Saturday, March 1, 2014

Artist KATE KRETZ - Blessed Are The Paintings, Drawings, Psychological Clothing, Hair Embroirderies


Christal Cooper – 1,942 Words

BLESSED THE THREAT OF HEAVY WEATHER
‘They brought her back on a Friday night
Same day I was born
We sent her up the smoke stack
And back into the storm
She blew up over the San Juan Mountains
And spent herself at last
The threat of heavy weather
That was what she knew the best.”
James Taylor

She was a seeker of the night, her red hair almost to her waist, glowing in the moonlight, and framing her blue-eyed face. 

The artist, born on March of 1963, considered the night her closest confidante, relishing in its slow motion and dark shadows, always finding inspiration. 

She’d make her studio there, with a light strapped to her forehead.  To Kathleen “Kate” Kretz, night was where she felt safest, where people seemed less guarded, more authentic, and where she always found a bounty of reference material.         

     “Now I think I work best in the morning, with the whole day stretched before me. I find I am more productive that way.”      

         Now Kretz has a day-to-day routine.  Every other day she rises early, drinks a cup of coffee and works in her studio.  The following days she goes to the gym, comes home to shower, and works in her studio.  Some days and nights she’ll work nonstop.    

         “I can’t sleep.  I am thinking about the next thing I want to do to the painting, so I might as well just get up and do it. My hands need to be busy all the time.”

         And Kretz has always had something in her hands at all times, ever since she was a little girl living in a small town outside of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Kretz, the oldest of five children, was born into a dysfunctional and chaotic family. 

She persevered via her magical and active imagination, in the form of books, film, and music. This imagination, along with a nurturing relationship with her siblings, enabled her to discover art.   

     “Art saved my life.  I believe I would have some other kind of addiction if I did not have my work. There have been many moments of despair in my life, and if I did not automatically turn to my work at those moments, I don’t know if I would be here.”

When Kretz was nine, living in France, she drew a self-portrait, which she now describes as “specific and pretty convincing.” 

While sitting in AP English class discussing the book “A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man,” Kretz knew she’d be an artist. 

     “Before that time, I was a bit lost and did not know how to channel my feelings. Everything fell into place and my position in the world finally made sense; I knew what I was here for.”

After high school graduation, Kretz moved to Paris where she worked as a nanny and attended the Sorbonne. 

A year later she attended SUNY Binghamton University in New York, where faculty member and sculptor Charles Eldred took her under his wing, and she studied the paintings of faculty member Don Demauro.  While working full time, she received her BFA in Drawing and Painting. 

She attended graduate school at University of Georgia where she was offered an assistantship.  

She also volunteered for Timeless Seeds of Atlanta, an organization that benefits inner city children, mostly African American.  The organization brings in professional artists for several weeks to teach the youth a variety of the arts.  The youth created their own work and displayed it at an art exhibition along with a silent auction.  Half of the proceeds went back to the youth and the other half was donated to Timeless Seeds.  Kretz taught 20 students drawing.

     “There was always a lot of noise in the classroom.  They were not comfortable with silence. There was a breakthrough the day that I introduced my work to them via slides.  I told them how art saved my life.  I told them how each one of my paintings was a way of transforming my own experiences into something powerful.  For the first time, they were completely silent.  They made drawings from their hearts.  It  was magical: I remember having goose bumps.”

In 1995, after graduating from graduate school she moved to Florida to take a teaching position at Florida International University, and was promoted to BFA Director, a position she held for over ten years.     

     “I had students of all ages, from all over the world. In one class, I had a student who was recently released from jail for stealing cars, next to one who could tell me what corner of the Louvre a particular painting was housed in.” 

         Kretz, after years of being single, met and married her husband.  Not long after the marriage, her husband was offered a position that required the couple to move to North Carolina.  The couple made an arrangement that pleased them both.  Kretz would give up tenure, move with her husband to North Carolina and become a full-time artist. 

