Artists frequently aim to provide additional context to their works of art, even if viewers attempt to understand them on their own. An artist statement gives a brief description of the creator’s work and motives. By including this comment with your articles, you can increase audience engagement while also meeting portfolio standards for consideration for professional or educational opportunities.
This article aims to explain what an artist statement is, how to write one and the rules to it, including examples.
What is an Artist Statement?
An artist statement is a concise account of a work of art. This written document is not about you, but about your art. It’s about the current direction of your work, not a history of how you got to this point
- A description of your topic, theme, philosophy, style, or method
- A statement of your intention through your work
- An aspiring representation of your creativity and integrity
It could be for a single work of art, an exhibition, or a statement about your entire body of work. The declaration tries to clarify and improve our knowledge. It should be 50-150 words long and written in the first person.
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When is an Artist Statement Used?
Applications for fellowships, teaching posts, grants, exhibitions, and other possibilities. It is used on websites from time to time. It allows publicists, curators, and reviewers to write about the work and directs your audience’s attention to the themes you believe are critical to the piece.
You may be writing about a specific work, a group of works, or your body of work developed over a considerable period of time.
Structure of an Artist Statement
- A general introduction to your work, a body of work, or a specific project.
- It should open with the work’s basic ideas in an overview of two or three sentences or a short paragraph.
- The second paragraph should go into detail about how these issues or ideas are presented in the work.
- If writing a full-page statement, you can include some of the following points:
- You can include the following parts in a full-page statement
- The history of the art and why you made it.
- Your main goal or vision.
- Your expectations of the crowd and their anticipated reactions.
- The connections between your present and past work.
- How your work fits into the current wave of modern art.
- How your creations add to the progress of artistic activities.
- Sources and inspiration for the pictures you took.
- How your work fits into a collection of projects you’ve achieved or a group exhibition.
- The artists who have inspired you, or the similarities between your work and theirs. Additional factors.
- How this item relates to a bigger body of work or series.
- The relevance of a specific method to the work.
- Your method to making art, or the story behind the art.
- In the final paragraph, reiterate the statement’s major ideas.
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Don’ts in An Artist’s Statement?
- Pomposity: writing an essay describing your position in the world.
- Phrases and sweeping, meaningless statements about your beliefs in the body of work.
- Technical and full of words.
- Prolonged explanations or reasons.
- Discussing the tools and processes you’ve utilized.
- Writing prose or poems.
- Unimportant stories about an important event in your life.
- Save information about your early years and family until it is absolutely needed for your profession.
- This is not a news release or a gloat fest.
Why Write an Artist Statement
- Writing an artist’s statement allows you to explain your personal opinions about your work.
- Anyone in the audience, including museum dealers, curators, docents, and others, can read your personal description of your work. A reviewer might find this useful as well.
- Useful when making a proposal for a project or exhibition.
- It is frequently needed to apply for funding.
- It is usually required in order to apply for graduate school.
- If a college or university wants to study your slides or includes your work in their slide library, it may be helpful to provide an artist’s statement.
- Useful for planning lectures by visiting artists, as well as writing or teaching on your work for others.
- Useful while making an application to become a teacher.
- A good idea for making a press release.
- Useful for pieces about your work published in journals or catalogs.
- Useful when writing a biography for another person’s program brochure.
- It’s an effective approach to showcase your artwork to a wider audience. The more a consumer learns about your art, the more inclined they are to want to buy from you.
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What are the Types of Artist Statements?
- Full-Page Statement: This is the statement you’ll use the most; it gives an overview of your work, including any approaches you used and its background. It may also include some cases of your most recent project or job.
- Short Statement: A shortened version of the piece that is unique to the current project or uses it in an abbreviated form.
- Short Project Statement: This is a short overview of the project you are presenting.
- Bio: Typically a brief overview of your artistic work and most notable accomplishments.
How To Write an Artist Statement?
1. Give yourself enough time
Artist statements are frequently needed for applications with deadlines, such as special programs, graduate school, or internships.
Give yourself plenty of time to prepare, draft, and edit your artist statement before the deadline. You can think and write more easily when you have enough time to say all you want to say.
2. Define your message
Consider the feelings you want viewers of your artwork to feel. Every artist has a different take on this. While some artists want their audience to laugh, others want them to think critically on a topic.
Artists may aim for a variety of feelings, including happiness, rage, melancholy, reflection, and amazement. Consider what you want your work to be known for.
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3. Define your intent and audience
This often depends on the context where it will appear. Who is your reader? What assumptions can you make about their knowledge? What time will suit them better?
- Emotional tone
- Theoretical (but not over-the-top)
- Academic (but not dry)
- Analytic
- Humorous
- Antagonistic
- Political
- Professional
4. Think about the Statement
There are certain questions you should ask yourself that can help buttress this point.
