Closing Reception:

Friday, April 22nd @ 5 PM

The Avenue Cafe and The Art Studio, Inc. feature a showcase of local art. In March and April 2022 artists Mark and Elizabeth Nesmith are featured.
The Avenue Cafe is open 7AM – 7PM everyday.

The Avenue Coffee & Cafe is locally owned and operated in downtown Port Neches. Visitors can enjoy their well crafted coffee, baked goods, salads and sandwiches.

Elizabeth Nesmith
Since her days as a teen at Nederland High School, Elizabeth Pearson has spent a lifetime creating and appreciating the arts. Meeting Greg Busceme, then a visiting artist at Nederland and the founder and director of The Art Studio, Inc. in Beaumont, TX led her to deepen her involvement through TASI. Working primarily in mixed media, acrylic and oils at the time, Elizabeth maintained a studio space at TASI and exhibited her works as well as helped manage the office. As often happens, life intervened. Raising a son as a single parent left her with little time to create her own work, but the art spirit never left. She maintained her involvement and support of TASI and found herself helping organize exhibitions for Mark Nesmith. Soon Elizabeth was painting again herself, and after a short time with oils she gravitated to watercolor, a new medium for her. She found a natural, flowing touch with the often difficult medium and was soon exhibiting again. 2018 saw Elizabeth’s watercolors on display at The Music Studio’s hugely successful show “The Art of Flowers” in Beaumont, TX. She was also included in the popular TASIMJE juried exhibition at The Art Studio, Inc. In November 2018, Elizabeth displayed more than two-dozen paintings in her two-person exhibit “Love & Paint” with Mark. The two celebrated their love and were married at the opening reception.

The newlyweds followed up “Love & Paint” with their second two-person exhibition at Third Coast Gallery in Galveston. Elizabeth’s watercolor and mixed media paintings have graced gallery walls throughout Texas including shows at Bisong Art Gallery, Blue Mule Winery, The Music Studio, the Beaumont Art League and the Port Neches Art Walk. A love of nature and wildlife are evident throughout her paintings. Her art appears in private collections in Texas, Louisiana, and Florida, and has been published in Issue Magazine, The Examiner, and Galveston Monthly Magazine.Mark Nesmith is a modern American painter and musician who lives and works in Southeast Texas. Mark studied art at Lamar University in Beaumont, TX earning his BFA in 1998, and also studied painting and drawing at the University of North Texas in Denton. He teaches art in the Port Neches-Groves ISD and previously taught art and music in the Dallas ISD and the Goose Creek CISD. As a musician Mark performed hundreds of shows around the country with the bands Hackberry Road and Lone Star Republic, and still performs regularly throughout Texas. He has written about art for Ezine Articles and Empty Easel, and authored the blog Paint Daily Texas. Mark is a member of the Artists of Texas and Contemporary Fine Artists International. He is represented by Dab Art in Ventura, Bisong Art Gallery in Houston, TX, and internationally by Singulart. His paintings are available as prints licensed worldwide by iCanvas and also presented on Artsy through Dab Art. Mark is currently the President of the Texas Artists Museum in Port Arthur.

Mark Nesmith’s paintings and drawings have been included in exhibitions at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas, the Museum of East Texas, the Dishman Art Museum, the Museum of the Gulf Coast, the Texas Artists Museum, and the Mesquite Arts Center. He has shown work in solo and group exhibitions in galleries throughout the United States and has appeared in American Art Collector Magazine, Art Reveal Magazine, the Austin Chronicle, the Dallas Observer, Empty Easel, Issue, the Lamar University Press, The Local Magazine, Off Ramp Magazine, Professional Artist Magazine, VIP Magazine, and more. His upcoming solo retrospective at the Longview Museum of Fine Art opens in June for a four-month long exhibit. Mark’s paintings are included in private and public collections in thirty-two states throughout the U.S.A., and overseas in Singapore. Notable collections include the Dishman Art Museum, Duke University, Grant Thornton LLP in Dallas, TX, Kansas City, MO, and Wichita, KS, The Honorable Ron Clark, Chief Judge U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, and the Lone Survivor Foundation.