Try This Magical, 30-Minute Method For Creating a Pretty Darn Good Artist Statement
By Thea Fiore-Bloom, Ph.D
Why do artists hate writing artist’s statements?
Because trying to write or refresh an artist statement usually feels about as good as jabbing the tines of a fork into your forehead.
And, I’ve got the fork marks to prove it.
I’m in the process of rebranding my Etsy shop and I needed a shiny, new artist statement. But the long books I was reading on how to do it left me overwhelmed.
In desperation, I hit YouTube and stumbled onto an eight-minute video by “Breakfast With Sergio” Podcaster, Sergio Gomez, MFA.
In it, Sergio only makes you answer three questions about your art, add some tinkering time, and you got yourself an artist’s statement.
It worked for me, it’s worked for my writing coaching clients, and I bet it will work for you.
So how about we try out this fork-free, three-question method to writing an artist statement— together?
The 3 Questions for Your Down and Dirty Artist Statement
First Artist Statement Question
What kind of art do you make lately?
Are you currently taking extreme closeups of utility poles? Or is your work a melange of genres like mine?
Here’s how I answered the question, “What kind of art do you make currently?”
My book nook shelf inserts are a love child born from the unlikely union of Cabinets of Curiosity from the 1600s, classy historical dollhouse interiors, and junk-based assemblage art.
Now on to question two.
Second Artist Statement Question
How do you make your art?
In other words, what’s your specific process?
I answered the question this way:
To populate the tiny worlds inside my cigar box dioramas I loot through my collections of miniature curios and odd natural history-related artifacts.
I tend to assemble strange, alchemical combinations of objects. For example, I might take a salvaged cerulean-blue moth wing and suspend it in clear resin inside an antique apothecary jar.
Okay, let’s head to the finish line question.
Third Artist Statement Question
Why do you make it?
Put differently, why does it matter? Here’s my answer.
I make these box dioramas to explore what provokes wonder within me.
But more importantly, I make my boxes in hopes of reminding the viewer of the mystery of her own mind, and the magic of her own memories.
When you’ve answered the three questions you’ll have your first draft. And if you obey the following five light-hearted commandments, you’ll have that first draft in as little as fifteen minutes.
Not bad, right?
Let’s get you the rest of the info you need.
The 5 Commandments of Writing a Fine, Fast Artist Statement
1. Write two sentences per answer; three in case of emergency.
2. Stay loose. Approach it in the spirit of fun.
3. Write your artist statement in the first person.
4. Refuse to allow any artspeak or art jargon into your answers.
5. Also, don’t be afraid to be different (i.e. yourself). Try to write about your work in a way that makes a reader put a finger to her lip and think; “Oooh, that sounds odd or intriguing…I wonder what this artist’s work looks like? Let me click on over to it.”
Now Onto Tweaking Your Rough Draft
- Don’t edit your draft after you finish the questions. Leave it to sit in peace, and rise like dough for twenty-four hours or so.
- After you let it sit a day or two edit your artist statement for at least fifteen minutes (keeping in mind the pro tips below).
- Go on and let it breathe again for a few days.
- Now pay attention to it by printing it up and reading it out loud to yourself. If it’s ready to roll give it a final polish and check it with Grammarly.
- Consider showing it to a kind friend for feedback.
- Done and done.
8 Pro Tips Artist Statement Tips For The Road
1. Don’t shoot for perfect- shoot for done. Why? Because done is better than perfect.
2. Remember this is just your artist statement for TODAY. It’s not going to be etched into the stone of the Acropolis. Professional artists trim, tweak, and even completely gut /re-do their artist statements often.
3. “Keep it short and punchy, says art coach Alyson Stanfield. “Leave the reader wanting more, leave them having to go back to your art to look at it.”
4. Don’t talk about famous artists who’ve influenced you. (Because you don’t want people comparing your work to Van Gogh.)
5. Also don’t forget to hurl your phantom-gallerist-inner-critic out the highest window possible. Instead, write your statement as if you are tapping out an email to that friend who thinks your art is cool.
Final Trims and Edits
6. Cut down overly- long sentences. (You know the ones that include wagon loads of dashes and commas). Need help? Pop over to my post, Improve Your Art Writing Overnight by Forbidding Yourself These Two Things for immediate help with this.
7. When you’re editing that first draft do away with intensifiers and filler words like “really,” “very” and”extremely” because they weaken writing.
8. Finally, after you let your statement sit and you come back to it, you’ll be able to notice you’ve used the same word in different paragraphs. Substitute a synonym. Pretend you’re one of The Bronte Sisters, almost done with your masterpiece. Have tea on the porch and add final touches as you romanticly leaf through a thesaurus or use Thesaurus.com.
Get Custom Coaching to Create a Captivating Artist Statement
Still flummoxed? Try your hand at answering the three questions, then have me help you rearrange your word furniture a bit.
Pop on over to my writing coaching for artists page now and sign up for my affordable “Writing Tune-Up Package.”
Where to Show Off Your New Artist Statement?
Use your new artist statement for press mentions, press releases, and postcards.