     “Giving up tenure was the scariest thing I have ever done in my life.  It was a tremendous leap of faith, but I have always said that one should always have two or three lives within the one life that we are given.  It was time to put my money where my mouth was. It was the right decision.”

     The couple now reside in Marlyand, outside Washington D.C. wit their four year old daughter Ilaria, affectionately known as The Peanut.

Kretz is not a devout Catholic, but she describes herself as spiritual.  She attended Catholic schools through high school, and looks upon Catholicism as the visual language she best understands and can best communicate in.  

     ‘It, coupled with the Technicolor films I watched as a child, make up my vocabulary for saying what I need to say about the world around me. To those who criticize my use of Catholic imagery, I would tell them that getting me to use a different visual vocabulary is like asking me to speak in Russian because they do not like what I am saying using “their” English language.” 

Through this language and dialogue she is able to artistically express emotions in the forms of art:  paintings, drawings, psychological clothing, and hair embroideries.

     The painting, Blessed Art Thou, began as a desire for Kretz to paint a Mother Mary figure, but have the painting symbolize today’s age and priorities.   One day, while standing in line at Wal-Mart, she found herself surrounded with images of Angelina Jolie holding her children.  And then she saw within her mind the painting that needed to be made:  Angelina Jolie in the image of Mother Mary holding her three children, Maddox, Zahara, and Shiloh, floating in clouds, above a Wal-Mart. 

     Kretz also noticed the store’s green fluorescents and knew these lights would represent the psychological oppressive environment in which the consumer almost has no choice but to reach for a tabloid like one would reach for a diet drink, or a diet pill, and like the diet drink is ingested and the died pill is swallowed, the tabloid becomes a “food” the consumer consumes, hoping to get closer to their “ideal” image.

     Kretz is not a fan of the tabloids, has not watched TV regularly in over 25 years, and is not interested in popular culture.  As a result, a part of her brain was telling her the idea of this painting was absurd.  But the more she resisted the more she realized this was a painting that needed to be made.  When Kretz purchased her first tabloid and started research on Angelina Jolie, she found herself captivated and impressed by the actress. 

“I found that Ms. Jolie was truly doing more than your average celebrity.  I liked the fact that here were Christians out there condemning her for media-reported choices in her personal life, but her actions have been more “Christian” than the lot of her critics.”

         The drawing, Promise, a crying self-portrait, was made in one night while Kretz was house sitting for a friend.  

         She sat on the floor looking into the mirror, and, when she thought the drawing, which was taped to a board on an easel, was complete, she placed it in the corner of the room, beneath the rook of the house.  It rained that night, and, unbeknownst to her, there was a leak in the rook of the house.  The next morning she found rainwater running down the center of her drawing.

         “I impulsively tried to dab the water off before I realized that I should leave it.  They are faint, but you can still see the tear tracks running down the center of the drawing.” 

         Kretz decided to go deeper into her art and find a way of showing the vulnerability of human beings.  She took the concept of clothes and how we as humans use clothes to conceal, disguise, or reveal an image.  

         “I wanted to turn the insides out.  I feel as though I can see people wearing the weight of their entire life.  The Psychological Clothing series is an attempt to articulate that feeling.”

         The Defense Mechanism Coat is exactly that, the insides of a human being on the outside in the form of a coat.  The Defense Mechanism Coat is anatomically accurate and contains all the major veins and arteries of the body.  To insure this accuracy, Kretz set up her embroidery hoop with an anatomy book by her side for reference.

         The result is a 150-pound coat made of velvet, wood, nails, embroidery that is hand quilted and hand embroidered with velvet lining representing the actual veins and arteries of the interior body.     

It took Kretz over three months to create Threat Of Heavy Weather embroidery. Kretz has always been obsessed with tornadoes, has dreams about tornadoes, and considers tornadoes the perfect representation of her family. 

The title of her embroidery comes from the James Taylor song, about a troubled person in his family who dies.

