Artist Statement

Writing an Artist Statement

An artist statement is a necessary to your artists' portfolio.
Remember to:

* Write in the first person. It is not a press release but YOUR statement. But be careful with multiple 'I', 'me', can be too egotistical.

* Write long and then compress and eliminate whatever is not important to your work. This is not your lifestory, or the reason why you decided to become an artist. There should be no 'when I was 4 . . . ."

* Two or three paragraphs (NOT SENTENCES!!) that are strong and describe the work you are doing and your approach to that body of work. What are your choice of media? What is your unique / individual approach to your body of work? If your approach is vague, that lack of uniqueness will show up in the body of work.

* If you work in different media, doing different themes, you may need to have more than one artist statement. Two many items in one statement can throw the whole thing off.

* Make sure you keep looking at your statement to see if your approach has changed.

* This statement is about your work, do not bring in your inspirations (people) and distract the reader.

* Have someone else read for you and make sure they understand it clearly.

* Your statement can then be used for exhibitions, trade shows, catalogues, marketing and PR, etc.