Kathleen Frank Bio

Artist Kathleen Frank is in love with nature. A contemporary landscape painter, she has hiked hundreds of miles to paint the land of the American Southwest and West. She is willing to go to any length to reach a precise vantage point, following the brilliance of the natural world that begs to be painted. It may take serious, longdistance hiking, up, down, and over rocky outcroppings, a plunge down an arroyo, or a sprawl in sagebrush to capture exactly what she wants. Still, she is never timid about climbing, trudging, and scrambling to reach a sought-after perspective or bird’s-eye view of the colorful and uniquely rugged landscapes.

Frank lives and works in Santa Fe, New Mexico. Raised in Northern California by adventurous teacher parents who hosted and nurtured hundreds of international students in their home and traveled around the globe with Kathleen and her sister during their free summers. Frank’s background proved invaluable in shaping her worldview regarding the diversity of cultures and artistic styles. She earned a BA in Fine Art and Design from San Jose State University in 1967 and obtained a California Teacher’s Certification in Art Education in 1968. Her first job was at Edwards Air Force Base in the Mojave Desert during the Vietnam 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. After the family moved to Pennsylvania 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 worldwide. 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, while alsoguest lecturing throughout the state and exhibiting the masks and costumes she designed.

She gradually shifted to painting, developing a style reminiscent of a woodcarverprintmaker. Her paintings express how patterns and repetition entice her. Discovering this in nature is primal for Frank – finding a glimmer of logic in complex, jumbled terrains and instinctively devising a sense of order from the randomness of our landscapes.

In her studio, she examines each photo to choose the images she wishes to paint. For Frank, any photo can be a gem in disguise. What resonates with her—whether it’s a tranquil panorama or a vibrant display—is when an unguarded emotion asserts itself. Her oil paintings begin with a saturated red-orange underpainting. Frank knows the ground will show through and wonders, “What could be more joyful than red?” She thinks of Swedish Dala horses, Chinese luck symbols, and the tropical setting sun. Her overlaid imagery is applied in broad, single brushstrokes of brilliant color, allowing hints of the background to peek through, much like a woodcut.

Frank is irresistibly drawn to vibrant colors. She seeks the splendor and gaiety of life around her. She captures light and design in all its strangeness and beauty. While the colors of nature influence her choices to some extent, the process of selecting hues and emphasizing or downplaying them is an active one, determined by what she chooses to accentuate. When, for instance, her yellows are surrounded by blue-violets, purples, and red-violets, she thinks, “Now you’ve got something striking, vibrant, and joyous to look at.” This is where she indulges in the playfulness of art-making.

Frank is not averse to creating repeat patterns instead of depicting every unique aspect of the landscape. The details she chooses to emphasize can be purely aesthetic. The overall essence and atmosphere of the image determine what is significant and which peripheral details are irrelevant. She acknowledges that she is not above adding a dramatic sky to a painting.

Frank also exults in using oils, as 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 Museum of Western Art, Kerrville, Texas; Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts, Spring, Texas; Musée de Peinture de Saint-Frajou, Saint-Frajou, France; International Art Museum of America, San Francisco, California; 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.

Publications highlighting her work include Apricity Magazine; Artwork Gallery Magazine, Issues 4 and 6, Kyiv, Ukraine; Cloud Appreciation Society, Somerton, UK; SAGE Magazine, Yale School for the Environment; Kestrel Journal; Gemini Magazine; Rappahannock Review; New Mexico Bar Bulletin, cover art; Abstract Magazine / Contemporary Expressions; ART UP MI, Milan, Italy; Western Art & Architecture; LandEscape Art Review, London; Southwest Art; New Mexico Bar Bulletin; Blue Mesa Review; Lullwater Review; Fourth River; Art Folio; The Uncoiled; Modern Renaissance, Washington, DC; Artful News and Notes, New Mexico State Committee/National Museum of Women in the Arts; Colorado Expression; Cordella Magazine; Lily Poetry Review; Forget-Me-Not Press; Defunkt Magazine; About Place Literary and Arts Journal;CALYX, Journal of Art and Literature by Women; Dream Noir; RipRap #45; Abandon Journal; The Healing Muse; Silk Road Review; Gone Lawn; The Working Artist; MVIBE Magazine, New York; Art Hole Magazine, London; Fine Art Connoisseur; Western Art Collector; Magazine 43, Berlin, Hong Kong and Manila; ArLijo; Monk Magazine, UK; Aji Magazine; Monograph, Calcutta; Iō Literary Journal; Chestnut Review; 3 Elements Review; Borrowed Solace; 805 Lit + Art; Thought Magazine; The MacGuffin; and Cowgirlmagazine. Frank was interviewed on Coffee + Culture, KTRC Radio 103.7, Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Art World Innovators, UMFM Radio 101.5, University of Manitoba, Canada.

Her work is held in numerous public collections, including: Desert Caballeros Western Museum, Wickenburg, Arizona; Climate Art Collection, Berlin, Germany; Silversea Luxury Cruises, Royal Caribbean Group, Fontvieille, Monaco; and the Pattee and Paterno Library, Pennsylvania State University, College Park, Pennsylvania.

Frank is represented by Ao5 Gallery, Austin, Texas; Alan Barnes Fine Art, Dallas, Texas; Christopher-Clark Fine Art, San Francisco, California; The Sportsman’s Gallery, Ltd. & Paderewski Fine Art, Beaver Creek, Colorado, Charleston, South Carolina and Nashville, Tennessee; JJ Gillespie Gallery, McMurray, Pennsylvania; La Posada de Santa Fe, Santa Fe, New Mexico; and Saks Gallery | Cherry Creek Art Gallery, Denver, Colorado.