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| Night Owl, 12″ x 24″, mixed media on Claybord |
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| She Calls, mixed media on Claybord |
“In the printmaking studio I belong to in Bend, Oregon, a lot of people were raving about the amazing surface of Claybord™.
As printmakers and painters, they were carving into the surface, using all kinds of media, and loving the fact that they could hang the cradled piece without a frame. Primarily a pastelist, I have been exploring mixed media, including monotypes, collography, and engraving for the past 8 years. I finally ordered a few 12×12 cradled Claybords about 2 years ago, when I was preparing for a one person show of horses to celebrate the Chinese Year of the Horse.
At first I couldn’t get pencil to work, nor color pencil, and I started throwing stuff on the surface in desperation. I washed all the stuff off, and noticed the surface was softer. I put sumi ink on it, and started scratching it off with a razor blade, then steel wool, and other tools. I loved the feeling of scratchboard I was getting, but unlike scratchboard, I could get grey tones, and marks left from the tools I was using. In order to get color with the black and white, I started using liquid water color and oil pastel.
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| On Alert, mixed media on Claybord |
I did about 20 pieces, mainly horses. This was the most affordable show for me because I didn’t frame them, and the gallery was delighted with the coherent look of the show, and with the sales. Since then, I have incorporated ink, oil pastel, soft pastel, water color, pencil, and collage into the pieces, and continue to discover new ways to use the Claybord. The surface encourages me to create tools to make marks that will convey movement in fascinating new ways.” ~ Dawn Emerson
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| Romp before Dusk, 12″ x 12″, ink on Claybord |
The raven above, She Calls, was accepted into the 2015 Birds on Art Show at the Leigh Yawkey Woodson Art Museum in Wasau, WI through November 29th and will go on national tour. You can also find out more about Dawn’s upcoming workshops for this fall and next spring on her website, along with learning about exhibitions and seeing more of her current work. www.dawnemerson.com
All things Ampersand,
Karyn Meyer-Berthel
Artist & Social Media Specialist
Ampersand Art Supply
Click here to explore the full selection of Ampersand panels and tools.
Your work is amazing and inspires me to try Claybord too! Congratulations on being accepted into Birds in Art, it's such a prestigious show!!
Great depth in many aspects in your work ! I especially like the textural lines