Ask Derek!

A: At some point, every artist realizes that writing becomes part of the job. The good news is that the same curiosity and honesty that fuel your artwork can also guide your writing.

A quick note before I proceed: the following is an answer to the question pertaining to artist statements, but the advice can be applied to any writing that artists are asked to produce in their professional lives such as bios, exhibition statements, letters of interest, grant applications, and so on.

Not Just One Statement Will Do

First, there’s no single formula for a great artist statement. Just like there’s no single formula for great art. The tone, structure, and content of your writing should depend on the artist’s practice, the audience reading it, and what the artist hopes to convey or accomplish. A curator, a collector, and a grant panel are all different audiences that probably require different approaches to your writing. Expect that you’ll need to tailor your statement depending on who it’s for.

In addition to considering different tonal versions of your artist statement based on the audience, the same goes for the length of your statement. I strongly recommend maintaining three versions of your statement: a full one-pager (around 500 words), a half-page version (around 250 words), and a short blurb or “elevator pitch” (about 50 words). Having three versions at the ready will come in handy when opportunities require artist statements with varying word limits, and the process of creating them is just as valuable. Writing a one page artist statement, and then challenging yourself to shorten it by half, and then by half again is one of the best studio exercises for identifying what truly matters in your practice. What survives the edits is usually the core of what you’re trying to say.

More broadly, I think the most effective artist statements emerge when artists treat writing as an extension of their creative practice. Ask yourself: How can the way I write parallel the way I make art? When the two feel connected, the writing becomes clearer, more honest, and far more compelling.

There are also a few rules I personally follow—and appreciate seeing applied when reviewing artist applications.

Leave the academic or overly technical writing at school

Many artists, myself included, come out of school thinking that “good” writing needs to sound complicated or theoretical. It’s as if we have come to the conclusion that the more long and esoteric the words, the more worthy the artwork. Often, this approach has the opposite effect. This way of writing can be painful to produce and even harder to read. A helpful guideline that I try to follow is to write as if you’re explaining your work to a close friend who may not have a background in art. In the real world, clear language doesn’t make your work less sophisticated—it makes it accessible.

You are enough

Rule #2 is somewhat an extension to rule #1. When artists write honestly and directly about what they’ve made and why, the result is usually far more compelling than trying to persuade the reader that the work is important. Sometimes when I read artist statements, the phrase “show me, don’t tell me” pops into my head. It’s as if the artist is trying to convince me that they are worthy as artists by needlessly inflating elements of their statement. If the enthusiasm and intention behind the art work come through naturally, the statement will do its job. Trust yourself.

Let your art do the art-ing

Unless you’re a poet or creative writer, your artist statement isn’t helpful as a piece of art in itself. When helping artists with their statements, I encourage them to think of their statement as a user’s manual, or viewer’s manual that provides an access point helping someone understand the art they’re seeing. Overly poetic, grandiose, or esoteric language can obscure more than it reveals. In my experience, clarity and authenticity and a straight-forward manner will take you much further. In the end, the best artist statements don’t try to impress the reader. They bring context and clarity to the artwork. And when honest writing becomes part of your creative rhythm, it can actually deepen the way you think about and make your art.

A: There are seemingly countless resources for finding public art opportunities online. Seeking out these lists is overwhelming and may leave you wondering how many opportunities you might not be seeing.

I’d like to share some resources that we use at Shiftworks, and that I use myself as an artist. Hopefully, this list can help add some clarity and focus in your search. Also, I’ll only be including resources that are totally free and do not require a membership or creating an account. Because who has the time or money for that?

Public Art Opportunities

For opportunities specific to public art, I may be biased, but I recommend first checking Shiftworks’ Artist Opportunity List because we do a lot of the work for you, scanning various local, regional, and national resources, and compiling them here. We are one of the few resources in the country that compile only public art opportunities and furthermore, only those that are free to use and do not require a membership. You can sign up for our mailing list and we will deliver a list of opportunities to your inbox.

Another public art-specific local resource is the City of Pittsburgh’s Public Art Hub which provides information on the city’s public art collection, new artist calls, ongoing public art projects, and more. In fact, many city and state governments post public art information on their websites. So, if you are interested in working in a particular area, take a look at government websites. A great example is the City of Seattle’s Office of Arts and Culture’s website.

National and International Opportunities and Resources

For a more broad spectrum of national opportunities and resources beyond public art, there are a couple great locally-based artist opportunity lists to explore that, as an artist myself, are my go-tos. First, is the Artist Opportunity Blog by Associated Artists of Pittsburgh. They do a fantastic job of compiling an impressively comprehensive list of opportunity types including exhibitions, residencies, fellowships, grants and awards from across the country. The Greater Pittsburgh Arts Council’s Arts Blog is also a great resource that posts arts-related employment opportunities that I explore regularly

Another primary resource for me is The Artwork Archive’s Complete Guide to the Best Artist Opportunities which has an impressive search component for finding specific opportunities from across the globe based on various filters including the types of opportunities (including public art); art mediums specific to the opportunity; specific locations; and whether the opportunity is free to apply, includes a stipend, etc.

There are a multitude of other resources that focus on international opportunities. Some honorable mentions include ArtRabbit, ARTENDA, and Artwork Archive.

Happy searching, and remember, if you find something you want to apply for and want additional advice, you can sign up for Office Hours with me.