Today we’d like to introduce you to Sally Maxwell.
sally, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
Everyone knew I was an artist but me, I wanted to be a chemist. I was put in a position as an illustrator at a forms company when I was 19 after being hired to be in accounting. I fell in love with the fact you could make money being an artist. This was in the 1960s. women were nothing but nurses or teachers or secretaries. I went on to work at an ad agency, then start my own design studio which allowed me to be a working mom at home. I eventually was published as a fine artist in the late 1980s and then started my own publishing business. A divorce ended that but I soon signed a contract with a collectable plate company for series work.
Prior to the divorce I had discovered scratchboard when I was pregnant with my first child and really liked that (1968). At a fine art show where my work was shown as the featured artist, the judge told me that if I put color in my pencil drawings, he would but them all for the Marshall Field collection there in Chicago. I took it a step further and figured what would work on the scratchboard using scientific methods. What would not leave a scum, what would not stain the clay below the India ink layer and so on. I was the first artist I know of to do this. It really set my work apart and started me on me life goal of getting scratchboard recognized as a fine art medium not a commercial one. I can say for sure I reached that goal with the medium being shown in museum shows all over and having a huge scratchboard society. I kind of helped all of that by paartnering with Ampersand Art Materials after I discovered the new company in an article in the Austin Statesman. I had moved to Texas and remarried by then and had earlier developed a “how to” kit including a pattern and instructions but the British company who made the product at that time was not interested. I called the company and they were interested and we met the next day. That launched a series of kits, 2 sets of 4 each year and 5 booklets with patterns and instructions. Needless to say, I consider myself the mother of the new scratchboard. One of the Master artists in the International Society of Scratchboard Artists told me he learned how to do it from my kits. He is from Australia.
Now I feel compelled to constantly try new things with the medium in order to keep myself ahead of all of the clones I have spawned out there. This has led me to use ne markers filled with colored India ink to do an initial drawing and then scratch it before adding more color. This is all done on the clay base board for scratchboard. It again has opened up a whole new world to experiment in. I guess I must constantly challenge myself.
We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
I never expected it to be, because life is not smooth but I have managed to perservier along the way. The divorce was a big one due to a custody battle and then a move to Texas, but they were just bumps in the road. I am a problem solver and love the challenge of fixing something so I guess that means I like challenges. Many would think that being a woman would be a problem but I think that since I did not even consider that an issue, it never seemed to hold me back. No one even said anything about my sex being an issue. I probably was not paid as much as a man when I did work for someone but I started my own businesses along the way and that solved the problem.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Wow, I think I answered all of that already. I am known as the top scratchboard artist in the country and have sales to prove it. I did the largest piece of scratchboard work as per Ampersand Art Materials 2 years ago and sold it in 2 days for $100,000. My quality and design sense make my work stand apart from other artists and especially from other scratchboard artists. My specialty is animals which led to me becoming my own photographer and traveling the country as well as the world (Africa) to get good photos to work from that no-one else could use. I get to know the animal well from those experiences but relate them back and their situation to the human experience. My favorite saying is “People are animals, too”. I used to say I liked animals better until it dawned on me that people ARE one.
What quality or characteristic do you feel is most important to your success?
Stick-to-it-ivity…….
Pricing:
- Not sure what you mean by this. My work is available as ultra limited edition prints as well as regular limited edition prints and originals so it covers most all price ranges. Prices are found on my website
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.sallymaxwell.com
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/sally.maxwell.980
- Twitter: @sallyscratches
- Youtube: @sallymaxwell4905
