FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: KATE KRETZ WINS 2016 SECAC AWARD FOR OUTSTANDING ARTISTIC ACHIEVEMENT

The 2016 SECAC Award for Outstanding Artistic Achievement was awarded to Kate Kretz, an artist / professor working in MD. This award recognizes, encourages, and rewards individuals who have been particularly successful in their creative work as demonstrated through regional, national, or international exhibitions or presentations.

The Awards Committee comments stated that Kate’s work, “… tackles challenging issues that address identity, gender, politics, and popular culture,” and that the work was, “Broad-ranging, deeply invested, highly skilled … aesthetically and theoretically powerful.” It was noted that Kretz works in multiple mediums from painting to fiber arts and that she has an extensive national exhibition record with coast-to-coast venues, as well as international museum exhibitions.

SECAC is a national non-profit organization devoted to education and research in the visual arts. Founded in 1942, SECAC provides advocacy and support for arts professionals and engenders opportunities for the exchange of scholarship and creative activities through an annual conference and publications. Though founded initially as an organization of artists, scholars, and arts professionals from the southeastern states, SECAC has grown to include individual and institutional members from across the United States and around the world, becoming the second largest national organization of its kind.