Student Examples
Artist Statements Do’s and Don’ts
by Alyson Stanfield
An artist statement is a necessary component of any professional artists' portfolio or promotional packet.
When writing your artist statement, DO:
*Write in the first person. It is a statement, after all.
*Be brief, 2-3 paragraphs at most. Always err on the side of brevity. You can write more, but why would you want to? People have short attention spans these days. Load as much punch into the delivery as you can. Combine sentences and delete ones that aren't vital. As Henri Matisse said in his treatise on painting, "All that is not useful to the picture is detrimental." The same could be said of your statement.
*Describe the current direction of your work and your approach, particularly what is unique about your methods and materials.
*Sit on it for a few days and come back to it with a fresh mindset. Most artists, in my opinion, hate their statements because they rushed them in preparation for an exhibit and didn't care to spend any more time on them. How do you expect it to be any good if you don't work at it?
*Consider more than one statement if you are trying to discuss more than one body of work. If you try to get too much into a single statement, you run the risk of saying nothing and trying to be everything to all people. This is bad marketing/bad promotions.
*Allow your artist statement to grow, change, and mature along with your work. Don't let it sit on a shelf and collect dust. It should be organic and you shouldn't be afraid to change it and make it better.
*Make sure your statement passes the litmus test. Above all, viewers should be compelled to put the statement away and look back at the work. Your statement isn't successful if people read the words on the page, and then put them down and go on to the next artist.
When writing your artist statement, DO NOT:
*Use too many personal pronouns. Yes, I said to write in first person, but try to severely limit the number of "I"s, "me"s and "my"s that are used. You'll be amazed at how many other ways there are to phrase things. You want people to relate to your words and to your art. Too many personal pronouns will put up an unnecessary barrier.
*Tell your life story. You can keep that for your bio (as long as it's interesting). Your artist statement is only about the current direction of your work.
*Quote or refer to anyone else by name. Keep the focus on you and your art. Mentioning another name shifts the readers' attention from your art to the other person.
*Forget to use spell check and ask someone else to read it over for you.
View the time to write your artist statement as an opportunity to clarify your thoughts. A well-written statement, approached deliberately and thoughtfully, can be a boon to your self-promotion efforts. You'll use the language on your Web site and in grant applications, press releases, brochures, and much more.
Copyright 2008 Alyson Stanfield, All rights reserved.
Alyson B. Stanfield is an art-marketing consultant, artist advocate, and author of I’d Rather Be in the Studio! The Artist’s No-Excuse Guide to Self-Promotion. Get her free report “25 No-Nonsense Tips for Your Art Career” at www.artbizcoach.com/25tips.
IB Artist Statement
In the artist statement, the student must describe briefly, in no more than 300 words, his or her artistic growth and development throughout the course. He or she should illustrate these insights with specific examples related to studio work and the investigation workbooks.
How to Start writing an Artist Statement
The first step . . .
STEP ONE: 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 ________________.
The rest of the steps are at the following link:
Artist Statement Example - Todji Kurtzman
My sculptures are created from intuition, discipline and a journey of spiritual realization. My intellectual understanding of what I create, summarized below, develops long after the execution of the work.
Michelangelo employed a forced perspective technique when he made the top of David proportionally bigger. Sculptors throughout the ages have employed the forced perspective technique to make their monuments appear to have correct proportions when seen from below. In my work, I apply a signature interpretation to this age old technique -with the exact opposite intent.
Our eye helps us to estimate the size and distance of things by making far away objects look smaller. Just as a skyscraper appears to be narrower at the top, I give my sculptures the illusion of great depth by employing the spatial language of our eye and mind -but subverting it to alternative meaning in the material plane.
Drawing upon the invisible inner workings of our minds, the exaggerated proportions of my sculpture make visible the "image" that the brain "sees" of our bodies when one is lost in inspired movement. At peak moments of concentration, one's body disappears and the appendage of focus becomes all encompassing in the mind's eye.