“What are you trying to say in the work?” “What influences my work?” “How do my methods of working techniques, style, formal decisions support the content of my work?” “What are examples of this in my work?” “Does this statement portray any images?”
- Take five minutes to ponder on why you are an artist
- What inspires you to make art?
- Which are your best topics or themes? Why?
- What approaches and processes do you employ? Why?
- What do you aim to accomplish as an artist?
- Who or what inspires you?
- Make a list of words and phrases
- Write five sentences that tell the truth about your connection to your work
5. Draft on word processor
Use a word writing tool to keep track of regular updates and modifications. Older versions should be saved in case you need to write about or discuss your earlier work, or if you are doing a retrospective.
6. Write in first person
Refer to yourself in the first person, not as “the artist”. Make it come from you. Make it singular, not general, and reflective of yourself and your work.
7. Write the first draft
Create the initial draft of your artist statement using the ideas and notes you’ve written down. When writing, try to provide succinct, direct explanations of your work and products that speak to them alone, rather than attempting to appear smart or clever
8. Write clearly
Make it clear and direct, concise and to the point.
Basically, an artist statement should contain three paragraphs.
First paragraph:
Here, explain,
Who you are
What is your work about
Why do you do the work you do
Second paragraph:
Write about your preferred medium, techniques and themes.
Third paragraph:
What are you exploring, attempting, challenging through your work?
Also, explain the main idea and your strategies used in the work. An artist statement contains a paragraph that explains what the work means to the artist; this is called style inquiry.
9. Length of Artist Statement
It should not be longer than one page.
10. Font size
Avoid using font type sizes smaller than 10 or 12 points. Some people have trouble reading small print.
11. Spacing in an artist statement
Artist’s statements are usually single-spaced.
12. Formatting style
Avoid using complicated formatting or fancy fonts. Their attention should be drawn to the text rather than the graphic style.
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What to Consider when writing an Artist Statement
Who is your audience? What grade level are you writing for?
What goal will the statement serve?
What does your statement say about your skills as a worker and artist?
Style Tips for Writing
- Be honest.
- Write as though it is your speaking voice.
- Don’t repeat words or phrases.If you had sentences that say the same thing but in different forms, choose the better one then delete the other.
- Let the sentence structure and length vary. It should follow how complex your idea is.
- Ensure to organize your details properly. Each sentence should end with an important idea.
Where is an Artist Statement Sent to?
In a binder at the front of the gallery, include your résumé, a list of your artwork, and past assessments or pieces on your work of art.
As a didactic statement, you might place it on the wall at its original size or enlargement.
Include it in a discussion, screening, or program for a performance event.
In the application package of the grant you are applying for.
Share the knowledge with anyone who you think could benefit from it.
Dos of an Artist Statement
What to include in the paragraphs of an artist statement;
Paragraph One:
This is the thesis statement. In the first one to three sentences of your essay, describe what, why, and how you do your job. Describe the main reason for the art. major field of inquiry.
One example is: “My body of work combines (the how) photography and original writing (the what) to investigate themes of time and memory (the why).”
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Paragraph Two:
First, provide a short description of the tools and/or forms you use at work. There should just be a few lines here. Next, describe your artistic influences in one or two sentences. These can include scientists, artists, faith leaders, and so forth. The influence you list should be the one that most closely links to your own work.
When addressing your artistic influence, explain why it inspires you. Finally, in one to three words, describe how an example of your work ties to the thesis statement you just made.
It is recommended that the work you choose for debate be relevant to the problems you have mentioned, such as material use and artistic influence.
Paragraph Three:.
In closing, tie your artist statement together from the previous paragraphs and highlight events on the horizon. You can share ongoing or finished tasks or projects. You might also talk about future projects or displays. Remember that your artist statement should be one page long and contain three to four paragraphs.
Examples of Artist Statement
Here are some examples of an artist statement
Example 1
Artist statement for an oil painting
White paper disgusts me.
I use oil paints to disrupt the purity of the blank canvas with abstract shapes and lines. I feature very loosely interpreted seascapes and sunsets prominently. I’ve lived my whole life steps away from the ocean, and I find it the most meaningful inspiration.
My pieces attempt to join the joy of abandon with color to create bold, bright, daring pieces. Living in Miami, I am no stranger to vibrancy and create works that transport others to this magical space.
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Example 2
A jewelry maker emphasizes the similarities between life and their creations:
Life is a fragile, beautiful thing. I work within this fragility to craft original, handmade heirloom pieces to last for generations. I have been attracted to the idea of jewelry as art since I was a child, inspired by my grandmother’s small but deeply meaningful collection of one-of-a-kind pieces brought to America with her from Ukraine. My jewelry line balances the delicacy of life and the resiliency within each of us. I use the minimal yet powerful: a thin gold strand, a single diamond. Simple but never basic.
References
- Gyst– artist Statement examples
- Flying art – how to write an artist statement
