Museum visualizes ‘The New American West’
The Museum of the Big Bend in Alpine has brought together two very different artists—a sculptor and a painter—to visualize The New American West.
The exhibition brings together Kathleen Frank’s vibrant, pattern-rich oil paintings and Mark Yale Harris’ stylized figurative and wildlife bronze sculptures, with each artist contributing a distinctive interpretation of the region’s landscape, culture, and spirit—offering a compelling dialogue on form, imagination, and the evolving narrative of the American West.
The artists are represented by 26 galleries together, and their work is held in public and private collections worldwide. The touring exhibit of sculpture and painting is being presented across three museums including the Museum of the Big Bend, with the exhibit running March 6 to May 30 on the Sul Ross State University Campus—Entrance Four from Harrison Street. The exhibition was previously at the Museum of Western Art in Kerrville, Texas, and will travel to the Pearl Fincher Museum of Fine Arts in Spring, Texas, from October 3, 2026–January 2, 2027.
Based in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Frank captures the energy and structure of the land through 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.
Frank’s experience in the Big Bend was a Rhodes Scholar trip for a week to the area last year, in which she hiked much of the National Park. While the desert may seem drab at times, Frank says she naturally pulls out colors for her style of vibrant strokes. “You can see color,” she says. “You just have to enhance that color. You know there’s something there, and you just deepen it and make it more pronounced.”
Her 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.
Sculpture inspired from the land he loves
Living and working in Colorado’s Roaring Fork Valley (by way of Santa Fe and Austin), 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.
Harris says he’s spent a good chunk of the last 25 years in the Big Bend, so it’s a familiar stomping ground for him and a natural source of inspiration. “I love my times out there, have really fond memories,” he says. “It’s unique and beautiful country … I used to float the canyons, take horseback trips into Mexico … took a horseback trip with journalist Molly Ivins at one point.”
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.
Some of Harris’ sculptures are what you’d expect—horses, cattle. Bear Tango, on display at the museum, however, was a bit different. “I think that came outta my imagination,” he says. “It was just something I dreamed up and created.”
His work has been exhibited at 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 the Royal Academy of London (UK).