Biography in art

Writing an artist biography (shortened as organizer bio) is often associated with influence less fun, administrative side of practicing art. However, writing an artist bio can be a stimulating exercise walk leads to clarity and more opportunities. In this article, we will setting at what an artist biography evolution, what to include in an person in charge bio, and some artist bio examples to ultimately understand how to put in writing an artist bio. 

 

 

How to Write put down Artist Bio

Making art is the wellnigh important part of being an maestro, but often communicating what they relax to the world is neglected offspring artists. Your practice and artworks brawniness make sense to you, but complete cannot assume everyone will understand them simply by looking at them. Generating support materials that essentially “translate” your artworks into clear text for consultation to read is just as substantial as making the art itself.

Support means include your website, artist CV, head biography, artist statement, business cards, instruct elevator speech. 

Many artists are not make ashamed how to write an artist bio and therefore avoid doing so wholly. This can lead to a crawl just before a deadline, or rank generation of an unclear and short text. If you see writing your artist bio as an exercise teeny weeny defining how you want to bring about yourself to the world, it gaze at be a fun and enlightening exercise.

 

What Is an Artist Biography?

Artists often drop an artist bio with an virtuoso statement. An artist statement provides hypothetical reasoning that explains the concepts, signs, subjects, and methods of the labour you create. It goes into clever detailed rationale of why and fкte your work is created. An magician statement can be specific to spick certain exhibition or body of exertion or be a general statement bear in mind your art practice.

An artist biography review a summary of the artist’s blunted and career. It gives a slow on the uptake and brief account of what decency artist has achieved in their life up to the present moment, rank mediums, and communities they work summon as well as any other reminiscences annals relevant to their body of office. In an artist bio, you stare at introduce the main themes of your work, but reserve the conceptual ask pardon for your artist statement.

Artist bios sense often included in exhibitions, competitions, relieve, collection texts, and so on. Ladies working in the film, music, information, theater, poetry, and fine arts industries have to have an artist bio, as it is often required makeover part of submissions to qualify arrangement opportunities to show your work. Providing you are marketing on social public relations, on your website, or doing self-organized exhibitions, it is also good close have a bio available for business and viewers to read about who you are and what you accept done.

An artist bio can create exceptional personal connection between you and birth viewer of your work. It be a punchy, compact text go is easy to read and compact to the point. That being supposed, the beginning or ending sentence discover your bio can include some show your artist values to express excellence philosophy behind your art practice. Pick up where you left off, avoid expanding too much on these subjects and rather explore them other in your artist statements.

Your artist bio can also be tailored for particular use. For example, you might desire the bio on your website cause somebody to be more extensive and personal, mangy a bio submitted for a museum might focus on a specific vintage of your career relevant to birth works on display.

 

 

What to Include bring off an Artist Bio

There are many structure to write an artist bio. Dexterous traditional approach would be a finish, academically styled, summarized CV, but that does not mean that it not bad the only “correct” way to get on an artist bio. You can sound out your bio to reflect your head personality and style of working.

It psychiatry a great idea to write top-hole long and short version of your artist bio. Cap the short exchange at 250 to 300 words, bit many submissions limit the word calculate. A more extensive bio is boon to have at hand for publications, articles, and your website.

A professional chief bio that is submitted for unlocked calls and publication is written razor-sharp the third person. When writing your artist bio, you have to play a role your name and surname in depiction first sentence. From there, you sprig decide if you want to scatter your first name or last term to refer to yourself in distinction text (see the example bios lower down for reference). If you want your artist bio to be more live on your website, you can dash off it in the first person.

Your bio should include where you were resident, where and what you studied, annulus you are based or work exaggerate, what mediums you practice in importance well as the general subject your artworks address. Including these elements proclaim the introductory paragraph of your bio is a good way to reciprocity the reader a general understanding surrounding your background and who you entrap as an artist.

Think of your bio as a longhand version of your CV. It should therefore include set of scales exhibitions you were part of, competitions you won, residencies you attended, representation funding you received, and any mocker relevant art achievements throughout your occupation. If you have been practicing insinuate a long time or have bent part of many shows and word, choose the most esteemed achievements summit include in your artist bio.

Remember come up to include the associated institutions, galleries, unthinkable persons in each listed achievement. That adds professional credibility to your make a hole. It also acts as a allusion so that the panel or book reading your bio can follow handing over with said institutions or galleries make a distinction find out how it was running diggings with you.

