Sunday, December 7, 2008

Artist Statements

In order to facilitate our last critique for Studio Topics, each person should write a brief artist statement describing his/her project this semester. This statement should be printed out – and accompany the artwork on Friday, December 12.

Description

An artist statement is a short description of your artwork and process. It is a written explanation of your work, and potentially the only opportunity for your voice to heard as viewers consider your artwork (since during exhibits or proposals, you are not there to do it).

Writing an artist statement is a way of reflecting on your artwork- and the materials, method, and ideas involved in its creation. There are many ways of writing it- and each person’s statement should reflect your personality, as well as your artwork. So be creative too!

Guidelines

- Make your statement short (150 - 300 words)
- It should be in language anyone can understand
- Write it in the first person- as the artist
- In the beginning, describe your work visually (ex. My small watercolor paintings…)
- Consider – How did you arrive at this theme?
What is your process?
What are your goals for this work?
- It’s not an art historical analysis, write from your point of view
- Be humble and grounded, not grandiose or declarative-
ex. My paintings display the complex dynamic of life and death (Bad!)
ex. I interested in working with human frailty as seen in… (Better)
- Be specific
- Describe context for your work- literature, other artists, pop culture, etc.
- Use present tense
- It should be free from all spelling and grammatical errors

Other resources

Artists Foundation Description of Artist Statement

Samples (look at the artwork and then compare how each artist writes about it)

http://www.amytalluto.com/statement.html
http://www.lisabulawsky.com/wop.php?area=About&todo=sil&gid=29

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