LORI ILLNER GREENE
FORT MADISON - Fort Madison Area Art Association's (FMAAA) October exhibit features an exciting and highly unusual art form. Danna Fruetel, a master in scratchboard art, is not only exhibiting but demonstrating how her bold and intricate pieces are created during the Opening Reception on October 8 from 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. If your mind goes directly to the scratchboard you experienced in school…this is in a whole different league.
Refreshments will be served as well as you take in the vibrantly colorful display alongside her demonstration. The FMAAA relies on donors and sponsorships to bring arts programming to the community. The FMAAA Art Center thanks Chuck & Kathy Osmanski for their generous sponsorship of this month’s unique show.
Though there is more than one type of scratchboard, Danna Fruetel uses a white clayboard under black that is made exclusively in Texas. (European scratchboard artists generally rely on a more accessible cardboard form.) The process is not only precise but labor intensive. The design is sketched out on paper and transferred to the scratchboard, then carefully “scratched” off with a knife. Great care must be taken to “only draw lines that you intend to scratch”, Fruetel explains, because the lines are irreversible. The design is then painted. Overall, an 8x10” piece will take 40-50 hours.
She was attracted to scratchboard 13 years ago because of the dramatic contrast that can be achieved. Before that, she worked mainly in graphite and often became frustrated by the inability to achieve the deep blacks she desired. Scratchboard changed all that and now she considers it her main medium. However, she also works in gouache and oil pastels just for fun, with some pieces included in this exhibition. These mediums give her a break from the labor-intensive work scratchboard requires.
Danna Fruetel is a signature member of the International Society of Scratchboard Artists and works in marketing and newsletter for the International Society of Scratchboard Artists-Iowa Artists. She is a past President of the Iowa Artists Association. In addition to these accomplishments, she published her first children’s book in 2020, which she wrote and illustrated. She also completed a small poetry book last year.
Her pathway to full-time artist wasn’t direct. After working in the business field for many years, putting her BA in Business to good use, she made a career change when she had children. She began working in schools with special needs children. This enabled her to spend more time with her own children. Eventually, she was forced to stop working due to a disability and found her way back to the art she loved as a child. She currently spends her time creating her own art and volunteering with art groups. She chooses to be surrounded by art.
According to her artist statement, Fruetel’s “only desire is to inspire”. This is the motto she lives by and it’s why she creates the way she does. She hopes her art sparks a creative desire in others that will be replicated and passed on. If it brightens someone’s day and makes them feel a connection to the rhythm of the Universe, she has accomplished her goal.
This is Danna’s 9th and final solo show so you won’t want to miss it. Opening reception is at FMAAA Art Center on October 8th from 5-7. Danna will speak at Lunch ala Art on October 30th at noon. Lunch is $12 and will be catered by Garden of Eatin’. Advanced reservations are required, but you do not need to eat lunch to attend the gallery talk.
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