Artist statement - writing tutorial

Write your artist statement in your own words and elaborate on ideas from the previous activities.

The language style of your statement should support your creative practice and the purpose of your statement. Avoid using theory or use jargon which might alienate your audience.

You can write about your personal experiences if they relate to your creative work. You can tell a story or be playful, use humour or emotion if it relates to your personal style and your creative work. However, an artist statement for your social media platforms may need a different tone to one you write for a grant proposal.

Writing a very short artist statement (50-100 words) can be the most challenging task because you must communicate your creative work to your audience in an engaging way, with the least words possible.

See Artist statement - examples in the previous section, which include some very short artist statements.

View this tutorial on writing an artist statement and an artist biography.

Learning activity

Writing an artist statement - tutorial

This tutorial outlines an approach to writing an artist statement. It is based on textile design but can be easily adapted to suit other mediums. It describes the steps to identifying the key components of the statement and then shows how to write it. Specifically, it introduces the concepts of brainstorming, organising and ordering your ideas, and then the writing process. There are models and additional resources to help you draft your statement, and there is a short tutorial outlining the essentials of the artist biography.

Time: (15 minutes)

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Start the artist statement tutorial