In science, this concept has a parallel called the Homunculus. The Homunculus explains the disproportionate amount of brain area that is assigned to the more sensitive areas of the body such as the lips, tongue, hands, feet and genitals. These sensitive areas are theorized to appear "bigger" in the brain's “view” of the body.
In the meeting of the scientific and spiritual planes my sculptures function as vessels for the contemporary descendants of the ancient fertility goddesses and gods. They conjure, in 21st century vernacular, the ancient mystery described by Joseph Campbell as "aesthetic arrest through the living object."
My sculptures make welcome the West’s displaced archetypes of nature divinity, individual divinity, goddess power, fertility, virility, yin and yang, which are all encompassed by Todji’s principle of Infinite Spiritual Truths.
An "Enthusiast," as defined by anthropologist Lewis Hyde, is a person who finds spiritual expression through the body. The practitioners of Candomble, Santeria, Vodun, Sufism, indigenous religions and Dionysian temple dancers of ancient Greece, all practice(d) codified rhythms and dances to enter ecstatic states for community and personal transformation. While I was raised culturally removed from this practice, I can look back upon a lifetime pursuit of this expression.
In my work I collaborate with dancers, musicians, and urban shaman; African, Latin, post-modern, modern, capoeira and experimental. I am enamored with Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music and dance. I consider my involvement and exploration of these spiritual dance and music forms, and their mythologies, as a way to expand the metaphysical consciousness of my work.
I sculpt in clay and cast in bronze because I believe my work will stand the test of time and the 3000 year longevity of bronze is an antithesis to our culture of the disposable.
If human beings in the 21st century are to avert mutually assured ecological destruction, mainstream cultures must re-discover, re-tell and thus re-live our nature harmonious mythologies. My contribution to this imperative mythological transformation is to express our instinctual knowing as beings within the natural world, and give contemporary form, as have sculptors throughout the ages, to the ancient and fundamental expression of the Living Object.
Michelangelo employed a forced perspective technique when he made the top of David proportionally bigger. Sculptors throughout the ages have employed the forced perspective technique to make their monuments appear to have correct proportions when seen from below. In my work, I apply a signature interpretation to this age old technique -with the exact opposite intent.
Our eye helps us to estimate the size and distance of things by making far away objects look smaller. Just as a skyscraper appears to be narrower at the top, I give my sculptures the illusion of great depth by employing the spatial language of our eye and mind -but subverting it to alternative meaning in the material plane.
Drawing upon the invisible inner workings of our minds, the exaggerated proportions of my sculpture make visible the "image" that the brain "sees" of our bodies when one is lost in inspired movement. At peak moments of concentration, one's body disappears and the appendage of focus becomes all encompassing in the mind's eye.
In science, this concept has a parallel called the Homunculus. The Homunculus explains the disproportionate amount of brain area that is assigned to the more sensitive areas of the body such as the lips, tongue, hands, feet and genitals. These sensitive areas are theorized to appear "bigger" in the brain's “view” of the body.
In the meeting of the scientific and spiritual planes my sculptures function as vessels for the contemporary descendants of the ancient fertility goddesses and gods. They conjure, in 21st century vernacular, the ancient mystery described by Joseph Campbell as "aesthetic arrest through the living object."
My sculptures make welcome the West’s displaced archetypes of nature divinity, individual divinity, goddess power, fertility, virility, yin and yang, which are all encompassed by Todji’s principle of Infinite Spiritual Truths.
An "Enthusiast," as defined by anthropologist Lewis Hyde, is a person who finds spiritual expression through the body. The practitioners of Candomble, Santeria, Vodun, Sufism, indigenous religions and Dionysian temple dancers of ancient Greece, all practice(d) codified rhythms and dances to enter ecstatic states for community and personal transformation. While I was raised culturally removed from this practice, I can look back upon a lifetime pursuit of this expression.
