Each year, the museum brings in culturally and historically significant works from the 19th century to the present and hosts nearly a dozen curated exhibitions featuring Texas-based artists, emerging contemporary artists from across the United States, internationally established artists, and students from the East Texas region.

Mark Nesmith's art is a testimony to the resilience of the creative spirit.

Throughout his career he has explored a multitude of themes, from the bayous, beaches, and woods he roamed as a child in Southeast Texas to whimsical critters addressing the superficiality of modern society and the artist's unease with mankind's relationship to nature. Underlying his work is a deep love for vibrant color and thick, textured surfaces. From diminutive paintings to large, expansive canvases, his expressive artworks combine observation, memory, and imagination.

Mark has continued his steadfast pursuits in paint through the hardships life throws at us all. Most recently the right-handed artist battled through back and shoulder surgeries affecting his dominant hand. Always moving forward, the artist took up the brush with his left hand creating abstracted images utilizing a grid not unlike Chuck Close and Paul Klee before him. Color and light are brought to the forefront in tapestry like forms that gradually resolve to images of the ocean or land.

Click here to learn more about the artist.