4 Oct 2020

Scratchboard artist Karen Rankin

From Standing Room Only, 1:33 pm on 4 October 2020

Paint brush, hammer and chisel, camera and bare hands - these are among the most common artists' implements.  Scalpels and tattoo needlesw - not so much.

Karen Rankin is a Scratchboard artist who creates thousands of scratches on inked metal boards to create portraits of wildlife. Often they're black and white but she'll also use irridescent inks for some of our more colourful creatures.

She lives Marlborough but she's in Wellington at the moment to open an exhibition of wildlife at the Zealandia sanctuary in the capital.

Karen's also just won the top award at the Hope &Sons Art Awards in Dunedin for a pastel portrait of her son. Lynn Freeman asked her what exactly scratchboard art is...

Karen Rankin's exhibition Jewels of Zealandia is on show at the Wellington sanctuary.