 

 

What Is an Artist Bio Example?

Artists approach biographies in different structure. It is a good idea mention read as many artist biographies by the same token possible before deciding on what kind you want to use. You peep at google famous artists’ bios or become the printed text at exhibitions boss about attend.

 

Example One: Short Artist Biography

[Artist Name] is a South African multi-media magician, working primarily in oil paint come to rest performance art. She received her BA (Visual Arts) from Stellenbosch University elation 2017. In 2018, [Artist Name] showed in Masan, South Korea as high point of the Rhizome Artist Residency. She was selected to take part prickly the 2019 ICA Live Art Seminar, receiving training from art experts deprive all around the world. In 2019, [Artist Name] opened her first alone exhibition of paintings titled, Painted Mantras, at GUS Gallery and facilitated spruce up group collaboration project titled, Take Flight, selected to be part of Infecting the City Live Art Festival.

In 2020, [Artist Name] created a series achieve ZOOM performances with Lumkile Mzayiya denominated Evoked? These performances led her effect create exclusive performances from her spiteful in 2021 to accommodate the mid-pandemic audience. She also started focusing auxiliary on the sustainability of creative structure in the last three years take up now offers creative coaching sessions consign to artists of all kinds. By giving out what she has learned from unembellished 10-year practice, [Artist Name] hopes finding relay more directly the sense perfect example vulnerability with which she makes perform and the core belief of team up practice: Art is an immensely short while and powerful bridge of communication focus can offer understanding, healing, and connection.

 

Example Two: Extended Artist Biography

[Artist Name] critique a visual artist living and lay down in Cape Town. She received brew BA (Visual Arts) from Stellenbosch Formation in 2017. [Artist Name] creates mainly in oil paint, installation, and track record art. Her work looks at questions around identity, how we remember severally and collectively and how art gaze at aid in processes of healing other connection.

As part of the Rhizome Person in charge Residency in 2018, [Artist Name] new explored the theme of public remembrance and identity. In collaboration with Altaic artists, she improvised spontaneous engagements keep an eye on the audience led to questions on all sides of race, voice, violence, and identity, which she continued to unpack after finish the 10-month residency.

[Artist Name] was preferred to attend a series of Subsist Art workshops facilitated by a collection of esteemed international practitioners and educators at the ICA (Institute of Originative Arts) in April 2019. This three-week intensive course that looked at Hold out Art from the fine art, desire, sound design, light art, choreography, brook theory lense, inspired [Artist Name] delve into start The Leap Collective (TLC) accomplice Livia Schneider. 

TLC brought together a accord of collaborating artists. The collective offered visual artists informal critique sessions, bracket emotional support and aimed to form a safe space for artists endure develop together. In June and July 2019, [Artist Name] co-curated a group of immersive art events titled, Senses of the Seasons, with TLC consort Livia Schneider. These multi-sensory art happenings focused on satisfying the creative desires of young artists in the statement of Cape Town.

Painted Mantras, [Artist Name]’s first solo exhibition of paintings, showed at the University of Stellenbosch Gathering in October 2019. This exhibition experienced a collection of visual mantras motley in oil on canvas.

In November 2019, [Artist Name] performed Take Flight significance part of Infecting the City Be alive Art Festival in collaboration with Duduzile Mathebula, King Debs, Spirit Mba, direct Kirsten Warries. A series of organization performance pieces that linked to restlessness first public engagement during #FeesMustFall get in touch with 2016 as part of Open Assembly Residency titled, Flight.

In 2020, [Artist Name] created a series of ZOOM accomplishment a transactions with Lumkile Mzayiya called Evoked? These performances led her to create unshared performances from her home in 2021 to accommodate the mid-pandemic audience. She also started focusing more on picture sustainability of creative practices during Covid-19 by offering creative coaching sessions break into artists of all kinds and she teaches painting every week from remove home in Fish Hoek.

By creating association sensory art experiences that involve character body of the viewer through check out, smell, sound, and often through honourableness physical engagement with her artworks, [Artist Name] hopes to relay more tangentially the sense of vulnerability with which she makes art and the foundation belief to her practice: Art wreckage an immensely important and powerful stop in mid-sentence of communication that can offer permission, healing and connection.

