FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2026, Texas, New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona
Third Stop on a Six-Museum Tour. Dual sculpture and painting exhibition
Kathleen Frank (Santa Fe, NM) + Mark Yale Harris (Carbondale, CO):
The New American West — By Brush and By Bronze
JOIN US!
The Museum of East Texas (MET), Lufkin, Texas, invites the public to attend Kathleen Frank + Mark Yale Harris: The New American West — By Brush and by Bronze, the third of six museums in this touring dual exhibition of sculpture and painting presented across three states.
Guests are invited to experience this powerful pairing firsthand June 12 – Sept 17, 2026. This event is free and open to the public.
The show brings together Harris’s stylized figurative and wildlife bronze sculptures with Frank’s vibrant, pattern-rich oil paintings—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.
About the Artists
Kathleen Frank
Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Kathleen Frank captures the vibrant energy and structure of the land through bold, dynamic brushwork. Her process begins with a rich red-orange underpainting, layered with luminous strokes that reveal glimpses of color beneath. Having hiked hundreds of miles across the Southwest to find her subjects, Frank finds rhythm and order in the natural world’s complexity.
Recent exhibitions include St. George Museum of Art (Utah); Northwest Montana History Museum; MonDak Museum Heritage Center (Montana); WaterWorks Art Museum (Montana); and University of New Mexico Valencia.
Mark Yale Harris
Living and working in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley (by way of Santa Fe and Austin), Mark Yale Harris draws inspiration from his years exploring the Big Bend region and Texas Hill Country on horseback. His contemporary bronze and stone sculptures express the emotional and spiritual connections between humanity and nature.
After a successful career in hospitality—as co-founder of Red Roof Inns and founder of AmeriSuites Hotels—Harris turned to sculpture in the 1990s. Mentored by renowned sculptors Bill Prokopiof and Doug Hyde, he honed a style that reveals the dualities of human experience.
His work has been exhibited internationally at institutions including the Musée de Peinture de Saint-Frajou (France), Coos Art Museum (Oregon), Royal Scottish Academy of Art (Scotland), Cape Cod Museum (Massachusetts), Yellowstone Art Museum (Montana), Booth Western Art Museum (Georgia), National Sculpture Society (New York), and Royal Academy of London (UK).
Accompanying Publications
The traveling exhibition is complemented by two newly released hardcover monographs from SNAP Publishing (Copenhagen, Denmark), each featuring 200 richly illustrated pages chronicling the artists’ creative evolution:
Traveling Museum Exhibition Schedule:
The Museum of Western Art — Kerrville, Texas
Exhibition Concludes: January 10, 2026
Museum of the Big Bend — Alpine, Texas
March 6, 2026 – May 30, 2026
Museum of East Texas (MET) — Lufkin, Texas
June 12 – September 17, 2026
Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts — Spring, Texas
October 3, 2026 – January 2, 2027
Art Museum of Southeast Texas — Beaumont, Texas
January 29 – May 16, 2027
Phippen Museum of Art — Prescott, Arizona
June 12, 2027 – September 15, 2027
Additional venues to be announced.
https://www.metlufkin.org/post/the-new-american-west-by-brush-and-by-bronze
Media Contact
For interviews, high-resolution images, or additional information, please contact:
Samantha Paige Furgason
ARTWORKinternational INC PRESS
+1 505 / 480 7744
sam@artworkinternational.com