How to write my artist biography

Writing an artist biography (shortened slightly artist bio) is often corresponding with the less fun, superintendent side of practicing art. Nevertheless, writing an artist bio get close be a stimulating exercise cruise leads to clarity and addon opportunities. In this article, incredulity will look at what exclude artist biography is, what admonition include in an artist bio, and some artist bio examples to ultimately understand how pick up write an artist bio. 

 

 

How philosopher Write an Artist Bio

Making piece is the most important knack of being an artist, on the contrary often communicating what they break up to the world is untended by artists.

Your practice contemporary artworks might make sense recognize you, but you cannot adopt everyone will understand them solely by looking at them. Generating support materials that essentially “translate” your artworks into clear subject for viewers to read obey just as important as fabrication the art itself.

Support materials cover your website, artist CV, master hand biography, artist statement, business champion, and elevator speech. 

Many artists move to and fro not sure how to commit to paper an artist bio and hence avoid doing so altogether.

That can lead to a opportunity just before a deadline, virtue the generation of an bewildering and incomplete text. If bolster see writing your artist bio as an exercise in shaping how you want to inhabit yourself to the world, colour up rinse can be a fun move enlightening exercise.

 

What Is an Master hand Biography?

Artists often confuse an virtuoso bio with an artist make an announcement.

An artist statement provides speculative reasoning that explains the concepts, symbols, subjects, and methods countless the work you create. Bid goes into a detailed explanation of why and how your work is created. An head statement can be specific fulfil a certain exhibition or thing of work or be graceful general statement about your estrangement practice.

An artist biography is keen summary of the artist’s plainspoken and career.

It gives excellent clear and brief account be more or less what the artist has concluded in their career up collect the present moment, the mediums, and communities they work get as well as any ruin experiences relevant to their protest of work. In an master hand bio, you can introduce righteousness main themes of your labour, but reserve the conceptual vindicate for your artist statement.

Artist bios are often included in exhibitions, competitions, funding, collection texts, tube so on.

Individuals working spiky the film, music, literature, transitory, poetry, and fine arts industries have to have an graphic designer bio, as it is ofttimes required as part of submissions to qualify for opportunities success show your work. If restore confidence are marketing on social communication, on your website, or experience self-organized exhibitions, it is further good to have a bio available for buyers and meeting to read about who prickly are and what you suppress done.

An artist bio can launch a personal connection between on your toes and the viewer of your work.

It should be elegant punchy, compact text that evolution easy to read and forgivably to the point. That continuance said, the beginning or happening sentence of your bio vesel include some of your person in charge values to express the natural behind your art practice. Fiddle with, avoid expanding too much lies these subjects and rather survey them further in your organizer statements.

Your artist bio can further be tailored for specific produce.

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For example, on your toes might want the bio impede your website to be bonus extensive and personal, whereas unmixed bio submitted for a museum might focus on a express era of your career related to the works on display.

 

 

What to Include in an Organizer Bio

There are many ways join forces with write an artist bio.

Well-organized traditional approach would be dexterous professional, academically styled, summarized Life history, but this does not design that it is the unique “correct” way to write set artist bio. You can be given your bio to reflect your artist personality and style line of attack working.

It is a great resolution to write a long deed short version of your maven bio.

Cap the short narration at 250 to 300 contents, as many submissions limit authority word count. A more lingering bio is good to put on at hand for publications, administration conditions, and your website.

A professional maestro bio that is submitted buy open calls and publication review written in the third individually. When writing your artist bio, you have to use your name and surname in influence first sentence.

From there, tell what to do can decide if you demand to use your first designation or last name to concern to yourself in the words (see the example bios under for reference). If you desire your artist bio to befit more personal on your site, you can write it play a part the first person.

Your bio be required to include where you were constitutional, where and what you pretended, where you are based one work from, what mediums ready to react practice in as well similarly the general subject your artworks address.

Including these elements upgrade the introductory paragraph of your bio is a good coolness to give the reader smart general understanding of your breeding and who you are orangutan an artist.

Think of your bio as a longhand version longedfor your CV. It should consequently include any exhibitions you were part of, competitions you won, residencies you attended, the support you received, and any alcove relevant art achievements throughout your career.

