This week we are focusing on some of the business side of your art. At some point you will be asked questions about your art, your focus and techniques. It is important to answers at the ready!
We are all at different stages in our careers and art focus - and that is why we are such a special group! While some of you may not need/want to go as deep into this section as others, you will find the information helpful at some level. Documentation that introduces you and explains your art practise can be used in a wide variety of ways, from a general “elevator speech” to a biography, a CV (curriculum vitae) and an artists statement. It can also be used for press releases, submissions to a gallery or even a residency! Each of these have some overlap but serve different purposes
Artist’s Biography
The artist biography is text, written in the third person (she, he). It provides the reader with a story about you as an artist and contains a brief description of your art work. Your biography may be written to express your creative inspiration, materials, style and artistic vision.
On your website, limit your biography to approximately 250 words or less. It is best to create different versions of your biography to use for different purposes (more about that later).
How to Use Your Biography:
Promote your art on your website and blog on the “About the Artist” page.
Create your profile on your social media platforms.
Provide material in your cover letter to a gallery or other submission.
Add to your proposal for a grant, lecture, workshop or residency.Here is an example from my website, perhaps a bit less formal than suggested, but it is short and descriptive. It contains my credentials, my focus, and my artistic vision.
As a textile artist, Susan Purney Mark has embarked on a passionate journey into the world of colour, design, and pattern. Working with fabrics, thread, paints, and dyes has become her method of self expression and the focus of her methods of communication. She has studied Design, Patchwork and Embroidery with the prestigious City & Guilds Institute of London, England and at the Ontario College of Art and Design as well as the Vancouver Island School of Art, where she was also a sessional instructor for many years.
Currently, her focus has involved mark making, text and narrative and she is working with controlled colour palette, a movement towards abstraction with layers of cloth and paper including recycled and “found” surfaces. She will often create layers paint and dyes into her pieces and is also exploring dimensional body/vessel forms.
She is an active member of the fibre arts community in British Columbia, Canada and is a member of national/ international fibre and surface design associations. In her spare time she enjoys kayaking and along with her husband has built the best deer proof fence on Pender Island!
From this biography, I can edit this and provide separate information about my education, my focus, or my interest in surface design. I could also add a couple more sentences to different part of each section. You can begin to see how a good biography can be adapatable and easy to edit.
You should update your biography on a regular basis; when your art focus changes or evolves or when your materials or methods change. And its also helpful to review and re-edit it once or twice a year. Remember that you may need to write a new Artists Statement for a new series, exhibition or collection, the biography is a bit more static.
If you need a bit of help with your biography, here are some resources that might help, many of them are almost like recipes/ fill in the blanks and easy to create.
List of links:
https://magazine.artland.com/the-gallerys-guide-to-writing-good-artist-bios/
https://partners.artsy.net/resource/what-we-learned-from-writing-artist-bios/
Your CV or Curriculum Vitae
A CV is a formal/factual document, written in chronological order from recent to past. Your CV should include the following:
- Personal information: name, mailing address, website, email address, phone number. Sometimes social media handles/links are requested
- Education: both formal and informal, such as degrees, periods of study, workshops and classes you have taken with notable instructors
- Exhibitions: some might be split into group/duo/solo
- Publications: both articles written by you and about you
- Commissions: works created for others, could be galleries, museums
- Residencies: Artists Deep Dive and others!
- Teaching/ Lectures/ Workshops/Grants
- Professional Affiliations
One of the best ways to start writing your CV is to see how other artists do it. In addition to the categories listed above, there are many different professional practices or ways of organizing your information. For example, many galleries or artists themselves post CVs on their website, so they are easily accessible.
A CV should be updated at least once a year to include most recent activities and dropping off the older items. Many galleries or places where a CV is needed will ask that they are limited to one page but you should keep one that includes everything in choronological order. Memories can be fleeting!
The good/easy part about writing a CV is that it is factual and straightforward! Some artists include a photo of themselves in the CV, it's a more personal touch, especially if you are sitting in front of your artwork!
