Featured Artist

Kathleen Frank is a Santa Fe landscape artist. She was raised in Northern California, received a BA in Design from San Jose State University, an MA in Printmaking from Penn State and was greatly influenced by her study of woodcarving. She taught printmaking, and costume design, and co-founded the Printmakers Studio Workshop of Central Pennsylvania. Ultimately, Frank shifted to painting, seeking the pattern and light in PA farms, the details of California scenery from mountains to sea and now the unique landscapes of the wild west.

Artist Statement

Having been an art teacher, printmaker and woodcarver in my formative years, I emerged as a painter, joyously overwhelmed by color and searching for pattern. Pattern and color are everywhere, but the seeing and interpretation of both are different for each of us. Pattern in nature is primal to me, and fuels my desire to find a glimmer of logic in the vastly complicated, confusing and tumbled landscapes. I seek out vibrant hues in the land.

All of my oil paintings begin with a saturated red orange backdrop. This is then overlaid with the main imagery, applied with distinct brushstrokes of brilliant color. Hints of the red background peek through like a woodcut, and create a subtle impact without drawing attention from the primary subjects.

Several times a year I travel throughout the Southwest, hiking and photographing vistas for future paintings. My goal is to catch the light and design in these scenes in all its strangeness and beauty. It is a lofty goal, but I find when the quest is shepherded with paint and brush it is a delightfully daunting adventure.

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