Thursday, June 23, 2011

A scratchboard society? Its about time!!

It is long overdue for scratchboard art to have its own society and myself and handful of other motivated and dedicated scratchboard artists from around the world are working hard to make this a reality!  It will be called the International Society of Scratchboard Artists or ISSA for short.  We presently have an official board of directors, by-laws, and have a lawyer working on getting us incorporated and eventually getting our 501(c)(3) non-profit status!  We are working hard behind the scenes to get everything in place (by-laws finalized, a website, etc.) to start taking membership.  We will start taking membership in autumn 2011.

One of the key aspects of the society will be continuing to get scratchboard more known through exhibitions and education.  We want scratchboard to be able to take its rightful place among other fine art mediums!  We also want to unite scratchboard artists since many people work in isolation feeling that they are the only person working in the medium.  This truly will be an international group with our board members already including individuals from the USA, Canada and Australia.

One of the highlights of the society will be an annual juried exhibition (and workshops).  2012 will be the official launch of the society and it will kick off with, what we hope is, an amazing exhibit of some of the best scratchboard art in the world!  The show will be in Austin, Texas mid-year next year.  Yours truly is the exhibition director, so if you are interested in getting information about the show send me your e-mail and I will send you a link to the prospectus once it is available.

I think this is going to be a fabulous thing to help promote our medium in the fine art world and hope if you are a scratchboard artist (whether casual or serious) that you too will be excited to see this take shape!

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

A fantastic idea, can't wait to see it up and running, I have loved scratchboard art for the last 20 years, but not many people seem to do it, it is a wonderful way of showing fine detail, as we can see in your spectacular work Cathy, I am an amateur compared to you, but I am working on a board atm, so will definately like to use this website if I may..!!

Unknown said...

Cathy, sign me up! Sounds like a great group. I have long felt like I was one of the few who passionately love scratchboard...glad to hear there are many more!
Linda

Jess said...

So excited about this! Thank you for all your hard work and others to get this going.

Lori Dunn said...

Kudos Cathy!!! I am so excited that this is happening. A big thank you to you and the others for getting it up and running. I'm not sure if I can make it to Texas but send me the prospectus for sure!

Jennifer Tetlow said...

Well done with all your efforts, great news and yes, it is very exciting! Look forward to it all coming to fruition later in the year.

Bev said...

Hi Cathy, What a great idea. I am not a scratchboard artist but do admire the artists who produce such amazing work. I am an executive member of UKCPS (The UK Coloured Pencil Society) and our aims are much the same as yours. We are now in our 10th year and have gone from strength to strength, but is a long, hard journey. May I wish you all the best of luck in your endeavours and hope, like UKCPS, your membership will grow and prosper.