Crafting Your Artist Statement and CV
I was taught how to write an artist statement in college. Whether you’ve attended art school or not though, most artists will need to write an artist statement. Your artist statement is a brief telling of your story, what you create, and why. An artist statement also explains the work you’re presenting, be it a new series, a particular subject matter, or inspiration.
You might already have a bio on your website, and you can draw from that, but an artist statement is different. Bios are written in the third person while you’ll write your artist statement in the first person. Your bio chronicles your history while your artist statement describes your concept and your creative process.
In my gallery, I kept a binder of artist statements to share with customers who wanted to learn more about a particular artist. It was a way to allow the artist to tell their own story in their own words.
The last artist statement I wrote read:
My current work is about intersections. I begin each piece with the symmetry of wheel-thrown pots: bowls, bottles, cylinders. I then cut and combine parts, intersecting one with another. I enjoy exploring the limits of the clay, seeing just how far I can push the angles and interrupt the predictable curves while retaining the vessel’s function. The finished works are one-of-a-kind and unique all the while preserving their origins on the wheel.
At the time, my work was focused on thrown, altered, and assembled pieces including a series of small and large baskets, as well as a series of teapots. My statement also includes a short biography.
If words don’t come naturally and you’re stumped, take out a blank piece of paper, your drawing pad, or even a large piece of newsprint. Without expectation, try to move into that creative zone in yourself, that sacred place where the energy flows. Pick up your pencil or chalk and scrawl out whatever words or phrases come to you. It’s likely that you’ll intuitively know when you’ve landed on the core of your work.
From there, writing from the heart, sum up what your work means. Use spell check, grammar check, and a thesaurus. If you can set aside your trepidations about writing, you might find the statement will come more easily.
I will caution against using a Large Language Model (LLM) to write for you. LLMs are trained to produce human-like language because they are trained on copious amounts of actual human language. The danger lies in the LLM feeding you the same wording as others, rendering your statement bland and generic. Better to be “you” and not so similar to anyone else.
The other document that an artist might need is a CV, a curriculum vitae. Like a resume, a CV is a detailed account of your academic and professional experience. It needs to be uncluttered and easy to read.
A CV includes:
· Education
· Exhibitions
· Residencies
· Awards/Grants
· Teaching
· Workshops
· Lectures
· Publications
· Related Experience
Be organized and thorough. Find a template that suits you or build a simple CV in Word or Google Docs. Mine is a basic CV in Word with formatting as follows:
· Name in a slightly larger font than the body, in bold at the top
· Below that, city and state, website, email
· Sections in the order listed above
· Within sections, list items in reverse chronological order, with the most recent exhibitions, residencies, etc. listed first.
Break down your categories and present the information succinctly. There’s no page limit, as there often is with a resume, so include everything you’ve done and accomplished in clear, easy-to-follow terms. A CV isn’t the place for flowery language or lengthy descriptions. The idea is to keep it clean and easy to follow, while highlighting your professional accomplishments.
Seeing and acknowledging all of your achievements in one place is a very satisfying experience. Your artist statement and CV together present a well-rounded picture of you, your work, and your art career, and are a vital part of a professional artist’s portfolio.