orange spine bases of the cactus and in the patterning on the woodpecker.

The effect of the “dots” distributed throughout the composition serves to unite the three layers of space and at the same time animates the composition.

Aside from paintings characterized by layers of space and patterning, Tomio selected a few paintings that feature landscapes.

These pieces are based largely on watercolor journals Hassell keeps on his travels.

Two of these landscapes, Alligator and Egret and Spring in East Texas, were selected for their regional significance and feature flora and fauna native to East Texas.

If you are in the Tyler area, this show is well worth a visit.

Also see:

Illuminating Nature opens in Tyler, Dec. 14

Full Flower Moon, a 60 x 72 oil on canvas (2013), is featured in Illuminating Nature, a 15-year solo survey of work that will be on display at the Tyler Museum of Art from December 14, 2013 through March 23, 2014.

There are two primary meanings for the word Illuminate.

The first, most common use of the verb, means, quite literally, to cast light or shine upon, thereby making (the thing) clearer and easier to understand.

The second, less common use of the word refers to an embellishment or decoration, as in a page or initial letter in a manuscript – usually associated with Medieval Manuscripts – and as such is usually associated with a form of meditation on the subject of the manuscript.

I have chosen the title, Illuminating Nature, for my show at the Tyler Museum for both of those meanings.

My paintings, from the beginning, have been inspired by nature but it has never been my intention to merely paint pictures of what I see – as a camera might reproduce a scene – but rather to interpret nature as I see it and to capture some essence or feeling of it.

Tyler Museum of Art, Tyler, Texas

December 14, 2013 thru March 23, 2014

(Opening Reception – Free to the Public Saturday, December 14, 2013 – Time: TBA)

I always begin with direct observation; I am never without a sketchbook when I am outdoors and I am constantly observing and recording what I see.

In the interpretation of what I record through the paintings I later create in my studio, I emphasize certain aspects of nature that I observe – details of a bird or an insect, for example, or a particular color or pattern on a flower – and thereby illuminate (in the casting of light sense) certain aspects of nature that might not otherwise be so obvious.

In this way, I can bring into focus and freeze, as it were, those fleeting moments of the natural world.

The secondary meaning in the use of the word illuminating refers to the expressive manner in which the paintings are intentionally composed, with exaggerated color and stylized forms – what could otherwise be described as decorative embellishments – with the intent to draw in and engage the viewer long enough to appreciate the deeper, more subtle levels of the work.

Billy Hassell