I was one of 5 artists chosen to be reviewed in Sunday's Pittsburgh Tribune-Review of the Fiberart International exhibition.

Gail Godwin once said, “There are two kinds of people: one kind, you can just tell by looking at them at what point they congealed into their final selves. It might be a very nice self, but you know you can expect no more surprises from it. Whereas, the other kind keep moving, changing... They are fluid. They keep moving forward and making new trysts with life, and the motion of it keeps them young. In my opinion, they are the only people who are still alive. You must be constantly on your guard against congealing.”

My father was such a man. He devoted his life to learning, growing, and being fully alive, and those qualities were his greatest gift to us.

It is hard to imagine what it must have been like for my father, at age 13, to see his mother leave her family to join the army for a more exciting life. It was the late 1940’s, when such behavior was unheard of, but… in my father’s oft-repeated words, his mother, a vivacious, Auntie Mame-type character, left a man “whose idea of a good time was taking off his shoes” to travel the world.

This event, coupled with other shadowy episodes of the sort that people rarely speak about now, and most CERTAINLY did not discuss back then, caused him to seek refuge in books, films and the unwavering pursuit of a self-actualized life. He used every trick in the book to ingrain this pursuit into his children, and we are now sharing them with his grandchildren.

In young adulthood, he pursued the beginnings of a religious vocation like his brothers, but told us that he left after having dreams of his future children.  Those dreams led him to Julie, his “Jewel”, who gave him five children. These children remember lying on the floor after dinner, with the lights dimmed, while he played music on the record player, asking us what we “saw” when we closed our eyes and listened. Long before the days of VCRs, he shared his love of film with us, putting us to bed well before our bedtime, only to wake us later when an amazing movie was on TV. His favorites were old Technicolor musicals, but he also loved the classics, and continued to see most of the popular, foreign, and independent films that came out until the day he died. He introduced us to sitting on the front porch to watch thunderstorms unfurl, and going to the airport on Sunday afternoons to watch the planes, followed by ice cream. He delighted in going on rollercoasters as much as any child. He taught us how to be fully alive in the world, to be awake, critical, and curious.  Despite our lack of resources, we were taught to savor: as children, we were told to chew our food 27 times, and, on Christmas, we opened presents all day long, so we might appreciate each gift that we got and thank the giver appropriately.

He loved teaching French and Latin at Binghamton Central High School. I remember his excitement each time he came up with a novel concept for his class to get them interested in the subject matter.  He was an incredible teacher at home as well, often making up games so the lessons we learned would be fun. As a parent now myself, it is plain to see that he thoughtfully orchestrated our education, and devoted incredible amounts of energy to its creative implementation. Despite always holding down a second job to make ends meet, we were, for a good part of his life, his vocation and highest priority.

In 1972, he rented out our house and took his wife and a family of then-four children to live in France for a year, on half of a high school teacher’s salary. We were poor, but got to attend French public schools, experience a vastly different culture, and our lives were transformed forever. As a result, three of us have returned to live in Europe on our own as adults. Back when we were in high school, there was not a book we read for English, French, or Philosophy class that he did not remember and discuss with us. Dinner at our house was the place to be for our friends, because we had animated conversations on fascinating subjects. We were always encouraged to express our opinion, even if it challenged my father’s beliefs, because thinking for ourselves was valued above all else. 

A gentle, devout man, there was not an ounce of entitlement in him. It was rare to see him get angry… although life dealt him many blows, he internalized the pain, rather than lashing out at those around him. He was intensely private, and when he had his first stroke in ’93, he self-consciously withdrew from many social situations, was forced to relinquish many of his dreams and activities, and, in his own words “grew down”, essentially living a life of the mind. If you saw him on the street, he often looked disheveled, as his left side was not working so well, and he was not the kind of man to let others dress him, but late at night he was writing eloquent short stories. We recently learned that the workers at The Binghamton Public Library know him by name. Even late in his life, my father was a keen, silent observer of human nature, the man who unobtrusively sat in the corner, noticed everything, and then stunned with his astute comments, often delivered with a dry sense of humor. Despite his intellectual acuity, he was often humorously unpredictable. Only a month ago, at Easter, though he was having trouble walking, he woke from a nap on the couch, donned my daughter’s frilly Easter bonnet, hobbled to the front door, and just stood there, grinning, until someone noticed him, then asked, “Why should Ilaria have all the fun?”

