hilitehead

Jane Masters is drawn to the preindustrial crafts of the past that demanded so much time and commitment from their makers. Handmade examples of old lace, weavings, fishing nets, filigree and wrought iron work, built of repeated but subtly imperfect modules, have so much in common with the pattern-producing processes of the natural world. She creates obsessive symmetrical drawings called, ‘Scratchboard”, which consist of a black and white color palette and relentless lines. Exploring both traditional and experimental processes, such as silver point charcoal, scratchboard, piercing, pricking and burning, she makes abstract compositions on a variety of substrates with a strong sense of dimension, movement and tactility.

Her creation process is painstaking as she first starts applies a thin coat of kaolin-based gesso on masonite boards, then evenly airbrushes the surface with India ink. Then she carefully scrapes lines through the black ink using a stylus tool  to reveal the white beneath and when the drawing is complete she sprays the whole surface with a seal. The drawings are made with the help of templates which she hand-designs and cut out of transparent plastic sheets called Mylar.