about
KRISTINE BARRETT is an artist, musician, and independent researcher based in the San Francisco Bay Area. After completing a double BFA in Art History and New Media from the Kansas City Art Institute in 2001, Barrett went on to study music composition at Mills College, where she received an MFA in Electronic Music Composition and Recording Media in 2006. In 2023, she completed her second master’s degree (MA) in Folklore from the University of California, Berkeley. Her thesis entitled Inhabiting Numbers: Ecologies of Weaving and Embodied Mathematics explored the intersections between weaving and embodied practices, ecology, and polyphonic musical structures—resituating math and algorithms as traditional practices, rather than simply modern inventions. Given this, Barrett works in a variety of visual, aural, and academic disciplines, moving seamlessly between new music compositions, visual studies, vocal arts, folklore, sound installations, video/film, photography, weaving/fiber arts, drawing/painting, and traditional polyphony. Her work is grounded in academic rigor and discovery—exploring how research, studio practice, and performance are deeply interwoven, generative processes. Balanced between tradition and experimentation, Barrett embraces the material realities of the mediums she uses while simultaneously acknowledging the inherited and on-going histories/lineages intrinsic to each. She likewise employs a practice-oriented approach to both her academic research and art practice—embracing a deeply holistic approach to making and academic inquiry. Barrett’s multi-media work and music has been exhibited in galleries, art centers, and media festivals throughout North America and Europe, and has performed extensively locally and internationally as a soloist and in collaboration with a variety of ensembles. She has directed several community choirs throughout the San Francisco Bay Area in addition to teaching courses in Art History/Visual Studies, Gender/Women’s Studies, and New Media. She is currently performs with folk-jazz group Cantadora and the Hot Clams, and is a performing member of the acclaimed Kitka Woman’s Vocal Ensemble, where she likewise directs the San Francisco Kitka Community Choir.
Select EXHIBITIONS, PERFORMANCES & RECORDINGS
2024
Arts & Craft Exhibition, Sausalito Center for the Arts, group art exhibition, February 15-March 15 2024.
Kitka West & East Coast Tours, Various locations (Gualala Arts Center, Gualala, CA; Arcata Playhouse, Arcata, CA; Davidson College, Davidson, NC; Forbes Center for the Performing Arts, Harrisonburg, VA; Beacon Hill Concerts, East Stroudsberg, PA), musical performance with Kitka, March 2024.
Wintersongs: Songs of Sustenance, Various locations (St Paul’s Church, Oakland, CA; Old First Concerts, San Francisco, CA), musical performance with Kitka, February 2024.
Songs Against War: Ukrainian Folk Singing with Mariana Sadovska, Wendte Hall, First Unitarian Church of Oakland, musical performance and workshop with Mariana Sadovska, Janurary 2024.
2023
Wintersongs: Songs of Sustenance, Various locations (Davis Community Church, Davis, CA; St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Belvadere, CA; Peace United Church, Santa Cruz, CA; St. Bede’s, Menlo Park, CA), musical performance with Kitka, December 2023.
Spaulding Winter Fair, Spaulding Marine Center, music performance, December 2023.
Masters and Mariners Concert Series, Spaulding Marine Center, music performance, October 2023.
Global Roots Sonoma Festival, Green Music Center at Sonoma State University, performance with Kitka, Fort Rohert Park, CA; September 2023.
Lineages, The Leedy-Voulkos Art Center; art exhibition, March-May 2023.
2021
A Mallácht, collaborative EP release with Feminazgul, Adult Swim Singles, May 2021.
2020
Mödrar: Unvisited Tombs, self-release full-length album, 2020.
2019
Cantadora, self-release full-length album, Nov. 2019.
Cantadora Sephardia Release Concert, performance, The Seahorse Sausalito, CA; Nov. 2019.
Fort Ross Russian Festival, performance with Kitka, Fort Ross, CA; July 2019.
The Eve of the March, performance with Kitka, Theresa Wong, and Vajra Voices, Grace Cathedral San Francisco CA, 2019.