He resembled no one so much as the George Bailey character in “It’s a Wonderful Life”. Earnest, idealistic, vivacious and naïve, when my father went into real estate, inspired by George Bailey’s actions in the film, he specialized in “farm home” properties, to help people of modest means get into their first homes.

Bob Kretz was learning every day of his life. When he retired years ago, he began auditing classes at SUNY Binghamton: photography, creative writing, history. literature. Last year, at the age of 76, he started learning Italian to add to his repertoire of French and Latin. He often sent his children books or films that he thought might be of particular interest, or relevant to what was going on in our lives at that moment.

These are but a few examples of my father’s spirit, and the many gifts he gave to us. As Auntie Mame said, “Life is a banquet…. and most poor suckers  are starving to death!” Robert Kretz is a man whom, for most of his life, had more movies and books in his collection than dollars in the bank, but, today, our lives, and the lives of our children, are deeper for his life choices.

 He was a dreamer… with all of the riches, and, sometimes unfortunate consequences, that come with that mantle. As a result, I’m a dreamer, too.

And at this moment, in MY dream, I see my father, sitting in a café on The Left Bank of Paris, watching the sun set, reading a book, and, let’s face it, drinking a glass of wine… maybe even smoking a cigarette, because he is finally free.

R.I.P.  Robert James Kretz, 1935 -2013

April/May Announcements

I have been notified that I am a Trawick Prize Semi-Finalist!

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My participation in Fiberart International and the associated workshops has encouraged me to move forward to publish a comprehensive 30 pg book of my fiber work on Blurb, available in hardcover, softcover, and e-book.
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"Milestones: Textiles of Transition" opens at the San Jose Museum of Quilts and Textiles on May 8th. The show is curated by Deborah Corsini. I have two hair embroidery works about Motherhood there. The reception is in early June, still figuring out of that is a possibility for me.
Milestones: Textiles of Transition runs from May 8 - July 21, 2013.

Milestones: Textiles of Transition explores how historic and contemporary textiles have been created for and continue to signify moments of transition—birth, marriage, and death, among others—and the unique bond these textiles have with our universal human experience. As material objects they play an important role in all of our life passages, either as utilitarian objects, or as ceremonial and symbolic pieces.
Milestones: Textiles of Transition seeks to facilitate a dialog between the traditional commemorative or functional textiles and modern interpretations of these familiar experiences by contemporary artists. Comprised of approximately forty objects, the exhibition includes a wide variety of textiles including historic baby and wedding quilts, ethnographic works such as kuba velvets and bani guili beadwork (worn during puberty rites) and provocative quilts, sculptures, and installations by contemporary artists pursuing these timeless themes.Contemporary artists featured include: Paula Chung, Susan Else, Kate Kretz, Victoria May, Mary Mazziotti, Stephanie Metz, Noël Palomo-Lovinski, Erica Spitzer Rasmussen, Beverly Raynor, Deidre Scherer, Linda Friedman Schmidt, Wendeanne Ke’aka Stitt, Ruth Tabancay, Angie Wilson, Victoria Findlay Wolfe, Lisa Sipes and Luminarium Dance Company

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I have one work in the Triennial exhibition Fiberart International 2013 at the Society for Contemporary Craft in Pittsburgh. They have published a gorgeous catalog. The show will travel to the San Jose Museum of Quilts & Textiles, San Jose, CA, November 6, 2013 - January 19, 2014
and the Franklin G. Burroughs - Simeon B. Chapin Art Museum, Myrtle Beach, SC
January 19 - April 24, 2014 

I will be giving a talk and offering some workshops at The Society For Contemporary Craft this summer:

DIGGING DEEP: FIND YOUR VISUAL VOCABULARY
Friday, June 21 | 9 am - 4:30 pm
This one-day intensive workshop serves artists who work in all media, at virtually any stage in their development. In addition to mining for subject matter and discovering one's own unique forms of presentation, the featured exercises can be repeated after the workshop to refresh an artistic practice or recover from 'artist's block.'

