Peter D. Springberg, MD Vault Gallery
Artists
Derrick Velasquez and Gretchen Marie Schaefer
Guest curators
Jenny Nagashima and Ilan Gutin
Organized by Dinghy Rig
Having worked as studio mates for many years, Gretchen Marie Schaefer and Derrick Velasquez share a sustained exchange that has shaped both practices through proximity, generosity, and ongoing critique. This exhibition emerges from an interwoven relationship between the two artists developing their work in close conversation, where insight, influence, and support circulate alongside difference instead of collapsing into it.
In Gretchen Marie Schaefer’s work, a rock hovers in a suspended state between being and seeming, physically light yet psychologically heavy. This form oscillates between the natural and the constructed, evoking a contemporary Sword of Damocles: a quiet, precarious presence that looms overhead and asks viewers to sit with latent risk, balance, and restraint. The work feels frozen mid-event, holding a breath that never quite releases, where gravity becomes a conceptual force as much as a physical one.
In contrast, Velasquez engages the history of power through an egg and dart patterned stained-glass window rendered in opaque black glass. Traditionally used as a conduit for light, the window here absorbs it, reflecting a quieter form of influence, one rooted in care, sacrifice, and sustained commitment rather than spectacle. In a cultural moment shaped by public displays of virtue, his contributions often remain quiet, revealing themselves only through sincere acts of generosity.
Dinghy Rig is a collaborative artist-run art production and exhibition program launched by Aitor Lajarin-Encina and Marius Lehene. A Pendulum Oscillates About Its Lowest Point is the fifth installment of a long-term collaboration with the Museum of Art | Fort Collins, which is hosting the Dinghy Rig shows in what used to be the building’s safety vault room. The project benefits from the generous support of Peter D. Springberg, MD.
