ARTIST BIO
A native of Illinois, artist Sally Maxwell has been working with scratchboard for close to 56 years. Shown in galleries throughout the United States, her work is renowned by private and corporate collectors for its ability to capture the beauty and emotion of the wildlife and the natural world.
Since childhood, Sally has found inspiration in animals and her own colorful garden; each piece is like a snapshot of the intensity that nature can possess in its quiet moments. Sally’s work tells stories and suggests relationships through subtle details such as the way two creatures lock eyes or snuggle next to each other.
Sally has helped to define scratchboard as a fine art medium, using similar techniques to etching, or engraving. Scratchboard originally was used for magazine illustration and for products in catalogs. Working with scratchboard allows Sally to layer up rich, deep colors and capture minute details, and her innovation and experimentation with new tools has given her the ability to produce a softer, less linear technique.
Sally was selected by the International Society of Scratchboard Artists to be designated as one of now 12 in the world with the status Master Scratchboard Artist. She is already a Signature member in the Society of Animal Artists, and a Silver Signature member of Artists Changing Tomorrow, plus a Master Signature member of American Women Artists. She has created over 30 scratchboard kits for Ampersand Art Materials and authored 3 books on scratchboard technique, including “How to Draw Pets” and “How to Draw Zoo Animals”. Plus, a full one-hour video on many techniques. In 2007, Sally was honored to have one of her pieces chosen as the label for Ampersand Art Materials Scratchboard product.
