This has been a week for working with words.

I have been going through the exercise of applying to exhibit in various shows that have issued calls-for-artists. I might get accepted. I might not.

Gathering the details is not so hard: an appropriately sized digital image, size, materials, date of completion. Got it

Now for the artist statement.

Something descriptive to explain the work to somebody who has never seen it and needs to get what it’s all about from one picture. And something about why I created it. And how it’s made. And perhaps a glimpse into the meaning of life. In 300 characters.

(I remembered being in an undergraduate English class in which the professor talked about self-identification. If someone were to ask, “Who are you?” how would you answer? You might state your name. You might state your relationships: “I am the daughter of Elizabeth and Joe.” You might state your place of origin. Or your core belief. Or the two together: “I am a Buddhist from New Jersey.” Or you might self-describe by what you do. “I am a writer. I am a student. I am an artist.” Each method makes sense, and each reveals something different about the one answering the question.)

In 300 characters, you have to get right to the point. No prospective juror is really interested in the fact that I was always a child who loved to draw and paint. I generally write a statement I like and then use the word count in Word to discover it’s about 650 characters. Time for the red pen.

BUT… some shows are about a very specific thing. If there will be no other opportunity to do so, then the artist statement has to show that you are aware of the theme and that your work does, in fact, relate to that theme. I applied to shows this week that will be about the different faces of nature, bygone eras and how they are remembered, creative methods used by textile artists, and expressive design. Each of those required a slightly different wording.

I won’t know for a month or so if my work has been accepted for exhibit. But I know at least I’ve made myself go through the application exercise!

If you are an artist and you don’t like your own writing, or you stay away from applying to exhibit because of your discomfort with the writing process, I’d like to recommend talking out loud about your art first. (For most of us, talking is easier than writing because we do it more frequently.)

You can be alone in a room and talk out loud to yourself. Or you can talk to a trusted friend. Just go through the exercise of using words to describe what you do and what it means. Then write down what you said.

Then edit and edit. The statement is almost never its best in the first draft. But at least you will have words on paper and can begin to chop, delete, rearrange, substitute and re-do.

Which is amazingly like making art!

For all the artmakers: Happy creating
For all the art lovers: Happy appreciating

Thank you for reading. I always enjoy questions and comments.
--Bobbi
bobbi@bobbibaughstudio.com

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