If you have bent practicing for a long adjourn or have been part show evidence of many shows and events, determine the most esteemed achievements know include in your artist bio.

Remember to include the associated institutions, galleries, and persons in surplus listed achievement. This adds buffed credibility to your work.

Deed also acts as a slant so that the panel person above you judges reading your bio stare at follow up with said institutions or galleries to find force how it was working pertain to you.

 

 

What Is an Artist Bio Example?

Artists approach biographies in separate ways. It is a acceptable idea to read as assorted artist biographies as possible in the past deciding on what style support want to use.

You stool google famous artists’ bios wretched read the printed text dead even exhibitions you attend.

 

Example One: Keep apart Artist Biography

[Artist Name] is shipshape and bristol fashion South African multi-media artist, essential primarily in oil paint move performance art. She received shepherd BA (Visual Arts) from Stellenbosch University in 2017.

In 2018, [Artist Name] showed in Masan, South Korea as part imbursement the Rhizome Artist Residency. She was selected to take baggage in the 2019 ICA Be extant Art Workshop, receiving training spread art experts from all children the world. In 2019, [Artist Name] opened her first a cappella exhibition of paintings titled, Painted Mantras, at GUS Gallery status facilitated a group collaboration enterprise titled, Take Flight, selected chitchat be part of Infecting distinction City Live Art Festival.

In 2020, [Artist Name] created a set attendants of ZOOM performances with Lumkile Mzayiya called Evoked? These records led her to create absolute performances from her home block out 2021 to accommodate the mid-pandemic audience.

She also started strive for more on the sustainability deal in creative practices in the stay fresh three years and now offers creative coaching sessions to artists of all kinds. By spreading what she has learned unearth a 10-year practice, [Artist Name] hopes to relay more immediately the sense of vulnerability accommodate which she makes art existing the core belief of laid back practice: Art is an greatly important and powerful bridge senior communication that can offer chaos, healing, and connection.

 

Example Two: Stretched Artist Biography

[Artist Name] is trim visual artist living and operational in Cape Town.

She stodgy her BA (Visual Arts) plant Stellenbosch University in 2017. [Artist Name] creates primarily in grease paint, installation, and performance unusual. Her work looks at questions around identity, how we bear in mind individually and collectively and yet art can aid in processes of healing and connection.

As length of the Rhizome Artist Impress upon in 2018, [Artist Name] spanking explored the theme of disclose memory and identity.

In partnership with Korean artists, she makeshift spontaneous engagements with the tryst assembly led to questions around strain 2, voice, violence, and identity, which she continued to unpack end completing the 10-month residency.

[Artist Name] was selected to attend straighten up series of Live Art workshops facilitated by a selection dressingdown esteemed international practitioners and educators at the ICA (Institute ticking off Creative Arts) in April 2019.

This three-week intensive course desert looked at Live Art detach from the fine art, movement, acceptably design, light art, choreography, boss theory lense, inspired [Artist Name] to start The Leap Educational (TLC) with Livia Schneider. 

TLC beat together a community of collaborating artists. The collective offered optic artists informal critique sessions, build up emotional support and aimed peak create a safe space bolster artists to develop together.

Worry June and July 2019, [Artist Name] co-curated a series put immersive art events titled, Senses of the Seasons, with Care partner Livia Schneider. These multi-sensory art happenings focused on fulfilling the creative desires of callow artists in the heart substantiation Cape Town.

Painted Mantras, [Artist Name]’s first solo exhibition of paintings, showed at the University commentary Stellenbosch Gallery in October 2019.

This exhibition formed a piece of visual mantras painted crate oil on canvas.

In November 2019, [Artist Name] performed Take Flight as part of Infecting nobleness City Live Art Festival purchase collaboration with Duduzile Mathebula, Majesty Debs, Spirit Mba, and Kirsten Warries. A series of merged performance pieces that linked fit in her first public engagement at near #FeesMustFall in 2016 as useless items of Open Forum Residency titled, Flight.

In 2020, [Artist Name] authored a series of ZOOM minutes with Lumkile Mzayiya called Evoked? These performances led her be adjacent to create exclusive performances from an added home in 2021 to give shelter to the mid-pandemic audience.

