Forum

Replies

  • Jim Parker March 28, 2011 at 8:36am

    The jury statement and the artist statement are almost two different things. As Larry points out, ZAPP and JAS generally require a very short encapsulation of your "materials and process". This is akin to telling someone what you do in a single Twitter post, so feel free to use abbreviations, eliminate punctuation, take out unnecessary articles and prepositions. Anything you can do to make it fit the character constraints.

    The artist statement that you post in your booth can and should be much longer. It can mix your biography and details of your materials and process statement.  People like to read them, believe it or not. It's usually good to include a picture of yourself, as some shows require it. I frame mine, and hang it next to my guest book and take-one cards at most every show.

    There is a difference between a "bio" and an "artist statement". The bio is where you've been; the statement is about where you are now, and where you're going. Alyson Stanfield writes about this and other subjects extensively on her blog, and in her artist coaching series. One example: Help for your Artist Statement

    • Jeanne Steck > Jim Parker March 29, 2011 at 5:39am

      Your comments are very helpful, Jim! As an elementary school teacher, I find it difficult to be grammatically incorrect.  It's nice to know it's not necessary on the jury statement.

  • Sheila Evans March 18, 2011 at 10:18am

    I found this really helpful when I started doing shows that required a statement be posted in the booth. Some of the shows even suggested these guidelines. Be sure to check out the sample statement link at the bottom of the page.

    http://naia-artists.org/work/statement.htm

  • Diane Wright March 18, 2011 at 9:41am
    http://www.mollygordon.com/resources/marketingresources/artstatemt/  is a website that explains how to write an artist statement.
  • Larry Berman March 18, 2011 at 5:42am
    If you can describe it in a short number of words, an explanation of process and materials in as few a number of characters as possible. Believe it or not, most shows using ZAPP accept the default of 100 characters for the artist statement on their application. That's 100 characters including spaces and punctuation. It's best to work on a statement and save it as a text file on your computer so you can copy and paste it into an application as needed. Juried Art Services gives you either 250 or 500 characters though the longer you make it, the less likely the jurors will read it because of time constraints of the jury process.

    Larry Berman
    http://BermanGraphics.com
    412-401-8100
    • Jeanne Steck > Larry Berman March 19, 2011 at 7:18am
      That 100 character statement is almost impossible.  I find it hard to sound artistic, intelligent and coherent in so little words.
      • CM Fox > Jeanne Steck March 28, 2011 at 10:25am
        That's the point of 100 characters. (I prefer 200). Artspeak can be unintelligible. to downright goofy. Juries want just the basics.
This reply was deleted.