gretchen kish

Gretchen Kish is visual artist living and working in Northern California. her work is based on observations of our wild, natural, and seemingly infinite universe in all its richness and complexity. Working in oil on linen and canvas from her studio, she ventures into forests, jungles, wades into lakes, rivers and the sea, and climbs mountains, to witness the secret life of plant communities, the slow drama of geological time, the way moonlight transforms the landscape as the clouds slide across the sky.

Working mostly from her own photographs of these encounters: jungle canopies thick with mystery, water cutting through stone over millennia, volcanoes in the distance, she paints across vast time scales—from the fleeting moment of storm light to the ancient forces that shaped continents—seeking to represent the depth of our experience within this ancient and transforming universe. She works with an intensely colored palette that mirrors nature's own audacity—the shocking greens of jungle depths, the deep purples of pre-dawn skies, the infinite ocean grays caught in storm light.

Her work captures vast time scales, and instances when the natural world reveals something unexpected—a flash of beauty, or the sudden recognition of forces so ancient they humble our human-scale concerns. Through this synthesis of observation, color, and wonder, she creates an immersive experience that draws viewers deep into the natural world, asking us to feel our place within the creative and destructive dance that surrounds us, sustains us, and ultimately long outlasts us.