Chicago Children’s Choir World Music Festival, Workshop and performance with Kitka, Chicago, IL; February 2019.
KITKA Wintersongs Series 2018-19, project co-director and performance with Kitka, KQED’s Forum, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Oakland CA, St Bebe’s Menlo Park CA, Old First Church San Francisco CA, Da Camera Society Concerts Los Angeles CA, Filoli Woodside CA, Kanbar Art Center San Rafael CA, Veteran’s Memorial Auditorium Cruz CA, Old Town School of Folk Music Chicago IL; November-February 2019.
2018
Evening Star, Kitka full-length album on Diaphonica Records, 2018.
Master & Mariners Concert Series; developed new music series event with storytelling and music, celebrating maritime arts and traditional music, oral storytelling; Spaulding Marine Center, Sausalito, CA; November 2019, October 2018.
Let Her Sing!: A Celebration of Female Voices, performance with Ketevan Mindorashvili and Kitka, Diaspora Arts Connection, Palace of Fine Arts, San Francisco, CA, September 2018.
Caravan of Stories: Songs and Folktales from Georgia, curation, direction, and music performance; folktales and traditional Georgian Polyphony collaborative event with Silk Road House and Temple of Light Georgian Community Choir, Ashkenaz Berkeley, CA, September 2018.
Supra Club! With KITKA and Ketevan Mindorashvili, curation and coordinator, performance, Oakland, CA; August 2018.
Octopus Literary Salon, solo performance, Oakland, CA; May 2018.
Iron Shoes, Folk Opera musical performance with Shotgun Players and Kitka, Berkeley, CA; January - May 2018.
2017
KITKA Wintersongs Series 2017, performance with Kitka, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Oakland CA, St Bebe’s Menlo Park CA, Old First Church San Francisco CA, Kanbar Art Center San Rafael CA, Holy Cross Santa Cruz CA; performance with KITKA, December 2017.
Devil Mountain Concert Series, performance with Kitka, Walnut Creek CA; November 2017.
The Izba, The Shtibl, and the Global Village, performance with Lorin Sklamberg (The Klezmatics), Polina Shepard and Kitka, Piedmont Piano Company Oakland, CA; November 2017.
International Russian Choral Festival, performance with Kitka, St. Mark’s Church, San Francisco, CA; October 2017.
Sanctuaries, Leedy Voulkos Art Center, visual art exhibition and sound installation, Kansas City, MO; August-September 2017.
Feed Me Weird Things Summer Music Series, performance, Trumpet Blossom Café Iowa City, IA; August 2017.
New Music Bay Area’s Garden of Memory, solo performance & music performance with Svetlana Spajić and Kitka, Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, CA; June 2017.
Summer Songs From Eastern Europe, KITKA trio performance, San Anselmo Library, San Anselmo CA; June 16, 2017.
Temple of Light, music performance and direction: Temple of Light Georgian Community Choir, Ashkenaz, Berkeley, CA; May 2017.
Yerba Buena Garden Festival, performance with Kitka, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA; May 2017.
Vocal Embroidery: Ornamental Techniques from Bulgaria & Georgia, Oakland, CA; An intermediate/advanced workshop focused on various melismatic vocal techniques used in repertoire from Bulgaria and eastern Georgia, May 2017.
NPR’s Thistle & Shamrock, featured solo musician, April 20, 2017.
Songs of Sanctuary, solo performance, Red Poppy Art House, San Francisco, CA; April 2017.
Fort Ross Spring Festival, performance with Kitka, Fort Ross State Historic Park, CA; April 2017.
KITKA & the Young Women’s Choral Project, performance with Kitka, Calvary Presbyterian Church San Francisco, CA; March 2017.
Thomas Carnacki Anniversary Performance, Temescal Art Center Oakland, CA; music performance and collaboration with Thomas Carnacki, March 2017.
KALX UC Berkeley Radio - Sex 14s, performance and interview, March 2017.
