Gretchen Kish was born into a family of artists and writers in the midwestern United States, where she spent her childhood largely outdoors, in Akron, Ohio. Her study and exploration of the natural world began in a system of community parks that have now become a National Park. She received her first art award at age 6, a tempura painting of a large polar bear with the aurora borealis glowing against the arctic night sky. She is still painting the same ouvre, immersion in the natural world, today. She went on to drawing, painting and sculpture while earning her bachelor of arts at Ohio State University, and continued her art training in post graduate courses at Art Students League of New York, UCLA, Rowayton Arts Center, Center for Contemporary Printmaking and Darien Center for the Arts in Connecticut.
Her work is collected across the globe and has been published in magazines internationally.