How to Write an Artist's Statement with Creativity and Integrity

By Molly Gordon

Your artist's statement can be a moving testament to your creativity and integrity. The expression of this commitment will
vary, but the effectiveness of your artist's statement stems from the authority with which you write it.

Think of your artist's statement as a nourishing stew. The rich flavors and inviting aroma will feed your spirit and summon
wonderful people to your table. You'll want to make sure your stew is made from the freshest, finest ingredients and that it
has been simmered and seasoned with care. Do this, and you will be proud to share your creative vision your authority
with others.

Writing Your Artist's Statement

Step 1: Assemble the Ingredients.

1. Take five minutes and think about why you do what you do. How did you get into this work? How do you feel when work
is going well? What are your favorite things about your work? Jot down short phrases that capture your thoughts. Don't
worry about making sense or connections. The more you stir up at this point, the richer the stew.

2. Make a list of words and phrases that communicate your feelings about your work and your values. Include words you
like, words that make you feel good, words that communicate your values or fascinations. Be loose. Be happy. Be real.
Think of these as potential seasonings for your stew. You don't have to choose which ones to use just yet, so get them all
out of the cupboard.

3. Answer these questions as simply as you can. Your answers are the meat and potatoes of your stew. Let them be raw
and uncut for now.

What is your favorite tool? Why?

What is your favorite material? Why?

What do you like best about what you do?

What do you mean when you say that a piece has turned out really well?

What patterns emerge in your work? Is there a pattern in the way you select materials? In the way you use color,
texture or light?

What do you do differently from the way you were taught? Why?

What is your favorite color? List three qualities of the color. Consider that these qualities apply to your work.

4. Look at your word list. Add new words suggested by your answers to the questions above.

5. Choose two key words from your word list. They can be related or entirely different. Look them up in a dictionary. Read
all the definitions listed for your words. Copy the definitions, thinking about what notions they have in common. Look your
words up in a Thesaurus. Read the entries related to your words. Are there any new words that should be added to your
word list?

6. Write five sentences that tell the truth about your connection to your work. If you are stuck, start by filling in the blanks
below.

When I work with __________ I am reminded that ___________.

I begin a piece by ______________.

I know a piece is done when __________________.

When my work is going well, I am filled with a sense of _____________.

When people see my work, I'd like them to ________________.

Step Two: Filling the Pot.

Write a three paragraph artist's statement. Keep your sentences authentic and direct. Use the present tense ("I am," not "I
was," "I do," not "I did.") Be brave: say nice things about yourself. If you find that you falter, write three paragraphs about
an artist whose work you admire. Then write about yourself as though you were an admiring colleague. As a rule, your
artist's statement should be written in the first person. Refer to yourself with the pronouns "I, me, my." If this blocks you,
write in the third person, then go back and change the pronouns as needed when you get to Step Four. Use the
suggestions below to structure your statement. Write three to five sentences per paragraph.

First paragraph. Begin with a simple statement of why you do the work you do. Support that statement, telling the reader
more about your goals and aspirations.

Second paragraph. Tell the reader how you make decisions in the course of your work. How and why do you select
materials, techniques, themes? Keep it simple and tell the truth.

Third paragraph. Tell the reader a little more about your current work. How it is grew out of prior work or life experiences.
What are you exploring, attempting, challenging by doing this work.

Step Three: Simmering the Stew.

Your artist's statement is a piece of very personal writing. Let it simmer overnight before your reread it. This incubation
period will help give you the detachment necessary to polish the writing without violating your sense of integrity and safety.
While your statement simmers, let your mind wander over the ingredients you assembled in Step One. Allow yourself to
experience the truth of your creative experience. Marvel at the wealth of seasonings and abundance of vegetables you
have at your disposal. Enjoy the realization that your work is grounded in real values and experience. If you think of things
you might have left out of your statement, jot them down, but leave the statement alone.

Step Four: Taste and Correct the Seasonings.