PSYCHOLOGICAL CLOTHING
Saturday and Sunday, June 22 & 23 | 9 am - 4 pm
Co-sponsored by the Fiberarts Guild of Pittsburgh
Students will transform a found article of clothing into a provocative, wearable work of art. Discharge, painting, appliqué, hand embroidery, and embellishment will be used to create engaging clothing that 'speaks.'

Sign up for either workshop here: https://clients.mindbodyonline.com/ASP/home.asp?studioid=23447

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In May, I will have 3 brand new hair embroidery pieces in "Hair Apparent", opening at the Athenaeum in Alexandria, VA. The show is curated by Twig Murray.

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Finally, thrilled that I will be part of a two person Booth Project with Gaston Ulgalde at LINK Artfair - Hong Kong from May 23 - 26, 2013, with Hardcore Art Contemporary Space

My father is in hospice and will not make it to the end of the week. He has probably influenced my work more than any other human on this earth. I have realized that so much of my work is about him, the kind of person he was, the difficulty of his life, and his responses to it.

So much happening!

Fiberart International opens Friday, April 19, 5:30 - 8:00 pm.
There are two locations for the show: Pittsburgh Center for the Arts, & Society for Contemporary Craft. My work and I will be at SCC during the opening. I have already given all my passes away to immediate family, I think there is a $5 charge at the opening if you are not a member, but I am told there will be a luxe spread !

There is a Forum the next day where all the artists will be speaking about their work, and I will be back in June to give an artist's talk and a series of workshops: A non media-specific "Finding Your Visual Voice" workshop, a 2-day Psychological Clothing workshop, and an Artists-Who-Happen-To-Be-Mothers Film Screening / Go Out for Drinks Evening.

I stayed up three nights in a row creating a fairly comprehensive Blurb book of my fiber work to have available at the Forum. I will have a few available for purchase there, but you can have one shipped to your door by going right to Blurb. Inexpensive e-books, softcover, and super deluxe coffee table versions available!

"Sauvage" (working photo, unframed), 2013, human hair embroidery on hair, 5 x 5.5"

I am happy to announce that soon my silverpoint pieces will also be available at Snyderman-Works Gallery in Philadelphia!

Jerry Cullum, Senior Editor of Art Papers, called my piece below "One of the best artworks he had seen in 2009". The 63 small drawings made during my daughter's first year are on exhibition for the first time in Kansas, at Butler Community College. "Postpartum" opened on Friday, March 1st, at the E.B. White Gallery at BCC, and will continue through April 5th. The exhibition was curated by Rachel Epp Buller.

Working photos of new piece... soon will have enough new work to call photographer and get them all shot.
Deluge II, 2013, tarnished silverpoint on found ladle, 7 x 2.5 x 1.5"

New Silverpoint on Spoons

Still in heavy recovery mode from rotator cuff surgery.
New work, more to come soon:


Below: Tempest II (working photo), silverpoint on found spoon, 8 x 1.75 x 1"
 

Below: Tempest III (working photo), silverpoint on found spoon, 8 x 1.75 x 1"


 

2-3 weeks ago, had rotator cuff surgery... arm to be in a sling for another 3 weeks, but, luckily, it was my strength arm, not my precision arm, so I am still able to work, by choosing my projects carefully. Prior to surgery, I made a commitment to do a piece using mosquito netting for a benefit auction at my gallery, so I spent my first two weeks of recuperation embroidering a mosquito onto the netting, while watching some good movies. The piece is below, it sold for $800, which will provide 80 nets for Venezuelan families.

On Friday the 1st, "Adornment", featuring works from the Belger Family Foundation, opened at the Belger Art Center in Kansas City. My Defense Mechanism Coat was included, along with work by Terry Allen, Shae Bishop, Nick Bubash, William Christenberry, Viola Frey, Misty Gamble, Ellen Greene, Guy Johnson, John Kacere, Kate Kretz, Marilyn Levine, Ed Massey, Jack Mendenhall, Moses Nornberg, Judy Onofrio, Herb Snitzer, Renée Stout, William T. Wiley and others from the Belger Collection.

Currently working on 3 different projects, including hair embroidery, silverpoint drawings on silverpoint, and my first works in pyrography!

new work in progress........