     Kretz likes to paint self-portraits, using herself as a model, to express “certain kinds of emotional or psychological states, rather than to say something specific about myself.”

     Kretz wants people to respond with questions about their priorities, about self-delusion, or about not having a truthful life.  She wants them to wonder what it means to be human, what makes a life meaningful and significant.

     A lot of her work reveals the trials of women: low self-esteem; sainthood; and victimhood. Though Kretz is a feminist, she does not want her work to be categorized exclusively as feminist.

     “I have been in feminist shows before.  I don’t reject the label.  I just don’t want it to be the only label.  I take a multi-faceted approach to my work, and hope that the viewer will see that there are multiple layers or aspects to the work. I can say that I try to do good in my work, that I try to help people, but not in a conscious or didactic way.  I just try to tell the truth and paint what needs to be painted.”

Kretz’s Threat Of Heavy Weather is priced at $5000.  Her Blessed Art Thou had a price tag of $50,000. 
One might swallow hard over the price tag, but Kretz spends up to a year on her paintings, which are highly personal, require research, emotional sensitivity, intense energy, a colorful imagination, an open spirit, and a great skill.

Kretz is also venturing in to the writing field and is presently working on a few book projects.  For more information go to http://katekretz.blogspot.com or visit her website at http://www.katekretz.com or e-mail her at Kkretz4Art@aol.com


Photo Description and Copyright Information
(all photos printed with permission by Kate Kretz)

Photo 1
Kate Kretz standing in front of her painting “I let Him But I Didn’t Really Like it”.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 2
“Nocturnal Theater II” – acrylic/oil on canvas 51 < 62 1992.   Copyeright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 3, 5, 30
Kate Kretz in her New York City Studio in 2008.

Photo 4
Smaller portion of the painting “Requiem for Wassily and the Ineffable” 2009.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Phoo 6
Kate Kretz baby photo 1963/1964.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 7
Kate Kretz and her mother in 1964/1965.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 8
Kate Kretz (standing, far right) with her four younger siblings. Copyright by Kate KRetz.

Photo 9
“Requiem..For Wassily & the Ineffable”  Acrylic/oil on canvas.  176 X 116.  2007.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 10
Kate Kretz, far left, age 10, in 1973.  Copyright by kate KRetz.

Photo 11
First edition cover (Simon & Schuster) “A Portrait of the Artist As A Young Man.”.  by Joseph Heller, published in 2000.

Photo 12, 14, 16
Kate Kretz.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 13
Sorbonne, paris France in 2007.  GNU Free Documentation License 1.2 or later and CCA-SA 3.0 Unported.

Photo 15
Kate Kretz helping to restore the University of Georgia Chapel while in graduate school.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 17
Kate Kretz in  grapefruit tree in Miani.  Copyrightby Kate Kretz.

Photo 18
Kate Kretz at her 2008 show in the MIA gallery at the Miami International Airtport.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 19
Kate Kretz admiring a painting.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 20
Kate Krez in her homemade blue wedding dress on her wedding day.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 21.
Kate Kretz at her solow show at The Frost Musuem in 2005.  Behind her, from left to right
Crying Man.  Encaustic (was) on masonite 24 X 18 2004
Crying Man III Embroidery on red belvet  24 X 18 2005
Crying Man II Acrylic & oil on masonite 24 X 18 2005
Copyirght by Kate Kretz.

Photo 22.
Kate Kretz and husband Kevin at the wedding reception in Deering Estae, Miami, Florida.

Photo 23, 37
“Threat Of Heavy Wether” – hum,an hair embroidery on pillocase, pillow.  20 X 30 X 10 in 2003.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 24
“Jesus Nightlight” oil on canvas 60 X 38 in 1997.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 25
“Sacred Ovaries” acrylic/oil on canvas 70 X 42 in 2001.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 26, 27, 28, and 29
“Blessed Art Thou” oil & acrylic on linin  80 X 60 in 2006.  Copyright by Kate Kretz

Photo 31 and 32
“Promise” Prisma color charcoal rainwate ron appaer.  26 X 19 in 1997.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 33, 34, 35, 36
“The Defense Mechanism Coat” Velvet, wood, nails, embroidered veins.  45 X 28 X 12 in 2007.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 38
“Burrow” Prisma color/charcoal on paper  36 X 28 in 2000.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 39
“Hermaphroditic Romanticism” graphite,hair, charm, acrylic gel medium on tracing paper.  23 X 16 in 2001.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 40
“How To Tell If He Is Lying To You”  acrylic (oil) masonite  24 X 18 in 1996. Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 41
“Kim Hiding” acrylic/oil on linen  38 X 54 in 1994.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 42.
Kate Kretz standing next to “Cleave”  acrylic/oil on canvas  62 X 72 in 2001.  Copyright by Kate Kretz.

Photo 43
Kate Kretz website logo (www.katekretz.blogspot.com)

Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Guest Blogger: Poet/Writer Christopher Carmona on "roots"


Guest Blogger: Christopher Carmona
956.854.1717

roots
My story is Your story. They have the same roots.

My story, like many others, did not begin when Columbus landed on these shores. No, my story, like many others, begins with my mother and her mother and her mother and my father and his father and his father before that. It is a story of people, of practices that my great-grandmother taught my mother and that my grandfather taught my father.

My story has roots in Europe as well as here, what we call the Americas. It has grown many stems and many branches, but both come from the earth, nourished by the same rivers. This cross-pollination has resulted in a new breed, a new fruit that mixes together the qualities of the different seeds.

But my story, the story of Latin@s in this land, has a very violent and vicious backstory. It is a history we have had to deal with since our creation. The cross-pollination of us has tried desperately to eradicate our native seeds through genocide, rape, and re-education.

Wipe out any trace of our native roots, and they will forget they were ever indigenous to this land. “We are all immigrants” is the banner they fly over our heads. We don’t live on reservations. We don’t know our tribal affiliations. We are not native.

How many times have I heard stories of full-blooded Indian grandmothers locked away in little rooms because their families are ashamed of their native roots? How many Chican@s would rather celebrate Cinco de Mayo than remember Wounded Knee? How many Latin@s believe that English is a colonizing language and forget that Spanish has silenced just as many native tongues? We divorce ourselves from our native pasts and embrace our Spanish heritage because we believe we have no claim to our native roots, but we do…

Our blood is filled with as much native blood as Spanish or other European. Our stories are filled with as many native characters as European plotlines. Our poetry drips with as much native imagery as Western forms. 

But where our native roots show more than anywhere else is in our practices. We still have amongst us curanderos and wiseros and heuvos under our beds. We still talk about ojo and know the healing powers of aloe vera. Tortillas, potatoes, tomatoes, and maize are still the cornerstones of our diets, as they were thousands of years ago. 

But we still have a gap in our heritage, a vacancy that has been shoveled over with different traditions, tongues, religions, and practices. We don’t have a visible link to our stories and our practices because of erasure by beliefs that call our native heritage pagan, barbaric, and superstitious. Forgetting the fact that the Maya were practicing algebra, astronomy, and agriculture long before many understood the world was round.

But my story is Your story. They have the same roots.
The Latin@’s history shares the same roots as the native peoples of this land because, as Joy Harjo once told me, “We are all cousins.” We are all family estranged from each other because we have chosen to believe that imaginary borders can divide a people. 

The Rio Grande, the river that I have known my entire life, has never stopped me from crossing its waters: Fences and men with guns do. We create these boundaries mostly because we are told they are important, but these boundaries never serve our people’s interests. They do more to divide us than to protect us. But we are just as much to blame for these divisions as those who created these divisions. It is up to us to change things; it always has been and always will be.

In many ways, we share more in common with native peoples all over the Americas then we do with anyone else. Ironically, the food that is synonymous with Native peoples tells our story better than any other.