In my work I collaborate with dancers, musicians, and urban shaman; African, Latin, post-modern, modern, capoeira and experimental. I am enamored with Afro-Brazilian and Afro-Cuban music and dance. I consider my involvement and exploration of these spiritual dance and music forms, and their mythologies, as a way to expand the metaphysical consciousness of my work.
I sculpt in clay and cast in bronze because I believe my work will stand the test of time and the 3000 year longevity of bronze is an antithesis to our culture of the disposable.
If human beings in the 21st century are to avert mutually assured ecological destruction, mainstream cultures must re-discover, re-tell and thus re-live our nature harmonious mythologies. My contribution to this imperative mythological transformation is to express our instinctual knowing as beings within the natural world, and give contemporary form, as have sculptors throughout the ages, to the ancient and fundamental expression of the Living Object.
http://www.todjikurtzman.com/
Artist Statement Example - Sano
Graffiti Art is Art first ! "Graffiti" in itself is a label applied to the Aerosol Art Culture and usually carries the negative connotation that Graffiti Art is not a viable art form. For sake of communication the label "graffiti" is widely used and accepted as the standard label by both practitioners and the general community (so I will use it in this context). However, to define graffiti or Aerosol Art as scribbling or scrawling on a wall, or for an artist to let his tool dictates his or her style of work is detrimental to the idea of being an artist in this art form.
I am an artist, that's all ! My medium of choice for the past thirteen years has been spray paint (Krylon brand), though I can rock with markers, watercolors, pen, pencil, acrylics, airbrush, or on a computer, whatever.
My first official crew was "Doin' Everything Funky." Now, I run with "Cleveland Skribe Tribe, Ruthless Thieveland Artists (CST/RTA)," and "We Hate All Toys (WHAT cru)." As the unofficial keeper of aerosol culture in Cleveland, I transcended from the end of the "Old-School Cleveland" era to now representing Thieveland always.
Graffiti was split into two major factions: Artists and Bombers. Bombers in general, commit quantity destruction (tags, throwys or one-liners). The idea is a little something everywhere. Artists create masterpieces (be it just letters or characters, sometimes abstract, or some type of worthwhile combination). The idea is to maintain the creative cutting edge (basically freak some ill new stuff). Currently I'm starting to notice a blurry division between Graffiti artists:
(1) As orthodox writers, who practice the art as it has been traditionally done (or they could be suckers with their heads up theirs as**s). Ex.: Some writers I've met from NYC say that you're not a "real" writer until you paint a (subway) train. VVhatever...
(2) Conceptual artists, who at every chance will try something different, then refine what they have done for the sake of pushing the cutting edge.
As for the future of this art form, I see more and more of it coming into legitimate arenas. Is this a good thing or bad thing? I am unsure!
Graffiti/Aerosol art/hip-hop culture in general isn't for everyone and it would be incredibly wack if it ever gets that diluted where everyone likes it. I appreciate the people who hate any and all forms of graffiti, those people are usually the brainwashed commercial marketing targets that made Vanilla Ice and Puffy so popular, and for that reason they are easy to identify. If we, as practitioners of a cultural art form concentrate on educating our youth in their development of skills, then aerosol art should remain intact in its original intent and cultural purpose.
Artist Statement Example - Beth Ames Swartz
The concept of order, disorder, and reordering is central to my work. Scientists talk of order and randomness, of entropy, and of eternity's eventual end when all differences disappear. Yet, I am an optimist. I see life as an anti-entropic force for order. In my work, I constantly propose not a duality of life and death, but an endless cycle of life, death, and rebirth.
I explore systems of knowledge by translating philosophical concepts into aesthetic visual experiences.
My paintings honor differences among cultures by utilizing symbols and words that represent concepts shared by people of widely different philosophic worldviews. I hope that, by exposing people to the beliefs of others and by showing the interconnectedness of one belief system to another, each of us may experience a common compassion.
I studied many systems of knowledge during the last forty years, both ones well known and those more esoteric; incorporating these teachings into my life and into my art is an evolving process.
