Santa Fe painter Kathleen Frank and Colorado sculptor Mark Yale Harris combine forces at the Museum of East Texas June 12 through September 17 with The New American West by Brush and by Bronze

Low Water Santa Elena Canyon, Kathleen Frank

The Museum of East Texas is delighted to introduce two artists to our visitors this summer: painter Kathleen Frank and sculptor Mark Yale Harris who combine forces in The New American West by Brush and by Bronze. The Museum is the third stop in this exhibition's tour and we know it will delight our visitors.

"The exhibition brings together Harris’s stylized figurative and wildlife bronze sculptures with Frank’s vibrant, pattern-rich oil paintings—with each artist contributing a distinctive interpretation of the region’s landscape, culture, and spirit. The exhibition offers a compelling dialogue on form, imagination, and the evolving narrative of the American West.

This exceptional exhibition unites two accomplished, award-winning artists whose works are represented by 26 galleries collectively and held in prestigious public and private collections worldwide. Their art has been featured in major national and international publications and exhibited in galleries, museums, and universities across the U.S. and abroad. Public collections include the Hilton Hotels, Four Seasons Hotels, State of New Mexico, Booth Western Art Museum, City of Roanoke, Silversea Dawn Cruise Line, and Desert Caballeros Western Museum."

Lil-Longhorn Bronze Mark Yale Harris

About Kathleen Frank:

"Artist Kathleen Frank is in love with nature. A contemporary landscape painter, she seeks out magnificent vistas to depict in her paintings. She has hiked hundreds of miles to paint the land of the Southwest and West, capturing images of the brilliance and vivaciousness of the natural world that beg to be painted. She is willing to go to any length to reach the precise vantage point she is seeking. It may take some serious, long-distance hiking, up, down and over rocky outcroppings, a plunge down an arroyo or a sprawl in sage bushes to capture exactly what she wants, but she is never timid about climbing, trudging, and scrambling to reach the sought-after sweep or bird’s-eye view of the colorful and uniquely rugged landscapes.

Kathleen Frank lives in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Raised in Northern California by parents who were adventurous teachers, who hosted and nurtured hundreds of foreign students in their home and traveled around the globe with Kathleen and her sister during their free summers, Frank’s background proved invaluable in the formation of her world view of the diversity of cultures and artistic styles. She earned a BA in Fine Art and Design from San Jose State University in 1967 and a California Teacher’s Certification in Art Education in 1968. Her first job was on Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert during the Viet Nam era. There she met her husband, an Air Force flight test engineer, who later received his PhD in Atmospheric Science at Colorado State University. Frank taught art and was introduced to woodcarving in Colorado. In Pennsylvania, where the family had moved for her husband’s university position, that woodcarving led to a printmaking program at Pennsylvania State University and a Master of Arts degree in 1993.

She continued to travel the globe with her family, meeting and learning from artists around the world. She co-founded the Printmakers Studio Workshop of Central Pennsylvania, where printmakers conducted classes and held community art exhibitions. During that time, Frank taught printmaking and costume design at The Greer School, as well as guest lecturing throughout the state and exhibiting the masks and costumes she designed. She began a gradual shift to painting in a style reminiscent of the marks of a woodcarver-printmaker.

Her paintings express how pattern and repetition entice her. Discovering this in nature is primal to Frank – finding a glint of logic in complex jumbled terrains and instinctively favoring a semblance of orderliness among the randomness of our landscapes. In her studio, she examines every photo to select images she wants to paint. To Frank, any photo may be a gem in disguise. What resonates for her, whether a tranquil panorama or a robust display, is if a resplendent unguarded emotion is asserting itself.

Frank exults in using oils - she loves the feel of the paint. She has proclaimed, “Let’s face it, the smell feels like creativity itself.” Frank’s work was selected for Art in Embassies, U.S. Department of State, Ambassador’s residence, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia and she won the Curator’s Choice Award at the Art in the West exhibit, High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon.

Exhibitions (current, recent and upcoming) include the Musée de Peinture de Saint Frajou, Saint-Frajou, France; International Art Museum of America, San Francisco, California; Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas; St. George Art Museum, St. George, Utah; The MonDak Heritage Center Art & History Museum, Sidney, Montana; WaterWorks Museum, Miles City, Montana; University of New Mexico Valencia, Los Lunas, New Mexico; and the Northwest Montana History Museum, Kalispell, Montana."

About Mark Yale Harris:

"Mark Yale Harris realized his true passion in the Southwest. Santa Fe became his home in the late 1990s and synchronously stone carving became his life’s work. He dedicated himself to creating in 1996 and, with much to learn, the artist chose a mentor whom he had long admired, sculptor Bill Prokopiof (Aleut, 1944-1999), to assist with honing his burgeoning artistic skills. In the spirit of the nation’s most recognized Native American artist Allan Houser (Chiricahua Apache, 1915-1994), Prokopiof and sculptor Doug Hyde (Nez Perce) took Harris under their wings and generously shared their immense knowledge, talent, and vision. Inspired by the geographical region and grounded in the wisdom of his teachers, he began zealously creating sculpture.

Transitioning into the life of a full-time artist required Harris’s dedication to enveloping himself in all aspects of his new profession. Prior to this shift, Harris spent many years in the area of sustainable urban development (specifically real estate and hotels), a conventional career in which he was quite successful, but not fully satisfied. The adjustment to a wholly fulfilling vocation was both challenging and exciting. The artistic passion that had existed just beneath the surface of Harris’s long-established business persona was finally able to present itself in tangible form.

He accessed the invaluable tutelage of his mentors, along with his own vision, to create an evolving body of work in alabaster, marble, limestone, and bronze, often combining different elements to express his take on the inherent duality in mans’ essence. Harris has continued to challenge himself as a sculptor, finding it important to continue learning and teaching. Several intensive workshops, including studies with Terry Allen, Jo Harvey and James Surls, expanded his understanding immensely.

A new and very interesting adjunct to his art practice has been the introduction of Virtual Reality programs for creating sculpture. While continuing to hone his skills, he also introduced the technology to other artists with a series of workshops held in various locations in Colorado.

Of the 250+ exhibitions outlined on his resume, Harris has the distinction of 90+ solo shows in gallery, museum and international exhibitions. Harris was awarded 2nd Place at the 2024 Expressions West exhibit at Coos Art Museum, Coos Bay, Oregon. In 2023, his work was selected for The Art in Architecture Program: U.S. General Services Administration National Artist Registry, Washington, D.C. and received the First Place Award at the “In Tandem” exhibit, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Dennis, Massachusetts. His work was shown in the National Sculpture Society’s 88th Annual Awards Exhibition, New York, in 2021. He was awarded First Place, Cover Apero Catalogue, April 2020 and selected by State of New Mexico Art in Public Places and the Military teams of New Mexico Arts for Essential(s) Poster Series (featured artist) for COVID.

Harris’s sculpture is represented by nineteen prominent galleries in the US and UK. Current works can be found in many permanent public collections, including: Hilton Hotels; Rock Resorts; Booth Western Art Museum, Cartersville, Georgia; La Posada Hotel, Santa Fe, New Mexico; Hermann Memorial Hospital, Houston, Texas; State of New Mexico, Ruidoso, New Mexico; Four Seasons Hotel, Chicago, Illinois; and City of Roanoke Historic District, Roanoke, Virginia."