Interview with Naquaiya
When did you first start doing scratchboard?
I discovered scratchboard back in 1996. I had seen a scratchboard drawing done by Diane Stanley who is a well known children's book illustrator. She had a scratchboard in a Los Angeles gallery called Every Picture Tells A Story. It was a picture of a girl in front of a fireplace. There were many long beautiful shadows coming off of her silhouette and I fell in love with scratchboard right then and there.
 What mediums did you use before that?
I had done a lot of watercolor and pen and ink drawings. Most of my watercolors were still life or animal paintings. I loved working with big shapes in watercolor and vibrant colors. My pen and ink work always involved a lot of detail. My first serious beginnings though were studying printmaking in my college days. I did a lot of silkscreen and woodcuts. I now realize these mediums are closely related to scratchboard. Both those mediums involve taking away and using negative space.
What is your art background?
Influences: My family had a lot of artists in it and we were encouraged to make art, and go to museums. I remember as a kid, taking the New Haven railroad with my sister for art outings in New York city. She took me to all the big museums, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Modern Museum of Art. I remember the thrill of seeing these wonderful places and spectacular art. We also had a lot of art books in our home about art, and it was a natural process to start to draw. Since I had big brothers and sisters who were accomplished artists, I got a lot of critique on my work, whether I asked for it or not. ha ha ha ha
Education: When I settled in California as a young woman, I attended Chouinard Art Institute in the early 1970's. It was a wonderful experience. There I studied painting, drawing and ceramics. Eventually I had a ceramic studio for 20 years. I specialized in creating large ginger jars and platters and painting them with oxides and lustres in the Majolica tradition. This was a way I could enjoy color and the painting process in my ceramics. Later in my life, the work became too physically demanding for me so I started drawing full time. I have a BA in Studio Arts.
 Why do you prefer scratchboard?
This medium is just fascinating. Even though I have been working in scratchboard for a long time, I always find something new about it. It's been a real struggle trying to discover all of the different types of scratchboard available and how different they are. I think coloring scratchboard has been the most challenging and I am still discovering fun ways to do this.
I hear you are putting out a book on scratchboard - tell us about it!
This first book is pretty much a straightforward educational book about how to work in scratchboard and the different techniques you can use. I also cover types of boards available on the market now, and the tools and how to solve composition problems, that kind of thing. The idea is if you don't know anything about scratchboard, this book will be a guide and will help and encourage you to just begin. So many people are afraid to start as they get intimidated by a complex process. There is also information in it for the professional artist as well. Hopefully, it will be out end of summer or early fall 2007. I'm just working out the final details now. I am trying to make it affordable for anybody, including students, so it won't be a pricey art book. That is another book that is coming later on. 
Where will we be able to get a copy of the book?
I will be selling it through Amazon.com, my eBay store, my new website which will be up this summer. It will also be available from this website.
Is there anything you would like to add to this interview?
Two things: Just that I am thrilled to see so many new people working in scratchboard now. It was always considered a rare art form. People are trying it and liking it. Materials are available now that never were when I started.
The second thing is that I believe scratchboard will be a seriously recognized art form in the future. It has had a history of being relegated to advertising and book illustration, which is great but doesn't bring in the dollars that an oil painting does. Scratchboard artists have worked hard to bring recognition to the wildlife art forum. But there are also new venues to explore in this medium. Just as it took a very long time for people to recognize watercolor as a serious medium and not an exercise for a future oil painting, so will scratchboard be recognized as a serious medium one day soon that will encompass any subject matter.
Thank you Naquaiya for a wonderful interview! Naquaiya's art can be seen on her blog and on eBay
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