BASIC TOOLS FOR ARTISTS / Artist Statement

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Artist Statement

Definition: An artist statement is a personal mission statement written

about your work. By providing insight into your background, process

and professional history, an artist statement contextualizes your work to

improve the audience's understanding.

Length: Your artist statement should come in three sizes: small (25-50 words), medium (a paragraph or two) and large (one page).

Use: Language from your artist statement will be used nearly every­where your work is discussed. It is inserted into gallery brochures, venue

websites, press releases, grant proposals, articles and emails. Hopefully it's also lodged in your brain, to be paraphrased verbally as part of your Elevator Pitch (See page 49).

Update all three versions of your artist statement every year. They should be ~ revised , or at least examined against your current body of work, every SiX __ m_o_nt_h_s._~

Your artist statement is an awesome tool. It's essentially a position paper on you and your work. It helps curators and funders contextualize what you do, it helps journalists with research before an interview and it helps your audience look deeper into your process.

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BASIC TOOLS FOR ARTISTS / Artist Statement

Whether we' re talking about a three-sentence statement or a full page,

your artist statement should include the basic parameters for what you

do (materials, subject matter, genre) and place it within the context of

your career, overall interests and passions.

Although your artist statement is one of the most important parts of

your basic professional toolkit, it is not a substitute for seeing the work

in person, nor should it be. You want a statement that helps a viewer see

what you need them to see about your work, so that they understand it

quickly and want to support it in some way.

GEnlNG STARTED When you come across an artist statement you like, copy it and try to figure out why you like it so much. Does it give you the story behind the

work? Does it demystify something core to an artist's lifelong pursuit?

Does it help you identify influences, inspirations or connections with

other media or genres?

What do people want to know? A great place to start finding lan­

guage for your artist statement is to consider what questions people ask

when viewing your work.

WHAT TO INCLUDE Your artist statement should answer the following questions: what is

your work like, why do you make it, what are you trying to do with it

and what is your process?

Share what inspires you. Is it theory? The work of other artists? Politics,

news, history? Did a story you overheard on a train lead to your feature

film script? Did a confluence of telephone lines and the flight path of a

flock of birds inspire your choreography? All of this is fair game.

Consider where you fit in the cultural landscape. What are your influ­

ences? Are you part of a movement or set apart?

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Be sure to add context by including personal details about you that help

readers place the work. Where are you from? Does your geographic or

cultural background inform your work?

STYLE POINTS After you have answered the basic questions listed above, think about how this

statement can reflect the style of your work. Can the way you write embody

what you make? If your project is subtly humorous, politically charged or

formally complex, try writing that way as well. This is not easy but it's worth

the effort. It will make your artist statement stand out in a crowd.

TIPS

EXERCISE Write down seven words that define the style of your work. Are those words in your statement now? Could they be?

Once you 've completed a draft, consider the following before your

next revision:

• The first sentence or two should tell the reader the basics-what you

make, the materials you use, and your subject matter or concerns.

• Strike a balance. An informed participant in the arts, a first-time col­

lector, a curious funder or viewer should all be able to understand

what you've written. Don't dumb it down, but don't embellish it

with overly academic words.

• A fresh perspective is always helpful. Have friends familiar with

yo~ w~rk read your artist statement and respond (especially non­artIst frIends). Your non-artist friends will be best at finding the "art speak" that you may want to avoid.

• Ask a pr £ . I . o eSSlOna wnter to proofread your statement to check for errors in gramm d . . . . . ar an syntax. They are also mercIless In deletIng repetItIve or extr hr . aneous p ases and fiXIng run-on sentences.

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BASIC TOOLS FOR ARTISTS / Artist Statement

[Sample] Visual Artist's Statement

My drawings, prints, and sculpture transform discarded

materials into meditations on healing, superstition and protection. My work references black folk art and uses repetitive, labor-intensive arts to create visual affirmations

of black history and identity. My newest project, Eyes

Over Harlem includes a series of prints made from onions and medicinal herbs, thousands of black-eyed peas assembled in a wall drawing and a tloor-to-ceiling column

of copper pennies.

[Sample] Literary Artist's Statement

Whether I am writing essays or memoir, my work always

reflects two related themes: a sense of history and a sense of

place. As a historian and archivist, the stories I am drawn to

are local ones, and I explore the ways in which setting and sensibility intertwine. Even when writing about my own life, I

feel the need to bring the story outside of myself, and, in some

way, root it in history.

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[Sample] Literary Artist's Statement- Theater

I make theater.

I direct and am a dramaturg. I also adapt text-poetry scientific papers, plays, letters and theory. '

I work across disciplines with ensemble theatre companies,

composers, musicians, choreographers, visual artists, technicians, designers and writers­

the living and the dead. In theaters and out of them. These practices reflect an interest in

expanding what the theater can contain.

My work is often intensely collaborative. On each project,

the people, the subject matter, the objects in the room and the words spoken determine the look and feel of the work

and its terms of engagement with the audience. I hold out for the notion that the work can change me. Does change me.

In general, 1:

• Find fiction a faster path to experience than truth. • Am more interested in communication than representation. • Struggle with the primacy of expression and suspect its collusion

with identity politics.

• Am preoccupied with the intangible-the precarious, the almost lost-that drives me to actualize.

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BASIC TOOLS FOR ARTISTS / Cover Letters and Letters of Inquiry

[Sample] Performing Artist's Statement

I write plays and monologues that draw on contemporary theater, installation, dance and the occasional cheap pratfall. These pieces have been performed everywhere from a midtown office to a shotgun shack to a black box theater; my charac-

ters speak a language of hushed emotions, errant street signs,

nostalgic longings. I work in both alternative and traditional performance settings because I feel the spaces add context to

the stories, implicate the audience in the action and exploit the

theatricality of places we go every day.

[Sample] Installation and Public Artist's Statement

By transforming accumulations of everyday objects into

visually alluring conceptual explorations, my work speaks to the optimism inherent in giving new form to life's leftovers.

In my sculptures and large-scale installations, I seek to recall

an object's past, as well as suggest its greater connection to our collective memories, desires and failures.

My inventory of everyday materials includes broken umbrellas, donated clothing, losing lottery tickets, empty

wine bottles and discarded computer keycaps. These humble remnants, often forgotten and no longer "useful,"

nevertheless retain the traces of their former lives. After accumulating and deconstructing hundreds-sometimes even thousands-of these cast-offs, I synthesize the

collection of them into new constructions for my sculptures,

videos and site-specific installations.

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Cover LeHers and LeHers of Inquiry

Definition: Your cover letter is a general greeting that identifies why

you are. contacting someone and explains the material you are sending.

It. rna?, mclude a brief description of your project, your history and/or hIghlIght a personal connection to the recipient. Whether emailed or pulled from an envelope, it is the first thing the recipient reads and thus . . , gIves an Important first impression.

Length: Cover letters are seldom longer than one page and may be as short as a few sentences.

Use: Your art practice will include composing cover letters and queries t . o Introduce your work to someone new, as a follow-up to a meeting or

referral t ··t . ~ . ,0 mVI e or mlorm them of an upcoming event or to apply for

a Job or a grant.

Your reader will make a number of judgments about you based on your COver or query lett Th d .

er. ey 0 more than convey mformation and request responses· they . .

, project your personalIty through your word choice, neat-ness and tone.

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