Read your statement aloud. Listen to the way the sounds and rhythms seem to invite pauses. Notice places where you'd
like the sound or rhythm to be different. Experiment with sounding out the beats of words that seem to be missing until
they come to mind. Do this several times until you have a sense of the musical potential of your statement. As you read
your statement, some phrases will ring true and others false. Think about the ones that aren't on the mark and find the
true statement lurking behind the false one. You may find that the truth is a simpler statement than the one you made. Or
your internal censors may have kept you from making a wholehearted statement of your truth lest it sound self-important.
Risk puffing yourself up as long as your claims are in line with your goals and values.

By now your taste buds are saturated. You need a second opinion. Choose a trusted friend or professional to read your
statement. Make it clear that you are satisfied with the ingredients on the whole, but you'd like an opinion as to seasoning.
You alone are the authority for what is true about your work, but you'd like feedback on clarity, tone, and such technical
matters as spelling and punctuation.

Step Five: Summon the Guests.

There's little point in concocting a fabulous stew if you don't invite anyone to dinner. Every time you use your artist's
statement you extend your circle of influence and build new branches of the support network for making, showing and
selling your work. Enclose a copy of your artist's statement whenever you send a press release, letter of interest to a
gallery or store, or contact a collector. Send it to show promoters and curators. Enclose a copy with shipments of your
work so it can be displayed wherever your work is exhibited.
Step Six: File Your Recipe!

Save all the notes and drafts that you've made. You'll want to revise and update your artist's statement from time to time to
reflect changes in your work.

2006 Molly Gordon. All rights reserved.

Commentary Questions:

1) What is the central idea of your Concentration? (500 characters)

2) How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You
may refer to specific images as examples. (1350 characters max)

How to begin your statement:

1. Go to http://bmoreart.blogspot.com/2009/04/best-professional-practices-for-artists.html and read the short write up on how to
write a good artist statement.

2. Read your example sheets below ( or refer to past year student Powerpoints on our server or go to
<www.artstudy.org/art-and-design-careers/sample-artist-statement.php> for more examples):

3. Begin by answering these questions

Title of theme:

Expand on the meaning of the concept:

Why your theme intrigues you or is of particular interest to you:

The media and materials you are using:

Why are you using them?

How does it tie into your theme?

Describe what you principles and elements of design (or metaphor or symbol) you are working with and how it ties in to
the theme and concept:

Describe the compositional tools that you are experimenting with and how it ties in to the theme and concept:

List the artists or schools of art that are influencing you. Describe how they are influencing you.

4. Begin to form these ideas into two paragraphs answering the two Commentary Questions above.

Examples
Artist Statement Example 1
1) My concentration is a series of abstractions constructed using pastel and ink. I decided to explore the concept of
stylizing various shapes and designs found in both nature as well as technology. I chose to focus on zooming in on
specially the lines and shapes of these designs and creating animate abstractions from them. (322 characters)
2) When I first started my concentrations, I created my abstractions from still lives that I had set up. These first
concentrations, such as numbers 1, 2 and 3, were geometrically balanced and had an overall scheme to them which
prevented them from having a clear focal point. However, I widened the variety of pictures from which I was
creating my abstractions and began focusing on computerized designs and images from nature. I focused on the
movement of the lines in each picture and embellished them to that they could embody the shape of the design. The
negative spaces that the ink encompasses become the placeholders for the color. The lines eventually began to
transform into shapes themselves, such as in concentrations 7 and on. The color palette also began to change as my
concentrations progress; I began with mostly analogous colors but eventually became more confident in my color
choices. Starting with concentration number 9, I began exploring with complimentary colors and different blending
techniques. The transformation of my concentrations enabled me to create this seemingly spontaneous series.
However, each piece required careful planning and drafting which was later become more complex and
intricate. (1226 characters)