Temescal Art Center, solo performance, Oakland, CA; March 2017.
Songs of the Beloved Concert Series, music performance with Mahsa Vahdat and KITKA, First Unitarian Church Oakland, CA; SF Live Arts @ Cyprian’s San Francisco, CA; February 2017.
2016
New Music Bay Area’s Garden of Memory, solo performance, Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, CA; June 2016.
SFCM Pacific Voice Conference, KITKA performance/demonstration, San Francisco Conservatory of Music, San Francisco, CA; September 2016.
Ensemble Basiani in Concert with Special Guest Kitka, First Presbyterian Church of Berkeley, Berkeley, CA; October 2016.
KALX UC Berkeley Radio - Women Hold Up Half The Sky, performance & interview, December 2016.
Cantadora Sephardia, solo performance, Spicy Vines Healdsburg, CA; December 2016.
ANCESTORS, self-release full-length album, 2016.
New Music Bay Area’s Garden of Memory, KITKA performance & Temple of Light Georgian Community Choir performance/direction, Chapel of the Chimes, Oakland, CA; December 2016.
KITKA Wintersongs Series 2016-17, performance with Kitka, St. Luke’s Episcopal Church Oakland CA, St Bebe’s Menlo Park CA, Old First Church San Francisco CA, Gualala Arts Center Gualala CA, Santa Cruz Community Center Santa Cruz CA, Chapel of the Chimes Oakland CA; December 2016-January 2017.
2015-2005
Agnostic Icons, art exhibition, KAHN Arts, Sausalito, CA; December/January 2015.
Solstice, solo performance, KAHN Arts Sausalito, CA; December 2015.
KALX UC Berkeley Radio - Women Hold Up Half The Sky, performance & interview, Dec. 2015.
The Spirits in my Blood Sing to me at Night, self-release full-length album, 2013.
NOTIA, solo performance, Skala Eressos Lesvos Greece, August 2015.
NORTH, solo performance, KHAN Arts, Sausalito CA, December 2014.
Eliso, BAM/PFA, live soundtrack music performance with Trio Kavkasia, music from the Republic of Georgia set to the silent classic Georgian film Eliso, UC Berkeley, CA; October 2014.
I Will Remember Everything, Kitka & Eric Banks full-length album on Diaphonica Records, 2015.
I Will Remember Everything Concert Series, Eric Banks composer, music performance with KITKA, Holy Virgin Cathedral San Francisco, CA; Summer 2014.
KITKA Spring Concert Series, performance with Kitka, St. Mark’s Lutheran Church San Francisco, CA; Gualala Arts Center, Gualala, CA; Nyack, NY, Main Stage Santa Monica CA; March-May 2014.
NORTH, performance, DNA Lounge, San Francisco, CA; May 2014.
Eulogies, self-release full-length album, 2013.
KITKA New Folksongs, performance with Kitka, Piedmont Piano Company Oakland, CA; spring 2013.
The Low Tide Club, music installation, composition, and performance, Sausalito, CA; December 2013.
Lily Maude Horseman: The Otherworld, self-release full-length album, 2010.
Lily Maude Horseman: Iowa, self-release EP album, 2009.
Point of View Animation Festival, video/music compositions, Parkway Theater Oakland, CA; Summer 2009.
Disco Medusa Concert Series, solo music composition & performances, Mama Buzz Cafe, 21 Grand, The Uptown, The Stork Club, Oakland, CA; March-July 2008.
St. John’s International Women’s Film Festival, video/music composition, St John’s Newfoundland, Canada; 2007.
Full Pull Festival, video/music composition, Mälmo and the Oresund Region, Sweden; 2007.
Rojo, AA / Nosordo Records, “Maria Rosa” track for full-length compilation album, released with the Spanish art magazine Tachan, 2007.
Live Score Vol. 1: Derek Jarman, music composition, Mills College Oakland, CA; 2006.
Signal Flow Festival, video & music composition, Mills College Oakland, CA; 2006.