CONQUERING THE CREATIVE MARKETPLACE: Smart Advice When Writing Your Artist Statement
Posted by learntobead on January 19, 2023
PROFESSIONAL RESPONSIBILITIES:
Artist Statement
Guiding Questions?
1. What is an Artist Statement?
2. How do I write one?
Your Artist Statement
Simply, your Artist Statement is a description of you, your work and your design philosophy. It is usually 1–2 pages, with the first 3 sentences able to stand on their own and substitute for the longer version. Note: some applications will set a 200–250 word limit.
Your design philosophy is all about how you think through the designing process. You make choices about materials, techniques, styles, silhouettes, colors, patterns, construction. You anticipate the kinds of customers who will wear and purchase your pieces. What are all these choices? Explain what you think about when making these kinds of choices. How does making these kinds of choices lead to pieces which are appealing, wearable, collectible, situationally appropriate, whatever?
When writing your Artist Statement, you do not want to follow anyone’s template. This won’t serve you well. In reality, too many Artist Statements sound the same.
Make the Statement deeply personal. You want the Statement to feel like you are speaking to a client, but maintaining a professional tone of voice. Visually, you want the look to be comparable in relation to your brand identity.
You share your Artist Statement with venues in which you want to sell your jewelry, such as a boutique or gallery. You share it with sales reps and agencies. You share it with your customers and collectors. You share it with the press. You share it in print. You share it online. It can be written from the first person (that is you) or the third person (referring to you).
Your Artist Statement tells your audience who you are, what is significant about your work, your methods and techniques.
As with most things in business, you will probably want to have more than one version of your Artist Statement — one for galleries, one for stores, one for the press, and one for submissions to juried contests, competitions, shows and other venues.
Topics which might be included and get you thinking:
1. How you got started
2. Your inspiration(s)
3. Your design approach and process and philosophy
4. The challenges you face as a designer
5. Artistic influences
6. How people understand you and your work
7. What about you and your jewelry makes you stand out from the crowd
8. The materials you use
9. The techniques and technologies you use
10.What makes your jewelry a collection?
Start by thinking about these topics, and make a long list of keywords that you free-associate with these topics.
If you have difficulty thinking of keywords, write down 5 questions you would like an interviewer or reporter to ask you about yourself as a designer and about your work.
KEYWORDS (generate at least 25–30)
Next, organize these key words into 2–3 sentences.
2–3 Opening Sentences
Next, elaborate on each thought, perhaps over 1–2 written pages.
Last, edit. Remove cliches, any jargon, repetitions, and tangents which do not fit or flow.
Strengthen weakly sounding adjectives and adverbs. Your words should be descriptive, visual, active, colorful, powerful.
Can anything be re-written or expanded up to help your audience even better understand you and your work?
Keep things focused, consistent and coherent.
You want to avoid using words like unique or best or other superlatives.
If your work is very varied, do not try to encompass everything with one particular Artist Statement.
Expect to have to generate multiple drafts before you settle on a finished Statement.
Periodically, review your Artist Statement and revise it to reflect what is currently happening in your artistic life.
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Thank you. I hope you found this article useful.
Also, check out my website (www.warrenfeldjewelry.com).
Enroll in my jewelry design and business of craft Video Tutorials online. Begin with my ORIENTATION TO BEADS & JEWELRY FINDINGS COURSE.
Follow my articles on Medium.com.
Subscribe to my Learn To Bead blog (https://blog.landofodds.com).
Visit Land of Odds online (https://www.landofodds.com)for all your jewelry making supplies.
Check out my Jewelry Making and Beadwork Kits.
Add your name to my email list.
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Other Articles of Interest by Warren Feld:
Saying Good-Bye! To Your Jewelry: A Rite Of Passage
The Jewelry Design Philosophy: Not Craft, Not Art, But Design
Creativity: How Do You Get It? How Do You Enhance It?
Disciplinary Literacy and Fluency In Design
Becoming The Bead Artist and Jewelry Designer
5 Essential Questions Every Jewelry Designer Should Have An Answer For
Getting Started / Channeling Your Excitement
Getting Started / Developing Your Passion
Getting Started / Cultivating Your Practice
Becoming One With What Inspires You
Architectural Basics of Jewelry Design
Doubt / Self Doubt: Major Pitfalls For The Jewelry Designer
Techniques and Technologies: Knowing What To Do
Jewelry Making Materials: Knowing What To Do
Teaching Discplinary Literacy: Strategic Thinking In Jewelry Design
The Jewelry Designer’s Approach To Color
Point, Line, Plane, Shape, Form, Theme: Creating Something Out Of Nothing
The Jewelry Designer’s Path To Resonance
Jewelry Design Principles: Composing, Constructing, Manipulating
Jewelry Design Composition: Playing With Building Blocks Called Design Elements
Contemporary Jewelry Is Not A “Look” — It’s A Way Of Thinking
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