I work in series, beginning a new series with an entirely different visual approach after I solve the aesthetic challenges of my then current series. I investigate the healing potential of images in all my series, often employing pilgrimage and other ritualistic acts in the creation processes. I use word and/or myth-like visual elements from many philosophic and religious systems (including Native American healing practices, Buddhism, Christianity, Taoism, the I-Ching, Jewish mysticism as taught in the Cabala, and the chakra system of Hinduism) in order to facilitate communication with viewers on both conscious and unconscious levels.
The "Word" in Paint
Often, I purposely "hide" words in paintings. Individual words may be seen behind the paint and, sometimes, deciphered in whole or part; however, viewers can not consciously read the entire message. One reason for hiding words, phrases and symbols behind paint is that I believe art works on the Jungian unconsciousness, conscious knowledge not being required. Viewers may recognize a message lays buried behind the paint, but that message remains unreadable in its entirety, even when examined closely. Anyone who consciously tries to "get the message" will not. Yet, in this striving, I believe viewers will succeed unconsciously . . . one of the many mysteries of life and art.
I first inserted a literal "word" into my art in 1993 in a series entitled A Verse for the Eleventh Hour (1993) employing the poem The Second Coming by William Butler Yeats. A related series, A Story for the Eleventh Hour (1993), includes words and symbols within the paintings and, importantly, references to the poetry of T. S. Eliot, particularly Burnt Norton (one of The Four Quartets) and The Waste Land.
Artist Statement Examples
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Example #1 explaining all of her bodies of work
Kathleen Bitetti
Artist Statement & Explanation of Bodies of work
Artist Statement & Explanation of Bodies of work
Since the early 1990s, my work has involved the creation of conceptually based sociopolitical objects and installations. In 1992 I began stenciling text by hand onto objects. Hand stenciled text/language has now become a very prominent feature in my work and I continue to use the same stencil and medium (graphite) that I used in 1992. In my work, I deconstruct the American dream, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and lullabies that are part of our childhood and adult culture. My work also addresses gender roles/gender assignment, the fragility of family dynamics, domestic violence and the underlying threads of violence and danger that underpin American society. Often times these themes are combined into installations that feature mundane domestic objects, painted pure white and are often embellished with stenciled text. The color white establishes a dream-like surreal quality, suggests notions of purity and safety, and formally unifies the disparate objects in each installation. The texts provide clues to content and interpretation. My "conceptual sculpture weds minimal form with maximal content" (Shawn Hill, "BayWindows" Nov. 14 96 p27).
I usually work on several bodies of work concurrently. I also create site specific temporary installations for indoor sites (I have in the past created temporary outdoor site specific work as well). I often rework a site specific installation into a self contained format that will enable the piece to be shown in a non site specific installation format/ environment. And often times elements from my sculptures, installations, and non site specific work are utilized in my site specific installations. In other words, the various bodies of work inform or cross pollinate each other.
The six specific bodies of work that I am working on concurrently:
"Weary Heads"- a series of ten life size beds. I began the series in late 1994. These beds are beautiful objects, but they are also very dangerous. Both stenciled text/language and pillows with text are prominent elements in the series. These works transform an object, that usually provides comfort, into one that has nightmare qualities.
"Forever Hold Your Peace" In 1992, I began this series of 11 large sculptural components that attempt to reveal the life of a person who is in a battering/ abusive environment. The majority of contemporary art work addressing domestic violence does not show the whole picture of what it is like to live with such violence on a daily basis, nor does it demonstrate the long time line of domestic violence. It is the goal of my work to more fully represent the long nightmare of domestic violence and to show the underlying thread of violence/danger that underlies such relationships.
Lullabies & Fairy Tales are other areas that I am investigating. Several of my works focus on deconstructing these forms of "childhood" entertainment (these themes also make appearances in the other bodies of work).