Here is my one page - CV - I always date my document file on the computer to make sure I use the most recent. I have a 2 page and a 3 page as well.
Artists Statement
Now we come to the most challenging and important part of this week - writing an artist statement! Yikes! This is not an easy task but there are many resources to help you, give suggestions, tips and sometimes even a basic formula to follow - try several approaches and find what is most comfortable and works for you.
An artist statement can be written several different ways. It might be about your general art practise, about a series or an exhibition or about a single piece of art. In all of these cases the statement should allow someone who knows nothing about your artwork (and perhaps hasn’t seen your artwork) to get an overall sense of what themes you are exploring, your motivation, perhaps a brief mention of what influences your studio practice, and insight into the format and materials you work with. In other words, it will help a viewer to better understand and connect with your art.
Remember that words, phrases and ideas from your Letter of Intention can be used for your statement.
Here is a video by artist Sergio Gomez where he explains a triangle format that he uses to create both artist and curatorial statements. Watch it through to the end and see how he uses AI (artificial intelligence) to rewrite and format his statement, that might be pushing you a bit but it IS interesting!
I think his approach is easy to follow, with one step leading to the next and lots of ideas and examples to use. Remember if you are going to apply to an in person residency, you will need to provide similar information!
What did you think of his video? Do you think you might use AI? I found it helpful to correct some grammar, come up with different phrasing and perhaps more impactful words. I can also “cherry pick” the parts I like the best. And as time goes on, I am using it more and more, but still editing it before publishing as well as more of that "cherry picking".
Here is the original paragraph for a submission to an exhibition:
This collection is also the story of my life. As I approach “aged crone” status I have lived through and experienced most of these different stages of the body/vessels. As a teen I was both confused and surprised by my changing body during puberty and again as I carried and birthed my children. I have been the recipient of hateful messages and vitriol flung at me simply because I am a woman. And now, as I have slowly embraced my age, the aches and pains and the inevitable and inexorable move to death – the final body/vessel will be simple and shroud-like, similar to those mummified remains found in archeological excavations.
Here is the text after I ran it through Quillbot which is an early form of AI. https://quillbot.com
The tale of my life is also told in this anthology. I have lived through and experienced the majority of these many stages of the body/vessels as I get closer to "old crone" status. When I was a teenager, the changes my body underwent during puberty and again when I carried and gave birth to my children perplexed and surprised me. Due to the fact that I am a woman, I have received venomous messages and other abuse. The last body/vessel will be plain and shroud-like, akin to those mummified remains seen in archaeological excavations, since I have now slowly come to terms with my ageing, the pains and aches, and the inevitable and inexorable approach to death.
There are parts of the AI paragraph I didn't like but it gave me some descriptive words I like better than mine. Next, I picked some parts and inserted them into the original paragraph:
This collection is also the story of my life. I have lived through and experienced these stages of the body/vessels as I get closer to "old crone" status. As a teen I was both perplexed and surprised by my changing body during puberty and as a mother when I carried and birthed my children. I have been the recipient of hateful, venomous messages and vitriol flung at me simply because I am a woman. And now, as I have slowly embraced my age, the aches and pains and the inevitable and inexorable move to death – the final body/vessel will be plain and shroud-like, similar to those mummified remains found in archeological excavations.
******
Since I wrote the above paragraphs, AI has changed a lot (even within the past few months) so I thought I would try the paragrpah in ChatGPT, another AI writer...
This collection is a profound reflection of my life's journey. As I approach the wisdom of age, I've traversed the diverse stages of the body/vessels, each with its own unique story. In my youth, I grappled with the mysteries of puberty and later experienced the transformative power of childbirth. I've also endured the cruelty of hateful messages and misogyny simply because of my gender. Now, as I gracefully embrace the passage of time, I feel the whispers of age, the inevitable aches and pains, and the contemplation of our ultimate destination - a body/vessel reminiscent of ancient mummified remains discovered in archaeological excavations.
