Writing the Artist Statement and Communication Archives

Write a Better Artist Statement with These 3 Questions

A strong artist statement is essential to the effective marketing of your art.

There’s no shortcutting this one. You need at least one artist statement for each body of work you create.

Writing your statement is a process. Like any other type of writing or artmaking, you can’t expect to nail it in a single sitting.

And, like all good things that take time, it will be time well spent. The process helps you gain clarity about your art.

If you can’t define your art in a statement, you will likely face difficulty marketing your work. Where else will you get language for wall labels, brochure and website text, informal presentations, and conversations?

Answering these three questions will help you write a better artist statement.

1. What, in particular, do you want people to see in your work? Is it . . .

Your labor?
A special material?
An emotion?
Color? Line? Texture?

What is important to you?

Discuss how you handle this aspect of your work. The words you choose for your statement should be clues that lead viewers to these discoveries.

Declaring “I love color” is weak language. Who doesn’t love color? Show us exactly how you respond to color and use it to transfer meaning from your head and heart to the viewer.

2. What is a distinguishing characteristic of your art?

Write a Better Artist Statement with These 3 Questions Read

Speak Up on Behalf of Your Art Career

In her book, Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead, Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg says, “The most common way people give up their power is by thinking they don’t have any.” She encourages women, whether they are in the workplace or at home, to “lean in” to their potential rather than sitting back and accepting unfavorable situations. I’m asking you to speak up.

Speak Up on Behalf of Your Art Career Read

Art Bloggers: Write for Your Readers

Many artist-bloggers bemoan the fact that they don’t have the engagement they want on their blogs. If you’ve been wondering why your posts aren’t encouraging comments and dialogue, you probably puzzle over why you’re spending your time blogging at all. Let’s start with what an artist-blogger might want for her reader. While I encourage you to generate your own list, here are five things I want for my readers.

Art Bloggers: Write for Your Readers Read

When The Thought Of Talking About Your Art Makes You Cringe

Most artists I know cringe at the thought of doing an artist talk. This is what they tell me: I’m not a performer! I’m not a public speaker! I don’t want to explain what my art is about! I don’t know what to talk about! I don’t think it will make sense! I don’t have anything to wear! The list of objections goes on and on.

When The Thought Of Talking About Your Art Makes You Cringe Read

How Your Artist Statement Can Engage More Eyeballs

In I’d Rather Be in the Studio I lay out guidelines for your artist statement, where I say that my ultimate test for an effective artist statement is that it compels people to look at your art.

Think about it: What good is your statement if people only read it and then move on to the next label, the next statement, the next page, or the next artist?

You want more eyeballs on the art!

If you’re not using your statement as a way to engage viewers with the art, you’re missing an opportunity.

Most people do not have a visual education. They are not taught how to look at and appreciate art. Your statement can do this job without being too elementary or condescending.

Every time you teach people how to look at your art, you empower them. You give them confidence to spend more time with the work and to go to a deeper level.

Artist Statement Examples

These are excerpts from artist statements that can be found on their sites. See how they direct you back to the work.

How Your Artist Statement Can Engage More Eyeballs Read

Your Artist Statement Is Like A Coconut

Friends and I were reminiscing about Gilligan’s Island when I revealed too much about my TV-watching habits as a child.

Remember how the castaways on that series made everything from coconuts?

The Professor fashioned a radio and battery charger from coconuts. Why, oh why, couldn’t he make coconut glue and repair a boat to get them off the island???

Maryann was famous for her coconut cream pie.

Everyone drank out of coconut shells, which also became vessels for almost anything imaginable.

Coconuts sustained all of the survivors of the S.S. Minnow. Though they grew weary of coconut-this and coconut-that, they wouldn’t have survived without this fruit.

Your Artist Statement Will Sustain You

Your artist statement is like a coconut. Bear with me here.

The deliberate process of articulating your work will sustain you just as the coconuts sustained Gilligan and crew.

Your Artist Statement Is Like A Coconut Read

Finish Your Writing Project Using These Secrets

Want help finishing your newsletter, catalog, blog post, book, or even your artist statement? Listen up. My friend and writing coach, Cynthia Morris, shared a secret with me. Print It Out. Really? That’s it? “Print it out” is all you have for me? Yep, it’s that simple. Or at least it’s a good first step.

Finish Your Writing Project Using These Secrets Read

Caption: ©Tami Bone, Tributarius. Photograph. Used with permission.

Stop Typing And Start Talking

If you call my business phone and I’m unavailable, you will get a recording that says I respond fastest to email. I love email. Like most business owners these days, I prefer it for my primary communications tool. There are numerous situations when you must stop typing and start talking. Here are five examples.

Stop Typing And Start Talking Read

That’s me looking at Mel Ristau’s sculpture inside a locked building.

Empowering Art Viewers

One of the most valuable things you can do in your marketing is to teach people how to look at and appreciate your art. It’s not just good for you, but a gift that will last throughout the lives of those who experience it. I learned long ago when I worked in a museum that teaching people how to look at art empowers them and gives them confidence. Teaching people how to look at art empowers them and gives them confidence. Empowering them with skills is invaluable – to both you and them.

Empowering Art Viewers Read

© Bonnie Jean Woolger, Ink drawing. Used with permission.

Untangling Blogs and Newsletters

Have you wondered why you write regularly on your artist blog and send a newsletter?
Seems like you’re duplicating effort, right? You’re tangled up in knots because you can’t see the difference between the two or the value in having both. Let’s see if I can help untangle this mess for you.

Untangling Blogs and Newsletters Read

Writing the Artist Statement and Communication

Artist Statement Examples

Your Artist Statement Will Sustain You

Your Artist Mailing List: Rethinking + Assessing