Amazing artwork🖼️- see it here: Book, traveling art exhibit honor 100 years of Texas State Parks

“The Art of Texas State Parks” will travel to the Houston Museum of Natural Science in late May for the centennial celebration

Billy Hassell, Red-bellied Woodpecker with Mallards, Daingerfield State Park, 2021, oil on canvas, 40x30 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)

HOUSTON – An art exhibit and book will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Texas state park system.

Conservationist Andrew Sansom and author Linda J. Reaves, in collaboration with the Texas Parks and Wildlife Department, produced “The Art of Texas State Parks, a Centennial Celebration, 1923-2023.”

Recommended Videos



In a release, the department describes the book as an attempt to create “a lasting visual record of Texas State Parks in art and, at the same time, memorialize the past and ongoing development of the distinctive collection of Lone Star parks and natural areas.”

For the book, published by Texas A&M University Press, 30 Texas artists were commissioned to produce paintings of state parks.

Proceeds from the sale of the book and the artwork will benefit the Texas Parks and Wildlife Foundation.

An exhibition of the artwork will travel to museums throughout the state. The schedule includes a stop at the Houston Museum of Natural Sciences, where the exhibit will remain until Oct. 1.

Artists who contributed to the project include: Randy Bacon (Abilene); Mary Baxter (Marfa); David Caton (Utopia); Charles Criner (Houston); Margie Crisp (Elgin); Ric Dentinger (San Antonio/Santa Fe NM); Fidencio Duran (Austin); Janet Eager Krueger (Encinal); Joel Edwards (Waco); Malou Flato (Austin); Gordon Fowler (Austin); Pat Gabriel (Fort Worth); David Griffin (Lubbock/ Dallas); Brian Grimm (Fredericksburg); Clemente Guzman (San Antonio); Karl E. Hall (Houston); John Austin Hanna (Fredericksburg); Billy Hassell (Fort Worth); Hailey Herrera (Bryan); Lee Jamison (Huntsville); Denise Mahlke (Whitehouse); Jim Malone (Fort Worth); Talmage Minter (Waco); William Montgomery (Elgin); Kermit Oliver (Waco); Noe Perez (Corpus Christi); Jeri Salter (Hutto); Jim Stoker (San Antonio); Bob Stuth-Wade (Dublin); and Terri Wells (Austin).

The book is available for purchase through Texas A&M Press and on Amazon.

Scroll below to see some of the artwork commissioned for the project.

David Caton, Blinn Trail Rapids, Garner State Park, 2019, oil on canvas, 30x30 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
William Montgomery, Fort McKavett State Historic Site, 2020, oil on canvas, 26x36 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
Ric Dentinger, Cascade, McKinney Falls State Park, 2020, watercolor on paper, 30x22 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
Billy Hassell, Red-bellied Woodpecker with Mallards, Daingerfield State Park, 2021, oil on canvas, 40x30 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
John Austin Hanna, Nature as It Is, Hill Country State Natural Area, 2020, oil on canvas, 18x24 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
Pat Gabriel, Slippery Step, Balmorhea State Park, 2020, oil on canvas, 18x40 in. (Texas Parks and Wildlife Department)
Photos of “The Art of Texas State Parks, a Centennial Celebration, 1923-2023" (KPRC 2)
Photos of “The Art of Texas State Parks, a Centennial Celebration, 1923-2023" (KPRC 2)
Photos of “The Art of Texas State Parks, a Centennial Celebration, 1923-2023" (KPRC 2)

About the Author:

Briana Zamora-Nipper joined the KPRC 2 digital team in 2019. When she’s not hard at work in the KPRC 2 newsroom, you can find Bri drinking away her hard earned wages at JuiceLand, running around Hermann Park, listening to crime podcasts or ransacking the magazine stand at Barnes & Noble.