Beeville Art Museum

The Beeville Art Museum is housed in the beautiful Esther Barnhart House. The house was built in 1910 by the R.L. Hodges family and continued to be occupied by descendants of its original owners until 1975. In 1981, the Hodges house and adjacent acreage were purchased by Dr. Joe Barnhart of Houston. Dr. Barnhart named the Hodges house the Esther Barnhart House in honor of his mother. He then developed the land into a park to be used for the enjoyment of the community and named the park the Joe Barnhart Park in honor of his father.

In 2000, the Joe Barnhart Foundation trustees initiated comprehensive art educational programs at the Beeville Art Museum.

The Beeville Art Museum is a teaching museum, dedicated to providing educational programs and activities designed to stimulate the imaginations of young people. The museum provides enrichment of the cultural life of the community through the concept of art and art education as a positive force in the development of creative skills and thought. To that end, the museum is committed to providing exhibitions featuring works of renowned artists and collections from museums, galleries and private collections from across the state.

The Foundation, Beeville Independent School District, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston and the Beeville Art Museum developed a comprehensive art program at the Museum. This program is fully funded by the Foundation. The program includes the following: docent-led tours and art classes of exhibitions of view at the Beeville Art Museum, workshops for Beeville educators at the Museum of fine Arts, Houston, classes for students at the Early Childhood Center (BISD) instructed by teachers from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. In 2010, "Literacy and Art Connection" was introduced and facilitated by George Ramirez of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

In addition to the art program, the Museum offers Summer Art Camps, seasonal art classes (fall & spring break), drop-in art classes for children, Storytime programs connecting art and children's literature both in English and Spanish, as well as an adult watercolor workshop taught by Arthur Turner of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston's Glassell School of Art.

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