Blog Archives

Artist Statement

9/18/2018

Writing An Artist Statement

Artist Statement Examples
Pam Sutherland
Sally Bowring
Jeffery Deane Hall
Mike Guyer
Mary Scurlock

I want to thank my good friend Jeff Hall, lead art teacher at Maggie Walker Governor's School, for this organized approach to teaching students to craft well-written and thoughtful artists statements.

Objectives:
The students will:

Examine various examples and styles of artist statements for best practice
Reflect on the process, personal meaning, and projected message of his or her work
Establish an online Google doc to share with instructor and peers
Write and continually edit the artist statement in preparation for his or her senior show.

Step One: What Is An Artist Statement?

An artist’s written description of their work and process.
The brief written representation supports his or her own work to give the viewer understanding.
It should inform and provide context for the work.
It should be short, didactic, descriptive, and reflective in tone.

Step Two: Looking At Examples

Look at the examples of artist statements provided on the left portion of this blog entry.
Make a list of the components covered in those documents. How are they similar and different?

Step Three: Reflecting On Your Own Work

In your visual journal, answer the following questions. These can be short phrases or ideas. We’re just brainstorming here.
In one sentence explain what your work is about.
What is your favorite material? Why?
How did you get into this work?
What are your favorite things about your work?
Are there any patterns that emerge in your work? Subjects? Process? Formal elements?
If you’ve been making work for awhile (Art 5) How does your recent work fit into the broad body of work?
What do you do differently from the way you were taught? Why?
Create a list of words and phrases that describe your chosen themes, your artistic values, creation process, and influences.

Step Four: Writing The First Draft (of many)

In your Critique Log, begin by writing in first person. This is just the first draft, so don’t stress out too much. Label this entry with: Artist Statement September 2017, and be sure it is at the very top of your critique log.
First paragraph. Begin with a simple statement of why you do the work you do. Support that statement, telling the reader more about your goals and aspirations.
Second paragraph. Tell the reader about your process and how you make decisions in the course of your work. How and why do you select materials, techniques, and how do they support the ideas in your work? Keep it simple.
Third paragraph. Tell the reader a little more about the context of your work. How it grew out of prior art work or life experiences or culture. What are you exploring, attempting, challenging by doing this work. Bring it to a nice closure.
Some sentence examples are:
In my work, I am exploring _______________.I begin a piece by______________.I know a piece is done when__________________.When my work is going well, I am filled with a sense of _____________.When people see my work, I hope they will ________________.

Grading Rubric

Addresses your idea – 25 points
Discusses your process -25 points
Addresses the context of your work – 25 point
Correct grammar and spelling in essay – 25 points

Resources:

http://hyperallergic.com/63686/the-best-artist-statement-generator-ive-seen-yet/

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Online Personal Brand Assessment

9/7/2018

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Digital Portfolio Assessment

Your Online Brand

Using Weebly.com, you were expected to design a website that celebrates your creativity and your knowledge of art. The website should have separate pages for the following:

Portfolio
Sketchbook
Artist Statement

High quality digital portfolios are deliberately designed to highlight the artist's best work, be navigated intuitively by the users, and bring context to the work and processes used by the artist. These portfolios are designed with images that have been edited with consistency, and are presented in a very clean and simplified digital environment.

The Online Portfolio
Design Assessment

Level 4 digital portfolios are deliberately designed to highlight the artist's best work, be navigated intuitively by the users, and bring context to the work and processes used by the artist. These portfolios are designed with images that have been edited with consistency, and are presented in a very clean and simplified digital environment.

Level 4 portfolios contain the following:

The artist clearly followed the directions and has separate pages for the portfolio, visual journal, and artist statement.
The artist created a site that has a clean and simple design quality.
The artist designed the navigation in a user-friendly and intuitive manner.
The images were photographed and edited with consistency of exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, and clarity of focus.
The portfolio is thoughtfully organized to emphasize the most impressive work.
All elements on each page of the site were deliberately designed.
The language of the artist statement is grammatically correct, clear, succinct, and establishes the context of the work and the process by which the work was made.
The typography is legible, sophisticated, and supportive of the overall character of the work presented.

The Online Portfolio
Design Assessment

Level 3 digital portfolios seem to highlight the artist's best work, are navigated easily by the users, and seem to help bring context to the work and processes used by the artist. These portfolios are designed with images that have been edited mostly with consistency, and are presented in a simplified digital environment.

Level 3 portfolios contain the following:

The artist followed the directions and has separate pages for the portfolio, visual journal, and artist statement.
The artist created a site with simplistic design.
The artist designed the navigation in a mostly user-friendly and intuitive manner, but has a few inconsistencies in navigation functionality.
The images were mostly photographed and edited with consistency of exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, and clarity of focus. Though the images looks mostly consistent, a scrutinous eye can notice variations in the manner in which the work samples have been photographed and edited.
The portfolio is mostly organized to emphasize the most impressive work, but there are works of art with lesser quality that get too much attention upon quick navigation through the site.
Most elements on each page of the site were deliberately designed, but there are noticeable elements of the site that seem clumsy or arbitrary.
The language of the artist statement is mostly grammatically correct, fairly clear, and gives an understandable context of and process by which the work was made.
The typography is legible and supportive of the overall character of the work presented.