Again, I have found words/phrases that I could use, the cadence is good, but perhaps its a bit "over the top"! What I have noticed is that I need to be very specific in what I want; including the tone, the formality, the length. I need to go back in and ask for further edits, shorter/longer and such. It is just a tool and different AI will produce very different results. I have a Canva account which also offers a AI writing and its style is very different from ChatGPT. Try several and remember, that it is just a tool, don't rely on it to produce all your writing, in the end your own voice must come through.
Here's even more....since the above writing I have moved to using Claude https://claude.ai/new There are a few reasons for the move, partly because it is said to be more "ethical" and I think it has more realistic/gentler writing. If I remember I'll mention my experience with Claude VS. Chat GPT.
So here is what Cladue provided based on being asked for a more professional yet friendly manner:
Here's a "professional yet warm" revision:
This collection reflects my personal journey through life. As I move into my later years, I've experienced many of these physical transformations firsthand. I remember the uncertainty of adolescence as my body changed, and later, the profound experience of pregnancy and childbirth. Throughout my life, I've encountered gender-based prejudice simply for being a woman. Now, I've come to accept the natural progression of aging – the physical changes and challenges that accompany it. The final vessel in this collection speaks to our universal destiny: a simple, cloth-wrapped form reminiscent of ancient archaeological discoveries, connecting us to the timeless human experience.
What do you think, have you used AI for your writing? Tell us about your experience.
Now, here is some homework:
Look at the triangle above that Sergio shows in the video and write one or two sentences for each point.
- What - describe how you make your art and your process.
- I am a Canadian textile artist working with narrative, stitch and found materials to create large dimensional work which resembles body/vessels.
- Influences/Inspiration
- I am strongly influenced by a recent art residency in Crete where I began a focus on both contemporary and ancient pottery including glass vases and shaped containers.
- Goals
- I want to create a series of body/vessels which each portray a different time in a woman's life from birth to death as a reflection on our universal female experiences.
We are going to share this information next week:
- I would like you to prepare the 30 second "elevator" speech...we are total strangers and I ask "what do you do". You will each have time to present to the rest of us!
- Take one piece of art (not necessarily what you are working on right now) and write 3-4 sentences about the work as an "artist statment". Remember, this is a descriptive/interpretive parapgraph that explains your thoughts in creating the work.
- and......choose one piece of work (or a body of work) and write 50 (yes 50!) "juicy" words about the art. This list is so very useful to pull from when you need to talk/write/think about the piece....trust me, I've done this many times (actually my business coach make us write 100 words - so I'm being easy on you!) Think of:
- dynamic
- ethereal
- suggestive
- dimensional
- complementary
- complex
- linear
Be creative and have fun with your list - we'll discuss further next week. If you are really stuck on this, pick someone elses art work and start writing!
The Business of Art - Support
The artists life can be lonely - working away, starving in our little garret/studio with no one to share ideas, ask questions and learn from each other, waiting to be discovered…well, not!
And again, this topic might be for you or not, but if you want to grow your art, sell, enter exhibitions and submit to galleries, there is a business side that cannot be ignored.
I am part of a business coaching community that has been invaluable to educate and help me develop skills to promote my art. You might be interested in joining: https://artbizsuccess.com Alyson Stanfield offers different programmes and communities and the best part is learning from one another.
If that’s not for you, there is a wealth of information available online, via newsletters and books. Often these people are trying to see you a programme but there’s lots for free as well.
Here’s a few that I watch on YouTube, some are focused just on Social Media and others provide more in depth business planning.
https://www.youtube.com/@SophieMahir/featured
https://www.youtube.com/@Ivorymix
https://www.youtube.com/@beyondthegallery
On Podcasts I listen to:
Art Juice
Art2Life
The Art Marketing Minute with Eric Rhoads
The Messy Studio
I Like Your Work
You may also find art groups in your community that provide business information, professional associations or even build your own with a few fellow artists.
Here is the video from this weeks Zoom Meeting:
