Kate Kretz

Who is Kate Kretz?

Kate Kretz is an American artist born in Grove City, PA, and raised in upstate New York.

Kretz attended the Sorbonne in Paris, and obtained a BFA in drawing and painting from Binghamton University, and was accepted into the Hoffberger School of Painting, but attended and earned an MFA from the University of Georgia in Athens, GA.

Her painting is influenced by imagery of Catholicism and Technicolor films. She has created drawings in various media, paintings, embroideries done with human hair, and a series of Psychological Clothing.

Kretz' painting, "Blessed Art Thou", executed in 2006, depicted actress Angelina Jolie as the Virgin Mary, hovering in the clouds with her children above a Wal-Mart store. This painting was exhibited at the Miami Art Fair in January 2007 and created a worldwide controversy that was covered by ABC, NBC, CBS, CNN and Fox television networks, as well as The International Herald Tribune and The New York Times. A full size study for the work was included in the 2011 exhibition "Beyond RE Production: Mothering", at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin.