Kretz attended the Sorbonne in Paris, and obtained a Bachelor of Fine Arts in drawing and painting from Binghamton University, and was accepted into the Hoffberger School of Painting, but attended and earned an Master of Fine Arts from the University of Georgia in Athens, Georgia.
She has created drawings in various media (including silverpoint), paintings, embroideries done with human hair, and a series of Psychological Clothing. This painting was exhibited at the Miami Art Fair in January 2007 and created a worldwide controversy that was covered by American Broadcasting Company, National Broadcasting Company, Columbia Broadcasting System, Cable News Network 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 Revue Economique Production: Mothering", at the Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien in Berlin.
Kretz also creates fiber-based art work, that has been featured at The Museum of Arts & Design in New York, The Van Gijn Museum in the Netherlands, Academy of Arts & Design at Tsinghua University in Beijing, The San Jose Museum of Textiles, the Society for Contemporary Craft, the Frost Art Museum and the Fort Collins Museum of Contemporary Artist
Her Psychological Clothing series includes a Defense Mechanism Coat with 150 lb (68 kg) of roofing nails pushed through the surface, and a Vagina Dentata Purse. Another textile series features obsessive human hair embroideries that look like intricate drawings.