Pillows Talk- In 1993, I began working with pillows and stenciling text on them. I have created four major pieces that use only pillows (pillows are also an important element in the Weary Heads series).
Site Specific Installation Work- Birds is the most recent example of this work, but Lullaby/Rock A Bye Baby and one version of Who's Afraid of the Big Bad Wolf are also examples.
Works on Paper- My works on paper tend to differ from my 3-D/ installation work. These works are very personal pieces that have been inspired by and made for particular people in my life. Nor are these works minimal in form, color, or content. I often incorporate appropriated images and text into my works on paper and I usually sew these pieces by hand and/or by machine. Like in my 3D/installation works, the text is hand stenciled onto the piece. My works on paper are usually celebratory and often times meant to be humorous.
Example #2 explaining her work in general and specific pieces- notice the similar introductory paragraph!
Kathleen Bitetti
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
Since the early 1990s, my work has involved the creation of conceptually based sociopolitical objects and installations. In my work, I deconstruct the American dream, fairy tales, nursery rhymes, and lullabies that are part of our childhood and adult culture. My work also addresses gender roles/gender assignment, the fragility of family dynamics, domestic violence and the underlying threads of violence and danger that underpin American society. These themes are often combined with the metaphors commonly used by those in battering relationships into installations that feature mundane domestic objects, painted pure white and embellished with stenciled text. The color white establishes a dream-like surreal quality, suggests notions of purity and safety, and formally unifies the disparate objects in each installation. The texts provide clues to content and interpretation. My "conceptual sculpture weds minimal form with maximal content". (Shawn Hill, "BayWindows" Nov. 14 96 p27).
The two works, both Untitled 1991, are examples of my earlier work that addressed the overlooked issues of class in American society. Those who are in the lower classes are usually the ones who are "watched like goldfish" and must depend on others for their very survival. The monopoly game pieces are also very important clues to understanding the various facets of our so called classless society.
The piece entitled, Porter Crib 1997, is from a series of 10 beds entitled, "Weary Heads". I began the series in late 1994. These life size beds are beautiful objects, but they are also very dangerous. These works transform an object, that usually provides comfort, into one that has nightmare qualities and is incapable of providing comfort. Stenciled text/language is a prominent element in my "Weary Heads" bed series. The Porter Crib text is taken from a "Christianized" Celtic/Pagan childhood prayer. The prayer is stenciled on tracing paper, thus making it impossible for any infant to lie in the crib with out falling through on to the floor. Children are also at the mercy of others. Presently, I am working on completing two more of the beds in the series. I hope to show all 10 beds in a gallery setting in the future.
Example #3 explaining one piece
Kathleen Bitetti
Artist Statement
Artist Statement
Birds
These plaster birds were cast from two ceramic birds my mother had in our family home. Interestingly, the two original ceramic birds are exactly the same in every detail, except that one was painted blue indicating a Blue Jay, while the other was painted red indicating a cardinal. I chose to keep my birds white. These birds, in my mindscape, symbolize safety, good luck and purity. All the birds in the museum have been cast specifically for this show and I have placed them all in their specific sites within the museum.
These plaster birds were cast from two ceramic birds my mother had in our family home. Interestingly, the two original ceramic birds are exactly the same in every detail, except that one was painted blue indicating a Blue Jay, while the other was painted red indicating a cardinal. I chose to keep my birds white. These birds, in my mindscape, symbolize safety, good luck and purity. All the birds in the museum have been cast specifically for this show and I have placed them all in their specific sites within the museum.
I first made these white plaster birds to be elements in a 1996 site specific installation entitled, Lullaby/Rock A Bye Baby. The installation examined the duality of the lullaby: it is an extremely violent song that is considered a cherished "lullaby" that one sings to soothe children to sleep.
Ironically, while working on these birds for this show, I found out that many people believe that having any birds in their house, living or in any depiction, is a harbinger/cause of bad luck. Thus these birds, like the majority of my work, have conflicting meanings