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Vanessa Ormsby, RCA Communications Manager
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NEW YEAR BRINGS NATURE EXHIBITIONS TO ROCKPORT CENTER FOR THE ARTS
Texas artists featured in new shows opening January 2025
ROCKPORT, Texas (Dec. 11, 2024) — Nature takes center stage in the New Year at Rockport Center for the Arts, with ”Watermark,” featuring the vibrant animal and nature paintings of artist Billy Hassell, and ”Atmospheres,“ showcasing pastels and paintings of landscape artist Nancy Bandy.
Bandy’s work will be on view and available for collection Jan. 10–March 2 in the McKelvey Charitable Fund Gallery, with an artist reception scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 11, from 5–7 p.m., while Hassell’s exhibition will be featured in the H-E-B Gallery Jan. 31–March 30, with an artist reception on Saturday, Feb. 8, from 5– 7 p.m. Both receptions, which are free and open to the public, will coincide with the monthly Austin Street Art Walk a free, alfresco, walkable art experience featuring RCA and other galleries located in downtown Rockport.
“The work of Bandy and Hassell brings a diverse perspective of nature,” said Catey Arnold, The Barrow Foundation Curator of Exhibitions for RCA. “Each of these talented artists have an incredibly beautiful signature style and are so unique in how they bring the subject to life.”
Atmospheres features breathtaking skies by Nancy Bandy, a landscape artist who found her focus shifting after living many years in Victoria, Texas, with its very low, flat horizon.
“I have found the skies to be the most interesting aspect of the area, so much of my work would be more accurately labeled ‘skyscapes,’” said Bandy. “I am fascinated by the constantly changing and often dramatic skies of the region that present challenges in design, color, space and expression. A successful finished work for me creates a feeling of change and movement and hopefully an evocative mood.”
Originally from Kansas, Bandy received her undergraduate degree in Arts Education from the University of Kansas and a Master of Arts from the University of Iowa, followed by 31 years as an art instructor, including Lamar State University, San Jacinto College and Victoria College. For some years, her focus was in the area of printmaking, but she gradually transitioned to working in pastel, oil, and collage.
Over the years, Bandy has exhibited in numerous group, one-woman, and two-person shows throughout Texas and her work is owned by many private individuals and collections across the state including IBM Corporation (Round Rock), Victoria Country Club (Victoria), Teacher Retirement System (Austin), Citizens State Banks (Ganado and Edna), Prosperity Bank (Victoria), Hospice of South Texas (Victoria), and Victoria College.
Once referred to as “Mother Nature’s Stylist” by The New York Times, Fort Worth-based fine artist Billy Hassell has shown his artwork in galleries nationwide since the 1980s, featuring bold colors and patterns inspired by nature. On canvases looming larger than life, both in size and vibrancy of subject, his distinctive use of color and stylized natural elements and animals reveals why he has become such a highly respected painter.
“My work has always had an ecological consciousness to it and has almost always featured birds as primary subjects,” said Hassell. “When asked once, ‘Why birds?’ I responded, ‘The presence (or absence) of birds, like the canary in the coal mine, is an indicator of a healthy environment.’”
Hassell earned his BFA from Notre Dame and his MFA from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. He then returned to Notre Dame as a professor, teaching etching and watercolor, and went on to teach a variety of art classes — painting, drawing, printmaking, and studio practices — at other universities as well, including Davidson College in North Carolina.
Throughout his career, Hassell has appeared in numerous solo and group exhibitions. His oil paintings are found in the permanent collections of elite Texas museums including the Dallas Museum of Art, the Modern in Fort Worth, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and the Menil Collection in Houston, and also hang in The University of Texas at Austin, the offices of HBO, and the George W. Bush Presidential Center, and a U.S. Embassy.
His paintings have been featured in national publications such as Art News, Southwest Art, The New York Times and the Wall Street Journal; regional publications including the Dallas Morning News, the Houston Chronicle, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, D magazine, and 360 West; as well as several television shows.
For more information on “Watermark” and “Atmospheres,” visit rockportartcenter.com follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.
About Rockport Center for the Arts
The new 1.2-acre Rockport Center for the Arts, the Coastal Bend’s first multidisciplinary arts organization, is located a block away from Aransas Bay in the heart of the Rockport Cultural Arts District. Designed by the award-winning team at Richter Architects, the state-of-the-art campus features a two-story, 14,000-square-foot, visual arts and education building with four galleries and five classrooms (204 S. Austin St.); The Rockport Conference Center, a one-story, 8,000-square-foot conference and event center, known as The ROCC, (106 S. Austin St.); with a 16,000-square-foot Sculpture Garden serving as a visually inspiring transition space between the two buildings. The hours of operation for the showroom, galleries, and gift shop are Tuesday–Saturday from 10 a.m.–5 p.m., and Sunday from noon–4 p.m. Admission is always free. For information on event space, or to book an event, call (361) 450-8033. For general information and to become a member, visit rockportartcenter.com, follow RCA on Facebook, or call (361) 729-5519.
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