Writing your artist and artwork statement with Erin Coates
This guide outlines the three common texts artists are often asked to provide:
- Artist’s Biography
- Artist’s Statement
- Artwork Statement
It emphasizes the importance of making these texts concise, intriguing, and informative, highlighting key aspects such as the artist’s background, artistic intent, primary mediums, and key achievements.
Artist’s Biography
It is about you and your art practice to date. A summary of who you are, your trajectory as an artist, what you do as an artist (current mediums and creative concerns), key achievements to date. It is not a CV, even though it might pull information from this document. It needs to be written as a clear paragraph in the third person. The paragraph should have a good flow and structure to it.
It should focus on the artist’s identity, career stage, primary mediums, artistic intent, unique techniques, formal education, key achievements, and other relevant personal details. Structure it: Key biographical info upfront, details in the middle, and achievements at the end.
For the Mandorla Art Award entry, the limit is: 800 characters with spaces = roughly 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. It is about 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. It is about 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. It is about 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. It is about 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. It is about 120 words. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. It is 1 paragraph. It is about 4 or 5 sentences long. This is what 800 characters with spaces looks like. 11.
Artwork and Artist’s Statement
While the biography is about you, the statement is about your artwork: what you make and why you make it.
For the Mandorla Art Award, the Artwork Statement needs to tell the selection panel about the artwork you are entering. It is not a statement about your whole practice, it is more specific and needs to focus in to provide information about this one artwork. In the process, it should explain how this work connects with this year’s theme. Artist + artwork statements are usually written in the first person.
There is less of a structure to them than artist bios/artist statements and many ways to approach this text. Good ones pull the reader in, reveal something you can’t see, and give a sense of the story behind the work.
For a particular artwork, you should describe the piece’s medium, approach, technique, subject matter, and connection to the artist. It should also provide insight into the creative process and how the artwork relates to a theme, aiming to intrigue the reader and reveal something not immediately obvious.
The final quick guide for writing compelling artist and artwork statements is:
- Including grabbing the reader’s attention
- Avoiding excessive explanations
- Using clear language
- Seeking feedback and
- Practicing the craft of writing.
ABOUT ERIN COATES
Erin Coates is creative producer and artist living in Boorloo Perth. She has worked in various professional arts roles over the past two decades, including as a creative producer, writer for national arts journals, academic and public art coordinator. Throughout her career Erin has undertaken freelance curatorial projects and she also held the role of Special Projects Curator at Fremantle Arts Centre for nearly a decade, where she worked on a number of key Western Australian exhibitions and national touring projects.
Website: https://www.erincoates.net/ Instagram: @coates_erin