Kate Kretz
Emotional Labor Apron, 2019
hand embroidery on vintage apron, detailing one day of emotional labor 30 x 45" (variable)
Kate Kretz
Social Murder, 2020
deconstructed MAGA hats, cotton, thread 5 x 8.5 x 4"
From the MAGA Hat series. I cut up individual MAGA letters and pieced them together to make the new text on a mask made from deconstructed MAGA hats.. "Social Murder" is a term coined by Friedrich Engels referring to the unnatural death that occurs due to social, political, or economic oppression. "The class which at present holds social and political control"... "places hundreds of proletarians in such a position that they inevitably meet a too early and an unnatural death," In this case, Trump's approach to/denial of Covid.
Kate Kretz
Untitled (flag), 2008
embroidery on deconstructed flag, embroidery floss, batting 22.5 x 104"
Deconstructed flag. Original machine-embroidered stars are ripped out and replaced with hand embroidery. Center is padded, like a band-aid.
Kate Kretz
Une Femme D’Un Certain Âge, 2014
crowdsourced grey hair of many women, hand embroidered on black cotton 33 x 22"
Hair is like the rings of a tree, it records illnesses, stress, pregnancy, etc. I crowd-sourced the grey hair of many women, and hand-embroidered a silver dagger on black cotton.
Kate Kretz
One Day In America, 2018
hand embroidery on found deconstructed cross stitch, gold thread, 96 beads & star sequins (one for every gun death per day in the U.S.), blue cotton velvet 28 x 16"
hand embroidery on deconstructed found cross stitch, 96 beads & star sequins (one for every gun death per day in the U.S.), 28 x 16"
Kate Kretz
Reparation: Where Our Greatness Lies (detail), 2019 - 2022
deconstructed cotton U.S. flag, thread 57 x 112”
All the machine-embroidered white stars were ripped out and replaced with hand-embroidered stars representing all the melanin scale skin tones of U.S. citizens. 550-hour project.
Kate Kretz
Reparation: Where Our Greatness Lies, 2019 - 2022
deconstructed cotton U.S. flag, thread 57 x 112”
All the machine-embroidered white stars of a U.S. flag were ripped out and replaced with hand-embroidered stars representing all the melanin scale skin tones of U.S. citizens. Title is a reference to the "Make America Great Again" slogan. 550-hour project.
Kate Kretz
Cognitive Dissonance: “Buttercup” (detail), 2015
hand embroidery on black cotton velvet 16 x 12” oval
Kate Kretz
Rupture (detail), 2018
crowdsourced grey hair from people who have experienced profound loss hand embroidered on cotton 33 x 23"
Kate Kretz
Hate Hat, 2019
deconstructed MAGA hats, cotton, thread 28 x 9 x 12"
Part of the MAGA Hat Series, where I ripped apart MAGA hats, then reconfigured the pieces into various corrective manifestations of the truth.
