Inspiration for Artist's Statements

The artist's statement covers the reason why you do what you do; why you love what you do. Talk about your body of work. This is a separate issue from the story one tells about an individual artwork. In talking to several people who either receive portfolios from artists or who work with artists in creating their portfolios, the one request (it was actually delivered in a begging, pleading sort of tone…) was not to write a novel. Either one sentence or two extremely short paragraphs (two sentences per paragraph maximum) written in the first person was considered the ideal artist's statement.

Which Do I Use…First Person or Third Person Pronouns?

Always use the first person—I. This is your statement. Who else could possibly say what it is that you feel?

How Long is an Artist's Statement?

Penny McMorris (nationally-known art quilt consultant and curator) hates long-winded, multi-page efforts. She says she never reads more than the first couple of lines and, in general, feels that a long artist's statement is pretentious. Susan Viders (another nationally-known artist's consultant and lecturer regarding portfolios, résum é pursue.

Looking for Inspiration

Find a statement in a book of quotations which reflects your feelings about your work; ask friends to help in describing your work; discuss other artists who have influenced you—and why. It's okay to be excited about your work and to convey that in your writing—you want people to feel enthusiastic about your work. Why did you start doing this particular style? In this technique? Find some aspect of your work, which makes you different from other artists in your genre. Is there something in your choice of materials that exhilarates you? Talk to us. Write as though you are talking. Just write down individual words that speak to you. If you fill several sheets of paper, that's okay. You can always cut it down to a few sentences later.

Grant-Oriented Artist's Statement

When writing a statement to use in procuring grants, Daniel Salazar, Council on the Arts, has stated that the artist's statement should talk about the work itself—the body of work. Salazar says that new artists make a mistake when writing about what motivates their art when they should be writing about the work itself. Use your friends' words about your work, their perspectives, to build a grant-oriented artist's statement.

Some grantors, especially for fellowships, only consider slides or CDs so they may examine the quality of the work and the artist's statement. Résumés are less important or are not considered at all.

My Own Artist's Statements

I have several statements. The first refers to my art-to-wear, and the rest covers my quilt work. I've included the text of each as examples. None of the statements were easy to prepare. I sweated for several days faxing each effort to Sue Viders for comments and I got a lot of comments.

Kathy's art-to-wear is a form of meditation…
And through her sewing, she ensures a uniqueness and a wearability in art-to-wear—the clothing is functional and easy to care for; the quality is assured; the fit actually fits the individual body; pockets are realistic rather than merely decorative; and, the details are as interesting and appropriate as the garment demands!

Figure 3. Sample artist statement: my art-to-wear statement.

Have nothing in your houses that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful.– William Morris' The Beauty of Life sums up Kathy's credo.
The scenes Kathy creates are prompted by many different visions—some real, some not while still others are the result of her need to try a new technique or fabric.
Life is too short not to be surrounded by Art…

Figure 4. Sample artist statement: my original statement on my representational art.

Once my text passed muster, I arranged each on its own page with my name, address and contact numbers (each on a separate line), the title Artist's Statement followed by which statement it was—wearables or quilts. I stretched everything out by triple- and quadruple-spacing between each teeny section until it looked like there was a decent amount of page filled. It's saved on the computer and anytime I need one, I print it out on blank letterhead paper.

I have since expanded on my artist's statements. I now have use the above sample as my general statement followed by a longer one on my collage work, one for my Detour Series, another for my Sculptural work and I'll have to get 'round to creating two more—People Portraiture and House Portraits.

Dropping the Bomb

Now that you have struggled through writing all this, to best appeal to the person/gallery/granting agency you are writing to at this moment, you will have to tailor your artist's statements and résumés to suit each one.

I must confess, I have never done this, but it is recommended.

For additional inspiration, search out artists' statements by other artists. Sometimes it is easier to write your own when you examine a wide range of styles from a wide range of media and get a better feel for what you might want to do.

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Kathy Davie is an artist, educator, and author of the arts marketing series, Your Portfolio & You, aimed at helping artists survive (and thrive) at the business of being an artist.

As a self-taught artist, Kathy was frustrated by the lack of information on taking her career to a more professional level while meeting legal guidelines and learning about legal hiccups. Her drive for information fueled her to interview numerous professionals and compiled the information into a monthly news column. She now leads workshops and is converting the news columns into this continuing series of how-to books.

Kathy has a BS in Technical Writing & Editing with minors in Digital Media and History from Metropolitan State College, Denver, CO and is the author of Accounting for the SMALL Businessperson, How Copyright Applies to the Artist, the Buyer, the Employer/e, the Sold Artwork, Dealing with Photographs, Slides, Digital Images, and Surviving the Outdoor Arts Festival.

Visit her writing or arts websites or reach her by email.