Getting ready to head to Miami for Art Basel.
My work can be seen at Scope Art Fair, 
in the Hardcore Art Contemporary Space Booth, Booth F03

Currently have work in China at the "From Lausanne to Beijing" Biennial Exhibition, and have been invited to participate in Fiberart International 2013 and a group show at the San Jose Museum of Textiles next year! The paper I gave at the Biennial Textile Symposium in DC this past September is now available for viewing online (it has almost 700 views!) Also hope to be announcing some workshops soon.

Here is the paper/powerpoint on motherhood I presented at the National Textile Symposium in DC last month.

Susan Breen interviewed me for her Mother Musing blog, a great blog about artists who happen to be mothers.

The Washington Post picked the "Campaign Re/Form" exhibition for it's "Going Out Guide" yesterday, along with an image of my flag piece!

Insanely busy, mostly tweaking my paper for the Textile Society's Symposium in D.C. next Thursday, Sept 20th. The Berliner/Liste Art Fair begins tomorrow, and I have four pieces there with Hardcore Art Contemporary Space, Booth G 1.51. The fair runs through the 16th. Above are some images posted by the gallery.

I also have work in the exhibition "Campaign Re/Form: Artists Reimagine the Election Process", opening tomorrow at the Greater Reston Arts Center in Reston, VA. The exhibition was curated by Holly Bass.

Also just found out that my work has been accepted into the International Biennial Fiber Exhibition "From Lausanne to Beijing" in Beijing, China!

Several of my pieces are heading to the Berliner Liste Contemporary Art Fair in Berlin next week!

Seeking Long Grey Hair

Please pass on:
I am working on a new piece, an image of beauty and empowerment, that will be embroidered entirely from women's grey and white hair. I think the piece will be that much more potent if it includes the hair of as many women as possible.

Your hair can be included in the piece if you throw even a few strands of clean, untangled grey or white hair (8" or longer - I can't work with short hair) in a small baggie, then an envelope. (What I do is just run my fingers through my hair after shampooing.)

Mail to:

Kate Kretz
P.O Box 187
Spencerville, MD 20868-0187

I will close the PO Box Feb 15th.

If you use Fed Ex or UPS, you must mail to:
Kate Kretz

 P.O. Box 187
2323 Spencerville Rd.
Spencerville, MD 20868-0187

Thank you!

So, this is what I WANT to be working on right now, but what I need to work on is polishing my paper for the Textile Symposium in a few weeks. Being a grown-up stinks.

Anti-Spectacle Art

Looking for work that is contemporary in concept and concerns, while embracing several of the following qualities:

1. Sincerity
2. Earnestness
3. Love of process
4. Intimacy
5. Obsessiveness
6. Preciousness
7. Depth
8. Smallness of scale

Especially interested in work that is heavily invested with meaning or feeling. Objects must be primarily made by the artist themselves.

Work to be presented as part of a future academic paper, and possibly worked into an exhibition. Please comment below with links or email me at kkretz4art@aol.com. 

Opening tomorrow:

"This and That: Unconventional Selections from the Permanent Collection", at The Frost Museum in Miami. One of my encaustics from the "Sanctum" series will be included.

Been working on several projects... a new, fairly large painting is the one that has me lying awake nights. Here is a detail of the cartoon. Been craving studio visits because this one really has me vacillating wildly, thinking that it is going to be a really important piece, or that it is going to be completely off-base. It really kind of needs to be amazing because the subject matter is going to upset lots of people for lots of different reasons.

Just returned from a commando trip to NYC.... MAD museum, FIT museum, an Amanda Palmer concert with a surprise appearance by David Byrne. Not teaching this summer, but inundated with projects. Started a new hair embroidery, researching and writing a paper for the Textile Symposium in D.C. this Fall, and working on the cartoon for my first large painting in 4 years. I know what the subject matter will be, but I have no idea what it is going to look like. Stay tuned.

Weirdposse, an Italian blog, did a piece about Victorian hair art, and included my work as a contemporary example of hair as medium.

"Feral", 2012, hair embroidery on artist's hair, 3.5 x 3.5".
Made for a mini-textiles exhibition.

The Cutting & Stitching Edge at Mr. X Stitch featured my work today!

I am starting a period of extreme productivity, and have decided that, in addition to little visual snippets from time to time of work in progress, I will post my Google searches as I go along, a kind of research diary. This morning's......