The Online Portfolio
Design Assessment

Level 2 digital portfolios are designed with limited ability to highlight the artist's best work, or be navigated intuitively by the users. These portfolios do not bring a clear context to the work or processes used by the artist. These portfolios are designed with images that have been edited with limited consistency, and are not presented in a clean or simplified digital environment.

Level 2 portfolios contain the following:

The artist designed separate pages for the portfolio, visual journal, and artist statement, but these pages have limited content.
The artist created a site in which simplicity of design was not paramount.
The artist has not designed the navigation in a user-friendly and intuitive manner, and has many inconsistencies in navigation functionality.
The images were not photographed or edited with consistency of exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, and clarity of focus.
The portfolio is not organized to emphasize the most impressive work, as there are works of art with lesser quality that get too much attention upon quick navigation through the site.
Some elements on each page of the site were deliberately designed, but there are many elements of the site that seem clumsy or arbitrary.
The language of the artist statement is not grammatically correct, and does not give an understandable context of or process by which the work was made.
The typography is legible but inconsistent in its support of the overall character of the work presented.

The Online Portfolio
Design Assessment

Level 1 digital portfolios are not designed to highlight the artist's best work, or be navigated intuitively by the users. These portfolios do not bring context to the work or processes used by the artist. These portfolios are designed with images that have been edited without consistency, and are not presented in a clean or simplified digital environment.

Level 1 portfolios contain the following:

The artist designed separate pages for the portfolio, visual journal, and artist statement, but these pages have very little content.
The artist created a site in which simplicity of design was not paramount.
The artist has not designed the navigation in a user-friendly and intuitive manner, and has many inconsistencies in navigation functionality.
The images were not photographed or edited with consistency of exposure, white balance, contrast, saturation, and clarity of focus.
The portfolio is not organized to emphasize the most impressive work, as there are works of art with lesser quality that get too much attention upon quick navigation through the site.
Most of the elements on the pages of the site seem arbitrarily designed.
The language of the artist statement is not grammatically correct, and does not give an understandable context of or process by which the work was made.
The typography is legible but inconsistent in its support of the overall character of the work presented.

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Divergent Writing

9/6/2018

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What Does It Mean To "Write Divergently"?

In all honesty, I don't even think "divergently" is an actual word. I made it up to describe the type of writing I've been doing in my journal since 2004. So, for the past 15 years I've been using my journal as a tool for idea development and reflection. I can attribute all of my best ideas about my work to this tool, and I value it enough to make the process part of your curriculum.

To ensure that each of you practice this type of writing, I've assigned warm-up tasks that require you to write about various prompts throughout the year. You will all get better at this as the year progresses, and I truly hope you find the value in this process the way I have for the past 15 years. Below is a quick example with tips of how I would like to see you writing in your journals.

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Preparing for the 1st DRHSART Gallery Show of the year

9/4/2018

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SUMMER 2018
ART45

It is a tradition at DRHSART that the opening exhibition of the new school year in our gallery incorporates ALL students of ART 45.

Critique of Summer Work
Students will be arranged into small critique teams. Each team will move around the room and evaluate the work of their team members. During this time, students should be having a dialogue about what works, what doesn't, and why. All students will take notes in their visual journals as this occurs.

After the small team activity, we will move to the gallery where we will have a full class critique and discussion about the work that was made. Work will be professionally photographed as it is discussed by the class, and all work must be taken home after it has been documented. The only work that will remain in the hall at the conclusion of critique week are those pieces that will be on display during the October Exhibition.

Self Reflection Critique Log Entry
All students will need to write a self-reflection for their summer artwork. This reflection should be written well since it represents your intellect in your portfolio, and should be very honest. This critique log is where you will demonstrate your growth as an artist and creative thinker. The critique log will be created by me, but will be shared with you. I'll provide rich feedback about your work, and the log will be used consistently throughout your entire time in Art 4 and Art 5.

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Artist Statement

Writing An Artist Statement

Online Personal Brand Assessment

Digital Portfolio Assessment

Divergent Writing

What Does It Mean To "Write Divergently"?

Preparing for the 1st DRHSART Gallery Show of the year

Art 45
Assignments

Archives

Categories

Artist Statement

Writing An Artist Statement

Online Personal Brand Assessment

Digital Portfolio Assessment

Divergent Writing

What Does It Mean To "Write Divergently"?

Preparing for the 1st DRHSART Gallery Show of the year

Art 45Assignments

Archives

Categories

Art 45
Assignments