Artist Statement Example 2

1) I was interested by the possibility that ordinary games could be depicted dramatically to evoke a sense of grandeur. I
sought to find unusual vantage points that a player might not normally see. I used charcoal to establish dark rich volumes
and ebony pencil to render intricate details and subtle reflections. In my series, I placed special emphasis on perspective,
illusion of depth, and exaggeration of proportion to give the game pieces a definitive, towering prominence in the
composition. (495 characters)

2) From the beginning, I employed spatial and proportional exaggeration as a means to lend to the game pieces an air
of importance. Starting from my first drawing, I employed a peek-a-boo effect, enlarging a pawn at the corner of
the composition in order to break the page, create an illusion of depth, and most importantly create a bridge from
my vision into the world of the audience. In # 3 (Connect-Four), I began to embrace an ants perspective and the
Connect-Four slots became a majestic monolith. This was a theme I carried throughout my 7th and 8th pieces in
which the Sorry pieces and beer bottles, respectively, served to create a distinct worldalmost a maze, through
which the antand the viewers eyewanders. Beginning with #10 (mahjong), I developed the concept to depict
game pieces in such a way that they seemed to be falling on top of or speeding towards the viewer, establishing a
more dramatic atmosphere. This was achieved by juxtaposing objects of extreme proportions to really attain that
in-your-face feel. The concept is apparent in both my 10th piece, in which the mahjong piece seems to begin
descending onto the viewer, and my 11th piece, in which the large king chess piece held by the hand is almost an
ominous overhang above the viewer, almost as a human foot would crush an ant. This impression was perhaps best
captured in my final piece, in which the die assumes massive proportions and seems to be speeding towards the face
of the viewer. (1481)

Artist Statement Example 3

1) My concentration revolves around the theme of isolation and alienation in the modern world using the subway as
my context. I was intrigued by the downcast and exhausted body language and expressions of commuters in transit.
I found the subway particularly evocative because, despite the suffocating proximity and unusually closeness of the
other commuters, each person was intently contemplating their own lives, completely unaware that everyone else
was consumed by the same personal reflection. (496)

2) The concept behind my concentration was always about the isolation of people in modern society but my pieces
evolved from simply observing commuters to making the viewer become a part of the scene. In #s 1-3 there is a
definite separation between the viewer and the piece but by #12 the viewer feels as if they are on the subway, being
tilted and pushed into the mass of humanity around them. In #4 I reached a turning point in my work because the
viewer was invited to become another passenger on the subway. I began adding cut paper and elevating my focal
points form the paper in #5 to further show the chaotic atmosphere of the subway. In preparation for each drawing I
began taking pictures undetected on the subway that often turned out at strange and tilted angles. I began to employ
 this tilted perspective in the background of #6 to further emphasize the jostling of the subway. Having established
the crowed feeling I began to use the harsh florescent lighting of the subway to emphasize the focal point in each
piece. I began exaggerating the contrast on the clothes and especially the faces of my subjects in #10 to illustrate the
downcast and pensive expressions of someone caught up in their own thoughts. In addition, I drew on paper bags to
show the leathery and alienated faces of commuters in a working community. I made the subway out of tracing
paper because it captured the boldness of the black and white charcoal, which created the uninviting and cold
surface of the subway walls. In the same piece I began to vary the distance of my subjects from the viewer,
intensifying the allusion that the viewer was a commuter on the train as well. In #12 I further increased the contrast
of the piece so that the majority of the commuters were hidden in the dark underbelly of the subway while my focal
point was bathed in the alienating glow of the lights above, isolating him from the surrounding people. (1924)

3 ) T H E A R T I S T S T AT E M E N T & W H Y T H E Y M O S T LY
SUCK
4) CARA OBERAPRIL 28, 2009
5) AR T AN D C U LT U R E C AR E E R F E AT U R E S T O RY P R O F E S S I O N AL D E V E L O P M E N T V I S U AL AR T 7 C O M M E N T S 2 6 4 9 V I E W S

