ArtZone 461 Gallery is pleased to announce a solo show in the smaller, side gallery featuring amazing scratchboard art by Diana Lee.

Diana Lee submitted her scratchboard art to the Gallery’s first juried competition seeking California realists and was selected as one of the top ten entries.  Oil paintings are the traditional focus for ArtZone 461 Gallery and Diana Lee is an exceptional artist, literally and figuratively speaking.

The Gallery makes exceptions for extraordinary pieces and this is the context for viewing Lee’s scratchboard.  Her skill and patience produce images that are so photo-real they are often mistaken for photos.  Just as photography was elevated to fine art status in the 20th Century, this may be the path for such status with scratchboard in the 21st Century.  Time will tell.

Scratchboard art is a form of direct etching using a sharp, pointed tool to scratch out an image.  Traditional scratchboard is a three-layer medium made up of a durable surface like artists’ panel, coated with a smooth layer of kaolin clay (porcelain) and then sprayed with black ink.  It’s is an original approach to drawing and illustration began in 19th Century Britain and France.

Contemporary artists working in scratchboard have elevated the medium to an extent that more people are familiar with or readily understand the process.  Aside from the usual black and white images, the porcelain may be painted different colors later and when done, achieves a luminosity unique to the medium.  It produces dramatic imagery and offers an ability to create amazing detail.  Most take well over 100 hours to complete.  ArtZone is pleased to introduce Diana Lee’s scratchboard art to a new and enthusiastic audience.

Diana Lee lives in Santa Rosa California and has worked in several mediums over her long career.  Eventually she settled with scratchboard and has become a master in the technique, she has been exhibiting in national and international exhibitions for the past several years.