Artist Statement

Carmen: Persistent, playful and even a little hedonistic, She started out with a certain character that was young and forthright, but by taking some risks she changed and developed some maturity while still being just as fierce and deliberate. Carmen came about like most of my recent work; she occurred to me like a person’Äôs character revealing itself. Something about the composition and insertion of vibrant color pulls at me from across the room. As I approach details begin to focus. There is a strange indefinable awkwardness nestled in the grace of the lines. Intertwined in flowing ropes of muscular-like tendrils, color is simultaneously forced and naturally growing . . . . or is it clinging to . . . or falling from? The figures are familiar in a way that makes me feel uneasy. Should I know you? Are you my large intestine? And, like a person, the more I get to know Carmen, the more I investigate the details, the more she surprises me.

Gretchen Schaefer lives and works in Denver at times and in Thornton at others. She received a BA in English and Visual Arts from Regis University in 2005. While at Regis she studied abroad in both Italy and Australia. Gretchen presented an art history paper on a self-portrait by Margaret Bourke-White at the Denver Art Museum’Äôs 20th Annual Student Symposium in Art and Art History. For this paper she received the William Becker S.J. Award for Outstanding Art History Paper from Regis University. She has participated in group and solo exhibitions at Rule Gallery (Denver), O’ÄôSullivan Art Gallery (Denver), Tointon Gallery for the Visual Arts, (Greeley), The National Center for Atmospheric Research (Boulder), and Fancy Tiger Boutique (Denver). Her most recent work is inspired by anatomy, biology, and geometry. Working with pencil and pen on plywood she creates indefinable, awkward compositions from graceful, delicate lines. Flowing ropes of muscular-like tendrils combine with anatomically and geometrically inspired bursts of color made with colored pencil and watercolor.