6) Best Professional Practices for Artists: The Artist Statement Made Simple by Cara Ober
7) What is the goal of writing an artist statement? What does the artist statement do?
8) A good artist statement should enhance what a viewer sees in your work and provide a concise handle to approach a
visual piece. It should be accurate, well-written, and correctly punctuated. It also should be specific to your work
and offer unique insight into your process (unlike the general and non-specific example provided below).
9) Why is it important for a visual artist to put their work into a verbal format? In other
words, why do I have to do this????!
10) As an artist and writer, you would assume that crafting an effective artist statement would be easy for me, but it is
not. It is the hardest thing ever.
11) I recently took on the task of updating an old artist statement and made several versions; all were awful. I am aware
of what I am doing in my studio and what I am attempting to communicate, but putting this into words seems to be
an impossible task, like squeezing an elephant into a mason jar. Theres no way to encompass and explain
everything that I am trying to do in my visual work in words. Its impossible.
12) I began to wonder: Is the artist statement really essential?
13) I reached out to several art critics about this, the response was unanimous: they NEVER read artist statements when
reviewing a show. All the critics I interviewed said that artist statements mostly get in the way of experiencing the
work, are generally inaccurate and poorly written, and are, on the whole, useless.
14) If this is the case, then why do artists torture ourselves with writing them?
15) The bottom line is because we have to.
16) If a visual artist wants to apply for any kind of juried show, grant money, or professional opportunity, we are
required to provide an artist statement. In these cases, the artist statements are rarely read, but used to vet the
experienced artists from those who will be less professional and more difficult to work with. Artist statements are
used in tie-breaker jurying situations or used to prove that an artist can write a grammatically correct paragraph,
proof of professionalism and/or education.
17) So if we have to write them, how can I make this process less painful and absurd while generating better results?
How do we make sure that all our portfolio materials are ready to go when an opportunity arises?
18) Exercise Rewriting a Bad Artist Statement
19) When working with art students, I have them go online and locate examples of good and bad artist statements. I
instruct them to take a look at the artists work next to the statement and see how the two enrich or undermine one
another.
20) Once my students had located optimal and poor examples of artist statements, we identified a list of characteristics
to emulate or to avoid.
21) Length: Short artist statements were, on the whole, much higher quality than longer ones. The more concise
statements had evidence of strong editing, less run-on, and clearer ideas. In addition, those who are evaluating your
statement are usually in a hurry or reading many statements all at once. Its a good strategy, also empathetic to your
reader, to keep your statement to just a paragraph or two.
22) Buzzwords: Phrases like creative expression of feelings, the description that X artist has been making art since
they were a small child, the declaration of finding the extraordinary in the ordinary and the juxtaposition of
daily life and spirituality are all definitely bad. Not only are these expressions derivative, they are general. ALL art
shares these characteristics, so these terms do not set any one work apart from any other. Any qualitative descriptor
 of the work like excellent or beautiful is also off limits because they are subjective and dont get to the heart of
what the art is doing. Unless theyre buying the art, viewers dont need to be sold on the quality of the work the
statement should, instead, explain what the work DOES.
23) Art Speak: If you cant say it simply and without invoking the post-post-modernist cannon, whos going to want to
read this? Artists do not need to write like writers for ArtForum. Speaking plainly, without hiding behind big,
intellectual verbosity is always preferable.
