Gretchen Marie Schaefer, Inclined Fold From Above, 2021, digital video. Drone filming courtesy Third Dune Productions.
An “inclined fold” is a geological term describing the angle and shape of a hill or mountain.
I carry a paper mache rock up a hill; I am filmed by a drone maintaining a consistent altitude throughout. Because the perspective of the camera is from above, the incline of the hill is only perceptible through the subtle inching closeness between me and the camera. The vertical view obscures my body, causing the fake rock to float at times.
The horizon line is a visual device, a perceptual fiction, bifurcating the land and the sky in order to depict a landscape. In this work, a horizontal line is drawn by a road seen from above, confusing and collapsing the vertical perspective with a traditional horizon. Further complicating this disorientation, the raking sunlight projects my walking body as a long shadow. This representation of the figure combined with the aerial viewpoint describes a horizontal and vertical perspective simultaneously. And a turn disrupts all of these views.
About the artist
Gretchen Marie Schaefer
When making drawings, sculptures, installations, and performances, Gretchen Marie Schaefer is thinking primarily about how a shift in perspective can dramatically shift our understanding of a place or an object. Schaefer was born, raised, and currently lives and works in Denver, Colorado. She earned a bachelor's degree in English Literature and Visual Arts from Regis University. She is a co-founding member of artist-owned and operated TANK Studios, LLC., a sustainable, community-centered studio space for professional artists in Denver. Schaefer is on the board of directors of Tilt West, a non-profit dedicated to fostering critical dialog in art and culture through roundtable conversations and a publication. Since 2013 Schaefer has directed the Visiting Artist, Scholar, and Designer Program at Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design.
In 2014 Schaefer was listed as one of Denver Westword’s “100 Colorado Creatives” and in 2016 she received Westword’s “Best Of” for her work directing the visiting artist program at RMCAD. Her artwork has been exhibited at numerous locations including the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the University of Colorado Boulder Museum of Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, Rule Gallery in Marfa, TX, and the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder, CO. Schaefer was an artist-in-residence at RedLine Contemporary Art Center (Denver, CO) and Breckenridge Creative Arts (Breckenridge, CO).