Corn (maize) has a unique history because it has never grown in the wild; it has always been cultivated. The only known wild plant that has a link to maize is teosinte. Now teosinte doesn’t look like corn, nor does it behave like corn in any way, yet it shares almost its entire DNA with corn (maize). Teosinte, a Mexican wildgrass, and corn (maize) can even be crossbred naturally, and they will grow and prosper without the aid of gene therapy. What scientists have been able to conclude about the origins of corn (maize) is that corn (maize) retains four out of the five genes from teosinte and that these genes have been relatively unchanged since corn’s (maize’s) creation.

Corn (Maize) is unique because it is able to cross-mingle its origins and still maintain a dual identity, which causes subtle changes while retaining its native genes. These strains become different species of corn (maize), yet they still retain their native wild plants in their genetic memory. So even though corn (maize) is one of the only plants engineered in nature by man, it still remembers its wild roots and is still vital to its evolutionary process.

Our mestizaje, our native and European ancestry, operates in the same way; we still remember in our genetic code our native roots, but unlike corn (maize), we have to remember and practice our native roots as deeply as our Spanish heritage.

My Chican@ story is your Native story. We have the same roots.
--excerpted from I Have Always Been Here, Otras Voces 2013.

PHOTO DESCRIPTION & COPYRIGHT INFO

Photo 1
Christopher Carmona website logo.

Photos 2, 4, 5,  
Copyright by Christal Cooper

Photo 3
Christopher Columbus is shown landing in the West Indies, on an island that the natives called Guanahani and he named San Salvador, on October 12, 1492. He raises the royal banner, claiming the land for his Spanish patrons, and stands bareheaded, with his hat at his feet, in honor of the sacredness of the event. The captains of the Niña and Pinta follow, carrying the banner of Ferdinand and Isabella. The crew displays a range of emotions, some searching for gold in the sand. Natives watch from behind a tree.  Attributed to John Vanderlyn, the first American painter to be trained in Paris.  Vanderlyn worked on this canvas for ten years with the help of assistants.  Public Domain

Photo 6
Immigrants entering the United States through Ellis Island, the main immigrant entry facility of the United States from 1892 to 1954.

Photo 7
Dat So La Lee demonstrating basket weaving, 1900.  Public Domain.

Photo 8
Don Pedro Jaramillo (Birthdate unknown – died in 1907)is a curandero, or faith healer from the Mexico-Texas region. He is known as "the healer of Los Olmos" and "el mero jefe" (English: the real chief) of the curanderos.  Public Domain.

Photo 9
"Las Tortilleras": women making tortillas, early 19th century Mexico. Hand-colored lithograph. Original size between neat lines: 43.6×30 cm.  Lithograph by Frederic Lehnerb after a drawing by Carl Nebel (1805-1855).  Public Domain.

Photo 10
Christopher Carmona.  Copyright by Christopher Carmona.

Photo 11
Joy Harjo (http://joyharjo.com) on December 4, 2012.  CCA-SA 3.0 Unported License.

Photo 12
Rio Grande near San Francisco Creek. USGS survey party led by Robert T. Hill in right foreground. Brewster County, Texas. 1899.  Public Domain.

Photo 13
Maize: (a) Lower part of the plant (b) top of plant with male inflorescense (c) middle of plant with female inflorescenses (d) ear/cob: (1) two pollen grains of a male inflorescense (3, 4) female flowers (5) female flowers with stigma (6) fruit bottom view (7) fruit side view (8) fruit cross-section views.  Attributed to Franz Eugen Kohler, Kohler’s Medizinal-Pflanzen.  Public Domain.

Photo 14
An image depicting Teosinte, Maize-teosinte hybrid, Maize.  Attributed to John Doebley.  CCA-SA 3.0 Unported License.

Photo 15
Variegated maize ears. Attributed to Sam Fentress.  GNUFD License 1.2 and CCA-SA 2.0 Generic.

Photo 16
I Have Always Been Here logo.