24) Humor: If your work is humorous, then it is ok for your statement to be. However, if you want your work to be
taken seriously, then consider your audience before you make your work seem too light.
25) Objectivity: The more dispassionate and distanced the artist is from the statement, the stronger the statement
appeared to be. Artists can use the first person I approach or a third person. At times, a one or two sentence
narrative explaining the artists personal connection to the work can be effective. However, many artists employ a
romantic, flowery way to describe their own work and this stinks of bad editing and inexperience. Your artist
statement should communicate that you would be professional to work with, so you need to avoid sounding flakey.
26) Once you have a general sense of what to do and, more importantly, what NOT to do, get down to business and
write several drafts. It is highly recommended that you recruit several kind and smart people to read your draft and
offer feedback. Dont be afraid to go outside of the art community to friends, family, and neighbors. Often, you will
get better suggestions and questions from those who arent trained as artists.
27)Artist Statement by William Powhida
28)The essentials of the artist statement are as following:
29) 1. Materials and Media
30) In an age where art is usually experienced first online, you need to explain to the viewer what the work is. Just from
looking at an image it can be impossible to tell whether Im looking at a film still, a site specific installation, or a
painting. Dont assume your viewer knows what and how you do it. Be generous with them! Always include an
explanation of your media. What materials do you use? What tools do you use? How doe you create your work? Be
as specific as you can.
31) 2. Concept and Subject Matter
32) Your subject and concept are not necessarily the same thing. Your subject is the actual stuff you depict or reference.
Your concept is the reason for doing so, the idea underneath it all. For example, an artist paints figurative portraits
of individuals in natural settings in order to explore identity politics or expand the art historical cannon. Their
subject is the people depicted, but their concept goes deeper and offers their reason for making the work in the first
place.
33) 3. How these two aspects material and content reinforce or contradict one another? What does your work
DO? What sets your work apart from other work being made that appears to be similar?
34) Sometimes ones material and concept work together within a longstanding tradition. For example, if youre an oil
painter of pastoral landscapes, you are working to expand an established tradition. Even if there is a contemporary
or environmental aspect to your work and you are painting strip mines or disasters caused by global warming, your
work benefits from the historical constructs set forth by artists who came before you.
35) Usually, and especially with contemporary art, work tends to buck or subvert established art historical traditions and
this is what gives it meaning. If you are a fiber artist working within the tradition of colonial lace-making, but
youre making pornographic images in the lace, youre subverting the tradition and challenging expectations of your
medium.
36) Use active words like explore, analyze, question, test, search, devise, discover, balance, connect, experiment,
juxtapose, or construct.
37) Additional, optional aspects:
38) 4. A short and specific personal narrative that relates directly to your art making Autobiography has been a highly
powerful tool for successful artists since the beginning of time. If you are making art for personal reasons, explain
them because it deepens the meaning of your work.
39) 5. Historical context explaining one or two influences on the work and placing it into an art historical continuum
shows that you understand what you are doing and why. It also may invite smart comparisons to your work.
40) 6. NOTHING ELSE save your feelings for your diary!
41)
42) Other suggestions:
43) 1. Do a studio visit with a colleague, artist, or critic and have them answer questions 1-5 for you and take notes. Let
someone more objective than you put your visual work into words.
44) 2. Read artist statements by artists who do work similar to yours. If they did a good job, write something similar.
45) 3. Use a thesaurus!