Feature it on your Etsy shop, or the About page of your website. Effortlessly plunk it into applications or place it with pride at the bottom of your newsletter.
Stay confident. You can do this and do it well.
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What do you think?
Got a question about artist statements?
Let me know in the comments below.
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Additional Artist Statement Resources
I recommend Alyson Stanfield’s free, one-hour YouTube video Artist Statement Makeovers.
Or you might get support from Art Write: The Writing Guide for Visual Artists by Vicki Krohn Amorose.
You might like these other Charmed Studio Posts:
Zoom Calls For Introverts: The Artist’s Guide to Looking, Sounding, and Feeling Good on Zoom
4 Exceptional Podcasts for Artists
Meditations for Artists: Reduce Fear, Ignite Creativity
What to Do If You’re Afraid To Write
Hello Thea,
here is Scharle from devianArt. I lost your email-adress I think :(, but I wanted to let you know that I think of you now and then. Wish you the best and hope you are fine <3.
Scharle
Thank you so much for your generous advice, Thea! I had a few folks help me with my artist statement several years ago, but that statement is due for an overhaul, which I’ve successfully managed to put off 🙂 Now I’m having to write a short bio/statement combo specific to my medium (watercolor) and I was sitting here yawning before I’d even written one word… Your question format makes it so much easier! Maybe I can use it for the short bio part as well: who, what, when, where etc. Love your book nook assemblages!
Oh, Mineke that sounds like a solid plan. An artist statement combined with a bio is twice as hard to keep short but you will pull it off with flying colors. Here is what I consider an exceptionally good combo artist/statement bio to help you as an example. It is from illustrator Rachel Ignotofsky’s wondrous Women in Science book and postcard series published by Potter.
“Rachel Inotofsky grew up in New Jersey on a healthy diet of cartoons and pudding. She now lives in Kansas City, Missouri, where she spends all day drawing and learning as much as she can; she has a knack for making dense information fun and accessible. She is passionate about scientific literacy and powerful women. She hopes these cards will inspire girls and women to follow their hearts and dreams.”
She covers the who first, the what next, the why last. Just leaves out one line about the how.How does she make her work? Also she uses “she” too many times where I think she could have alternated “she” with “Ignotofsky”. But it still gels I think. Let me know if this statement/bio helps. Notice first line pulls reader right in even though it is written in 3rd person, not as easy task.
What do you think Mineke?Will you be writing in first or third person?
Wonderful article Thea! Writing artist statements can be a bit frustrating. The 3 question format looks like a great way to develop a stellar description that covers the why, how, and do. It is like a roadmap to the final destination. I will test it out soon.
YES! Let me know how it goes, and if you have a question feel free to ask it here.I bet you will do great.
Thanks, Thea, for the useful info! I liked the 8 tips most. Will definitely help me with my 3 paragraphs for the Etsy store!
You are very welcome Marianna. Definitely keep tips 1 and 2 foremost in your mind as you write your Etsy statement. When are you thinking of launching your shop? Let me know when you do.
Oh Thea! You are one brave soul. Even the mention of an artist statement makes me cringe. I’ve been so allergic to writing one that for years I have gone without. I have a bio on my website, but no statement.
Thanks to you, I can see how it might actually be a useful and possibly fun addition to my site. My art may not be as intriguing and compelling as your book nooks and assemblage pieces, but reading through your writing process has lifted the brain fog around doing it for myself.
As always, you gone to the core of the thing and made it look easy, attainable and worth doing. Fine. OK. I’ll do it.
Cheers,
Laura
Your art is definitely as intriguing as mine! But thanks so much for everything you said. It’s funny, I have the reverse fear of yours-I fear writing a bio not an artist statement. I want to tackle that next year for another post. If you don’t mind I will have to pick your brain about why bios come easy to you and what your secret sauce is that could help others like me write them up.
BTW I think you will end up with a kick-ass artists statement if you write it in the same humorous, spirit-filled manner you do your blog posts. But as I always say, no writing for one’s website etc is easy. I am just glad this combination of methods in the post may make an artist statement easi-er to cobble together.
Thea, thank you for this helpful and to the point article, sprinkled with humor. It helped me write a concise artist statement in no time whatsoever. Now folks reading it won’t lose interest after a few minutes. Your intriguing book nooks are filled with fascinating artifacts! I admire how you always promote artists and their work in your blogs! Exploring the art of others is stirs my own creativity and broadens my horizon.
Hey Sylvia,
Wow, I love your using the word “artifact” to categorize the things in my boxes, hmmm that makes me want to use it in my artist statement, which means yet re-write #579!!! I am happy to hear this method worked for you. Huzzah!
You are so supportive, thank you for sharing your appreciation of this post and for letting me know that sharing the work of other artists is something you find helpful. It’s so cool to see what everyone else is up to and it leaves the competition mind set behind. There is enough for all of us right? And we get more when we help one another. (Cue Sesame Street music) but it is true. 🙂
Yay!! You always take something really hard and overwhelming and make it doable! So grateful for that!!
Oh thanks Gale. That made my day. Very glad I could help in some way.