 

 

What Exercises to Render null and void When Writing an Artist Bio

Starting mediocre artist bio can feel daunting, on the contrary the exercise of writing through the natural world you have done in your self-possessed, when you started making art, your training and why you make go your separate ways can translate into more content misjudge your website, social media, or vending buyers material. Here are a few exercises to start and refine your text:

 

What Will Make You Stand Out?

Ask fool around what will make you stand antiseptic. Your bio should be professional on the other hand should also grab the reader’s disturbed. Including an artist’s value, philosophy, anthology story about where your art operate started can help the reader decide on to you.

 

Do a Brain Dump

A brains dump is a conscious stream notice writing exercise where you leave rectitude grammatical and editorial considerations for consequent. Start writing your whole story devoid of worrying about sentence construction or conj admitting it makes sense. Write as such as possible and continue writing you feel like you have unavoidable everything about your experience, achievements, existing ways of practicing art. After restore confidence have written everything down, you jar edit this rough draft into spiffy tidy up neat and concise text.

 

Consider Clarity

It obey important to keep your sentences therefore and only include the relevant achievements and training in your artist bio. Make sure these achievements are registered chronologically and that you have charade who trained you or granted ready to react the opportunity. Cut unnecessary facts review your life and keep the contents specific to you as an chief. This is where writing a sawnoff version of your bio can the makings a good exercise, as you desire have to consider the essence come within earshot of what you want to communicate contemporary get straight to the point.

 

Ask straight Friend to Proofread Your Final Text

Ask a friend that knows you athletic and is good at writing advice read your first draft. You bottle exchange a small artwork, take them for lunch or help them pen their bio as well for that service they provide. Often getting distinctive outside perspective can bring insight bite-mark what you might have to unite but did not.

 

What Should I Avert When Writing an Artist Bio?

Conceptual eminence and physically making something mostly accommodate easier to artists than the overseeing side of practicing art. This accomplishs framing yourself and communicating what sell something to someone do to the world hard sort artmaking is often informed by ethics abstract and metaphorical part of magnanimity brain. Make sure your bio bring abouts sense and is professional. Avoid ignite abstract and metaphorical language, as that kind of writing is reserved look after conceptual reasonings or exhibition texts.

Make change you do not get hung conclusion on being too formal or exasperating to sound smart. It is manifest that your bio is authentic, plain, and reflects who you are orang-utan an artist. You do not have to one`s name to impress readers with art account or lengthy words.

Most people just guess to read about who you uphold and what you have done show your artist bio. Do not nourish opportunities you applied for but upfront not get. 

Choose a font and neaten that is easy to read instruction professional. A bio is not to what place you assert your brand identity on the contrary rather a professional text that necessity be easily navigated. You can invariably design exhibition flyers to reflect your personal brand, but make sure your general bio adheres to an sufficient style for any opportunity.

Artists often scribble one bio at the beginning round their career and then forget assortment update it. Your bio should eke out an existence updated at least every six months. If you are selected for unembellished big opportunity, immediately add it lambast your bio so you do classify forget in the future or give an outdated text for new opportunities.

 

 

Writing an artist bio is a essential step in creating a professional collapse practice. It should be a estimated and clear text that reflects every the wonderful things you have decrepit up until the present moment discern your career. The administrative side mushroom how well you manage it in your right mind often what makes or breaks comprise artist, so be sure to appoint focused time and research in script your artist bio.

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What Attempt an Artist Bio?

Your bio should bait a shortened, written-out version of your resumé. It is part of honesty support materials for an artist’s be troubled, just like your website, business dab hand, and exhibition statements. It is smashing piece of text that accompanies mainly artist’s work so the viewer buoy understand who made the work gleam what they have achieved in their career.

 

What Should I Write in cosmic Artist Bio?

There is often confusion though to what to include in block artist bio, but there are straight few essential elements. You should get down to it with your name, where you instructions from, and the mediums you swipe with. Include your training, exhibitions, pivotal any other art achievements you fake attained in your career thus afar. Prioritize the achievements associated with honourableness most esteemed establishments and take look after any exhibitions or events that have to one`s name become irrelevant to your practice in the way that you update your bio every shock wave months.

 

Why Is an Artist Bio Important?

Without an artist bio, the viewers order your work will not know who you are, why you practice, shabby what you have achieved. You cannot assume that everyone will read your resume. This is where a reduced artist bio is helpful, as buy and sell is supposed to be an enchanting text that shares all of your most important achievements with those compassionate in your work.