The artist statement above is introducing the viewers to the entire exhibit by Diane Burko.
What is an Artist statement? Because of the personal and subjective nature of artistic works, artist statements may vary greatly between creators. Additionally, artist statements may serve different purposes. For example, an artist statement may be used to introduce a single work, a complete exhibit or an artist's work as a whole.
This copy of an artwork from the Detroit Institute of Art has an artist statement printed below which is geared toward kids to read and notice details about the painting and point out its historical context.
Your Artist Statement
Create yours in Microsoft Word.
Start with the Title of your artwork - and your name
You should write your artist statement including a title for your artwork and a two or three paragraph creative writing that enhances the viewer’s experience. Short message should be long enough to add interest, a backstory, or point out details in the work and not overwhelmed the viewer with a long read.
The statement should enhance the experience with the artwork. It is the artist’s chance to speak directly to the viewer and point out the reason the work was created of the message behind the work. Good artist statements will often make the viewer think about a relatable experience, a social issue, or remember the backstory of the artwork and lead the viewer into wanting to talk about the work of art and share it with others. It general it should make the viewing experience more complete or memorable.
Want examples of Artist statements?
There are several under the Art Prize Winners down below on this web page.
What should I include in my artist statement?
Artist name
Title of artwork and message of the artwork
Background or a short story to make it memorable or point out details.
Medium or process for making art (only if unconventional or important to understand the work).
What is a Call For Entry?
A Call for Entry is a museum or art gallery looking for artists to submit their artwork to be viewed in order to be chosen for a specific art show.
The art gallery has a curator that has chosen a theme and a date when they need the art dropped off if your work is selected. Artists submit their artworks and the curator chooses the best that fits the theme and look of the show to be displayed.
Through various website you can search for art galleries near you, in your state, around the country and ever around the world!
Most art galleries that sell an artist's artwork normally receives 50% of the selling price and the artist receives 50%. This traditional 50% charge is used for advertising and running their normal everyday costs of the art gallery.
Art Prize
Art Prize in Grand Rapids, Michigan gives $200,000.00 for the best artwork voted by the public and $200,000 for the best artwork voted by judges. Art Grants and many other prizes are awarded to different artists through the money generated from the increase of revenue by tourism.
Artist Statement In the ‘Intersections’ project, the geometrical patterning in Islamic sacred spaces, associated with certitude is explored in a way that reveals it fluidity. The viewer is invited to confront the contradictory nature of all intersections, while simultaneously exploring boundaries.
My goal is to explore the binaries of public and private, light and shadow, and static and dynamic by relying on the purity and inner symmetry of geometric design, and the interpretation of the cast shadows. The form of the design and its layered, multidimensional variations will depend both on the space in which it is installed, the arrangement of the installation, and the various paths that individuals take while experiencing the space.
The Intersections project takes the seminal experience of exclusion as a woman from a space of community and creativity such as a Mosque and translates the complex expressions of both wonder and exclusion that have been my experience while growing up in Pakistan. The wooden frieze emulates a pattern from the Alhambra, which was poised at the intersection of history, culture and art and was a place where Islamic and Western discourses, met and co-existed in harmony and served as a testament to the symbiosis of difference.
For me the familiarity of the space visited at the Alhambra Palace and the memories of another time and place from my past, coalesced in creating this project. My intent with this installation was to give substance to mutualism, exploring the binaries of public and private, light and shadow, and static and dynamic. This installation project relies on the purity and inner symmetry of geometric design, the interpretation of the cast shadows and the viewer’s presence within a public space.
'Elephants'
artist: Adonna Khare
Medium: Carbon Pencil on Paper Width: 28 - 36' Height: 8'
Public Vote $200,000 Grand Prize Winner 2014
The artwork 'Elephants' was drawn on three pieces of paper that were separated by doorways when displayed at Art Prize and Adonna drew onto the walls of the museum in order to organically embed her art into the museum.
Artist Statement
Raised in a small town in Iowa, I've been drawing my family and animals since I was three. I create using the pencil, the eraser and a sock as my tools. The drawings are not pre-planned rather they evolve through my experiences with people and the absurdities of life. The result is a group of drawings where the animals coexist in a world beyond ours, and are inexplicably tied together, often not by choice.
Through the work I hope to inspire adults and children to allow their imaginations to envelop them into a world other than their own. Within the work are hundreds of vignette’s, featuring creatures juxtaposed with ordinary events. Viewers are encouraged to spend time discovering the work as it unfolds foot by foot story by story.
'The String Project'
Artists: Chelsea Nix & Mariano Cortez
Photos 24" x 36"
Public Vote $200,000 Grand Prize Winner 2018
Artists Statement
'THE STRING PROJECT' all of the people hold the same simple string, "a visible representation symbolizing an invisible connection." When exhibited, all the photos look like they are linked together by a string. Nix and Cortez believe that "we are all connected" and wanted to demonstrate that through a social art piece. "We are all part of this world: we love, we suffer, these are all things that we have in common, that connect us. The physical string visually represents a connection that cannot be see with the naked eye. The project is a reminder that highlights some of the most valuable things in life: respect, hope, peace, compassion, love, empathy, integrity,... authentic and genuine interactions that humans crave, ”
About the Artists Raised in Indiana, photographer Chelsea Nix met her Argentinian husband, Mariano Cortez, in Calcutta, India in 2012. Nix and Cortez, a husband and wife photography team, specialize in travel photography. They have been recognized and published by National Geographic in 2016, 2017, and received an award in the International Travel Photographer of the Year 2017.
Making of 'The String Project'
'THE STRING PROJECT' began in January 2018 and features photographs from Africa, Europe, Asia, North and Latin America. The couple’s focus has been on creating a project that connects the viewer to the image in a more tangible way, bringing the photograph to life.
Working on 'THE STRING PROJECT' has taken Nix and Cortez to places they never thought they would go, exploring different jobs, lifestyles, and forms of hospitality. “We feel that besides our cultural and physical differences there are essential things that are similar in all human beings that connect us and make us more similar than we think," said Nix. The exhibition will comprise of a collection of 40 printed photographs, featuring locals from Grand Rapids and hundreds of portraits from around the world. The string helps the viewer connect to all the different people, making the variety of lifestyles and cultures more relatable.