artist-statement-writing

name: artist-statement-writing description: >- Writing about your own art: artist statements, series descriptions, bio writing, talking about process and meaning without jargon, gallery wall text, grant bios, website About page. The difference between describing what you make and saying what it means. Triggers: artist statement, bio, series description, about page, artist bio, wall text, writing about art, statement, grant bio.

Writing about your own work is one of the harder things artists are asked to do. The work communicates visually; words can feel like a clumsy translation. The goal isn't to explain what the viewer can already see — it's to give them something they couldn't get from looking alone.

What an artist statement is for

A statement tells people:

Who you are as an artist
What you make and why
What concerns, questions, or traditions inform the work
What you want the work to do in the world

It's not a description of individual pieces. It's not a CV. It's not a press release. It's your perspective on your own practice — in plain language.

Common mistakes

Describing what's visible — "I create colorful digital images of animals and landscapes." The viewer can see that. Tell them something they can't see.

Jargon and abstraction — "My practice interrogates the liminal spaces between indigenous ontology and digital posthumanism." This sounds like you're performing seriousness rather than communicating.

Passive construction — "I am inspired by..." Try: "I work from..."

Starting with your medium — "Using digital tools, I..." The medium is rarely the most interesting thing to lead with.

Generic spirituality — "I believe art has the power to heal and connect." This is true of almost every artist. Make it specific to your work.

What to say instead

Lead with what's specific to you:

The traditions or communities you're working in or working from
The questions the work asks
What drew you to the subjects you make work about
The tension or conversation the work sits in
What you want the viewer to feel or understand

Ask yourself: what would someone not know about this work from looking at it? That's what belongs in the statement.

Structure

There's no single correct format, but this works:

Paragraph 1 — Your practice, in plain terms What do you make? What is it really about — not what's depicted, but what it's engaging with? One or two sentences that establish who you are and what drives the work.

Paragraph 2 — Context and tradition Where does the work sit? What are you working from — culturally, historically, aesthetically? What conversations is it part of? For Indigenous artists, this might be about specific traditions, communities, or histories. For anyone: what informed you, what you're in dialogue with.

Paragraph 3 — Process or approach (optional but often useful) How you work, if that's relevant to understanding the work. Not the software you use — the thinking, the choices, the way you develop ideas.

Closing — Intent What do you hope the work does? For whom? This doesn't have to be grand. "I make work for my community" is more honest and more powerful than "I hope to bring understanding across cultures."

Length

General artist statement: 150–300 words. Longer feels like padding.
Grant application bio: Follow the word limit exactly. If they say 250 words, use 250.
Gallery wall text: 50–100 words. People read it standing up in a gallery.
Website About page: Can be longer — 300–500 words — because people actively chose to learn more.

Writing the bio (third person)

Many applications ask for a bio rather than a statement — written in third person, factual, career-focused.

Structure:

Name and what you make
Cultural context and tradition (for Indigenous artists, this is often first)
Career highlights — exhibitions, collections, recognition
Current work or focus
Location if relevant

Tom Myer is a Haudenosaunee digital artist whose work draws on
Indigenous visual traditions and storytelling. His geometric digital
prints explore the relationship between ancestral knowledge and
contemporary form. Myer's work has been shown in [venues] and is
held in [collections]. He is based in [location] and is a founding
member of Thunder Wolf Native, a nonprofit supporting Indigenous art
and culture.

Adjust length and emphasis depending on the application. A grant bio for an Indigenous arts foundation emphasizes community and tradition. A commercial gallery bio might foreground exhibitions and collections.

Series descriptions

A series description is shorter than a statement — it describes a specific body of work rather than your whole practice.

What to include:

The title and how many pieces
The subject and what it engages with
The specific concern or question this series addresses
Anything about how the series was made that matters to understanding it

Keep it to 75–150 words. The series description should make someone want to see the work, not explain every piece.

Writing about Indigenous work

Some specific considerations when writing about work grounded in Indigenous tradition:

Be specific about which nation, tradition, or community you're drawing from — "Indigenous" is not a single culture
You don't owe viewers a complete explanation of cultural context; you can gesture toward it without giving a lecture
Your relationship to the tradition you're working from is part of the story — you can say something about that relationship without oversharing
Avoid language that positions Indigenous culture as ancient, static, or exotic — your work is contemporary
You don't have to be the anthropologist of your own work; you're the artist

Editing checklist

Before submitting a statement:

Does every sentence tell the reader something they couldn't get from looking at the work?
Have you removed any sentences that could apply to any artist?
Is there jargon? If so, does it need to be there?
Is the first sentence interesting enough to keep reading?
Have you said what the work is actually about — not just what it depicts?
Read it aloud — does it sound like you?

Writing clearly for any audience: docs-clear-writing
Exhibition proposals and applications: exhibition-proposals
Tom's specific art language: tom-myer-art-language
Nonprofit grant writing (overlaps for artist grants): nonprofit-comms

artist-statement-writing