UPCOMING EVENT: A Night for the Park with Billy Hassell benefiting Big Bend Conservancy
When: Saturday, November 14, 2026 from 5:30 PM to 8:00 PM
Where: Conduit Gallery, 1845 E Levee St, #100, Dallas, TX 75207
Join Big Bend Conservancy and Conduit Gallery in Dallas, Texas for an evening with acclaimed wildlife artist Billy Hassell, Loren Riemer, executive director and CEO of Big Bend Conservancy, and Rick Gupman, Superintendent of Big Bend National Park, celebrating the landscapes and wildlife of Big Bend.
Hassell's original oil paintings will be on view alongside a raffle of five beautiful watercolor prints. All proceeds will benefit Big Bend Conservancy.
The Art
Inspired by nature, Billy Hassell's work combines elements of abstraction and representation. While never entirely abandoning recognizable subject matter, he composes with an abstract sensibility, emphasizing image with a dramatic use of color and a whimsical use of pictorial space. Images of nature, birds, and fragments of landscape recur frequently throughout his work. In the newest works, shapes are simplified, fragmented and arranged in a shallow space. The emblematic forms and silhouettes, like hieroglyphs in a language of signs and symbols, suggest an underlying narrative.
The Artist
Billy’s journey to becoming an artist began during his childhood in Dallas where he explored the wild areas and creeks of his neighborhood.
His imagination was fueled by the colors and geometric patterns of the turtles, snakes, lizards, frogs, and any other creatures he could fit in his pockets to carry home. His mother, a saint, let him keep what he brought home. As he began to draw the creatures, the beginning of his artistic and life’s work began.
Billy, recently referred to as “Mother Nature’s Stylist” by The New York Times, has continued in the natural field. He and his colorful paintings bring the experience of the outdoors into indoor spaces for his collectors. Today, Billy lives in Fort Worth, Texas with his two dogs in an urban neighborhood. His studio is a few blocks down the street in an old storefront where he paints daily. He has created a backyard oasis with many birds, flowers, and a pond filled with turtles, fish, and toads. He has brought his love of the outdoors to his urban home and he continues to express his love of nature in his work.
