by Bella Erakko
Scratchboard art? Most people scratch their heads admitting they’ve never heard of it.
Meet guest artist Amelia Dean. It began with a teacher at the University of Missouri challenging students to create an animal illustration using this time-tested technique. Favored by advertisers in our pre-color era, scratchboard art provided extraordinarily detailed renderings for product labels.
The process consists of taking a board covered with a black ink slurry and using very fine instruments to scratch the ink away. Whereas charcoal, and pen-and-ink drawings add dark to light, scratchboard art removes dark to make light.
The day Amelia completed her assignment, she was hooked, though it’d be years before she returned to it. “I loved the technique. I think once you get used to it,” she explains, “used to the backward nature of it, doing light rather than dark, it is so easy to get those ranges and contrasts.” Today she often starts with Strathmore prepared boards, though she also uses slurry to re-ink areas she wants to redo. She admits, “It is definitely slower than other forms.” After trying various tools, she settled on Exacto blades, using the finest ones available.
An avid hiker and nature lover, she takes numerous photos to capture potential images for her art.
There is almost no way to describe scratchboard art without seeing it. It can seem photographic but with a depth even beyond a photo image. It has layers that exceed pen and ink or charcoal. It seems to step out entirely from the two-dimensional world into its own unique niche.
Is she a rare breed? Yes. “I feel that locally, I am really on my own. But the internet is amazing, especially Instagram. I have found so many scratchboard artists all over the world.”
The Alliance Gallery offers visitors an exceptional opportunity to see exquisite scratchboard art, through Amelia Dean’s eyes. The opening reception will be Saturday, March 14 from 5 until 8:00 pm.
