Gretchen is a native of Boise. She attended Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA where she studied with Keiko Hara, receiving her bachelor’s in Studio Art, graduating with Distinction. She earned a master’s degree in Occupational Therapy from Pacific University. Gretchen’s been the Artist in Residence at the Boise First Congregational United Church of Christ since 2017. Art is a spiritual practice she brings to others as well.

Gretchen uses wood as her canvas. She carves, paints, creates collage, and does pyrography and woodblock printmaking. Basically, she loves adding and subtracting layers of color, and teaching others.

Gretchen’s work in occupational therapy has influenced her daily practice of choosing the “just right challenge” to engage the brain in “flow” (a state of performance coined by Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi, the
American-Hungarian psychologist). Gretchen endeavors to help others also achieve a state of flow in the way they engage with their own art practices.

Gretchen is grateful to these teachers: her late aunt Beth Wiggins, Christine Raymond, Keiko Hara, Joyce Green, and her church family. The art scene in Boise is growing. Gretchen’s always looking to connect with art-minded folk, and she’d love to share ideas.