Thesaurus: unruly
Thesaurus: wild
Google Search: glass petri dish
Google Search: feral
Dictionary: feral

A few weeks back, the whole front page of the Sunday Arts section of El Nuevo Herald featured my work... today, there was another big pic in the arts section. I can't help but think I have a friend at the paper.. an old student, perhaps?

My show was reviewed by Veron Ennis in Art Districts Magazine!

Starting some new work... some of it very new and scary....will be posting tidbits soon. Today, discovered that my work was featured as one of the Critic's Choice - Picks for Summer 2012 by Elisa Turner of Art Circuits, and it made my day!

I've changed my mind about Damien Hirst. This video helped. Now I'm off to find a video about Jeff Koons that has the possibility to do the same thing.

Threads & Needles, a French blog...

Chris Quigley at Quigley's Cabinet blog wrote a piece about my hair embroideries today!

My current show was featured as an Editor's Pick on Flavorpill, and Hair is For Pulling blog wrote a very well considered post on my hair embroideries. Happy Mother's Day!

If I could do cartwheels, I would. The Huffington Post just did a beautifully researched piece on my work. SO happy... so wonderful when people "get it".

Onward.

The statement for my current exhibition:

"One of the functions of art is to strip us bare, reminding us of the fragility common to every human being across continents and centuries. Often, I will meet someone, and the visible weight of his or her life becomes almost unbearable to me, it rips me open. The objects that I make are an attempt to articulate this feeling.

These are serious times for many people, and this body of work, made during a difficult period in my own narrative, has literally saved my life. The repetitive act of embroidery seems to be made for calming worry... trying to tie things down, sew them in, make them stay. Embroidering with hair possesses its own unique intensity: each barely perceptible stitch is like a rosary bead, marking a tiny but ardent prayer whispered over and over.

I consider the inordinate amount of time invested in each piece as a gift given to the viewer. It often feels as though the cathectic things I make are an act of profound resistance: I give birth to the tactile as I am swallowed by the virtual. I obsess over craft as our world becomes disposable. I wield emotion in its messiness because it's uncool. I work until my hands shake, because the world does not care.

I am banging my head against the wall, but the stain is beautiful."

So, it occurred to me (awaking with a start at 3:15 a.m.) that Adriana Herrera, the Nuevo Herald writer, is the first one to articulate a vital aspect of my work... art as protection, art as exorcism. I have never ascribed to the "know when to stop" philosophy of art making... I have always worked on things until there is nothing I could possibly do to make the work stronger. I have always been aware of a kind of essential neuroticism in my process that other artists I know do not seem to struggle with. I have always had a hard time letting my work go because I feel like so many of the pieces I have made have literally taken years off of my life, that they were imbued with something that I myself could not put into words. I have sold less work than I should due to the fact that I will not price them lower, because I feel there is blood in them: this seems like a melodramatic thing to say in this day and age, but that does not make it less true. 

The light bulb that went off in my head in the middle of the night is that (not coincidentally) my particular creative process is like doing everything that you can to help an alcoholic or depressive get better, so when you finally let them go, you can be at peace, knowing in your own mind & heart that you did everything that YOU were capable of doing. I have always known that my process had something to do with my familial pathologies, but I wrote it off as simply being a way to channel the addictive tendencies I was born/raised with into something productive. But Ms. Herrera is right when she noted "as if the extreme effort put into it would protect what is represented." I realize that I have always used my art in this way, whether exorcising the fears, experiences, darkness, or weaving a spell, conferring a blessing.

I couldn't be more delighted with the press that my current show is receiving. The last few years have been some of the most difficult in my life... the physical and emotional conditions were beyond daunting. I am usually pretty hard on myself, always thinking of that (impossible) goal that I was aiming for rather than what I actually achieved, but looking at the show, I am extremely proud that I was able to produce that work. 

I have had lots of shows over the years, but this one means more to me than most. To be given the opportunity to have these pieces be seen beyond the few hundred people who might experience them in the gallery is a great gift to me. 

That said, what I am really excited about is stretching some velvet and gessoing some paper today for the next pieces, pushing, pushing forward.

A virtual walk-through of the "Your Fragility..." solo show at Hardcore Art Contemporary Space is available here.

Very kind words about my work in CraftGossip blog...