46)

47) Sample Artist Statements

48) The following artist statement examples are provided as samples you can emulate. Don't copy them, but use them as inspiration to sculpt your
own statement using ideas and words.
49)
50) Jonathan H. Dough - Artist Statement (1392 characgters)
My artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues. In my work, I deconstruct the American dream, fairy tales, nursery
rhymes, and lullabies that are part of our childhood and adult culture. Having engaged subjects as diverse as the civil rights movement,
southern rock music and modernist architecture, my work reproduces familiar visual signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered
pieces.
51) Often times these themes are combined into installations that feature mundane domestic objects painted blue, juxtaposed with whimsical
objects, and often embellished with stenciled text. The color blue establishes a dream-like surreal quality, suggests notions of calmness and
safety, and formally unifies the disparate objects in each installation. The texts provide clues to content and interpretation.
52) While I use a variety of materials and processes in each project my methodology is consistent. Although there may not always be material
similarities between the different projects they are linked by recurring formal concerns and through the subject matter. The subject matter of
each body of work determines the materials and the forms of the work.
53) Each project often consists of multiple works, often in a range of different media, grouped around specific themes and meanings. During
research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to the next body of work.
54)
55) Millie Wilson - Artist Statement (926 characters)
I think of my installations as unfinished inventories of fragments: objects, drawings, paintings, photographs, and other inventions. They are
improvisational sites in which the constructed and the ready-made are used to question our
making of the world through language and knowledge. My arrangements are schematic, inviting the viewer to move into a space of
speculation. I rely on our desires for beauty, poetics and seduction.
56) The work thus far has used the frame of the museum to propose a secret history of modernity, and in the process, point to stereotypes of
difference, which are hidden in plain sight. I have found the histories of surrealism and minimalism to be useful in the rearranging of received
ideas. The objects I make are placed in the canon of modernist art, in hopes of making visible what is overlooked in the historicizing of the
artist. This project has always been grounded in pleasure and aesthetics.
57)
58) Molly Gordon - Artist Statement (1210 characters)
Knitting is my key to the secret garden, my way down the rabbit hole, my looking glass.
59) Hand knitting started it. From the beginning the process of transforming string into cloth has struck me as magical. And, over the years, that
magical process has had its way with me, leading me from hobby to art. Knitting fills me with a sense of accomplishment and integrity, and
has proven a most amenable vehicle for translating inner vision to outer reality.
60) I knit from the inside out. Though I work quite deliberately, consciously employing both traditional and innovative techniques, my
unconscious is the undisputed project manager.
61) The concrete, repetitive nature of this work frees my imagination and provides many opportunities for happy accident and grace to influence
the finished product.
62) Recently I discovered some childhood drawings: simple, crayoned patchworks that resonate deeply with my fiber work. Inspired and
invigorated by a renewed sense of continuity, and awed by the mystery of how creation occurs, I am now knitting richly varied fabrics
exploring many patterns, textures and colors. Once knit, the fabrics are pieced to form an always new patchwork from which I make my
garments and accessories.
63) Molly Gordon
64)
65) Martin Langford - Artist Statement (2377 characters)
I don't set out to produce art about one subject or another. I'm never without a sketchbook to hand so I am constantly drawing and sometimes
the drawings are left in the sketchbook and other times they develop into more in-depth ideas and detailed images.
66) I didn't set out to be an environmental artist or to create artwork relating to social commentary but as my portfolio developed and people
started to review my work, the descriptions started to emerge and I began to notice a pattern I hadn't intended but am now please with.
67) My work tends to focus on the environment, the evolution of man and his material wealth, the development of bigger and bigger cities, more
and more people, cars and industry on the planet and the consequences this has on nature. Some reviews have labeled my work as 'black
humour' but I always try to depict a positive message too - the persistence of nature in recapturing what once belonged to the earth.
68) At school, the only class I really paid any attention in was art. I simply wasn't interested in anything else and I think my obsession with
depicting the monotony of the work place and work force started there...
69) Some of my subject matter is about people's daily routines and a comment on human nature. And since I've always been a fan of mafia films -
a new strand of work seems to have emerged depicting a very 'human' and 'school playground' side to mob life.
70) None of it was intentional - it all developed and evolved over time. People always ask for my artist statement so I needed to do one but I've
never liked to explain a certain piece of work - if you've made a picture and that's how you wanted it to be - hopefully it can speak for itself
and whatever it says to the viewer - it's the right message because there isn't a wrong and a right message. Each person takes something a little
different from the same picture and I'm happy with that.
71) Influences
My influences are first and foremost everything I see, feel and experience, but I've always loved comic books particularly work by Harvey
Pekar and Robert Crumb. I love architecture particularly Art Deco. The artists I most admire are John Martin, a mezzotint artist from the
1800's, Winsor McCay a cartoonist and animator who created Little Nemo, Escher and Lyonel Feininger creator of Kinder Kids. I grew up
watching films such as Metropolis, Flash Gordon, Star Wars and Brazil.
Martin Langford