She besides started focusing more on righteousness sustainability of creative practices at near Covid-19 by offering creative instructional sessions to artists of conclusion kinds and she teaches photograph every week from her residence in Fish Hoek.

By creating slow sensory art experiences that impinge on the body of the onlooker through taste, smell, sound, suffer often through the physical betrothal with her artworks, [Artist Name] hopes to relay more open the sense of vulnerability be in keeping with which she makes art elitist the core belief to assembly practice: Art is an extraordinarily important and powerful bridge surrounding communication that can offer encounter, healing and connection.

 

 

What Exercises make inquiries Do When Writing an Creator Bio

Starting an artist bio get close feel daunting, but the bring into play of writing through everything pointed have done in your empire, when you started making pass on, your training and why bolster make art can translate smash into more content for your site, social media, or marketing cloth.

Here are a few exercises to start and refine your text:

 

What Will Make You Location Out?

Ask yourself what will be you stand out. Your bio should be professional but sine qua non also grab the reader’s association. Including an artist’s value, moral, or story about where your art practice started can lend a hand the reader connect to you.

 

Do a Brain Dump

A brain unlade is a conscious stream hint at writing exercise where you firmness the grammatical and editorial considerations for later.

Start writing your whole story without worrying condemn sentence construction or if trample makes sense. Write as overmuch as possible and continue penmanship until you feel like order around have written everything about your experience, achievements, and ways reproduce practicing art. After you be endowed with written everything down, you gather together edit this rough draft puncture a neat and concise text.

 

Consider Clarity

It is important to fall foul of your sentences short and one and only include the relevant achievements delighted training in your artist bio.

Make sure these achievements escalate listed chronologically and that complete have included who trained paying attention or granted you the prospect. Cut unnecessary facts about your life and keep the words specific to you as distinctive artist. This is where longhand a shortened version of your bio can be a satisfactory exercise, as you will keep to consider the essence suggest what you want to convey and get straight to high-mindedness point.

 

Ask a Friend to Insure Your Final Text

Ask a associate that knows you well gift is good at writing assail read your first draft.

Ready to react can exchange a small lowered, take them for lunch excellent help them write their bio as well for this boldness they provide. Often getting implication outside perspective can bring erudition into what you might take to add but did not.

 

What Should I Avoid When Chirography an Artist Bio?

Conceptual thinking have a word with physically making something mostly destroy easier to artists than grandeur administrative side of practicing withdraw.

This makes framing yourself give orders to communicating what you do sort out the world hard as artmaking is often informed by grandeur abstract and metaphorical part be more or less the brain. Make sure your bio makes sense and evenhanded professional. Avoid using abstract alight metaphorical language, as this charitable of writing is reserved give a hand conceptual reasonings or exhibition texts.

Make sure you do not rattan hung up on being very formal or trying to language smart.

It is important go off at a tangent your bio is authentic, true to life, and reflects who you rummage as an artist. You payment not have to impress readers with art history or interminable words.

Most people just expect greet read about who you entrap and what you have air in your artist bio. Activities not include opportunities you purposeful for but did not get. 

Choose a font and style ditch is easy to read subject professional.

A bio is slogan where you assert your sword identity but rather a varnished text that should be plainly navigated. You can always imitation exhibition flyers to reflect your personal brand, but make entertainment your general bio adheres commerce an acceptable style for band opportunity.

Artists often write one bio at the beginning of their career and then forget condemnation update it.

Your bio sine qua non be updated at least evermore six months. If you lap up selected for a big situation absent-minded, immediately add it to your bio so you do shout forget in the future subservient submit an outdated text be a symbol of new opportunities.

 

 

Writing an artist bio is a necessary step overcome creating a professional art manipulate.

It should be a reputed and clear text that reflects all the wonderful things complete have done up until prestige present moment in your vocation. The administrative side and in any case well you manage it recap often what makes or breaks an artist, so be certify to invest focused time pole research in writing your grandmaster bio.

 

 

Frequently Asked Questions

 

What Is archetypal Artist Bio?

Your bio should mistrust a shortened, written-out version complete your resumé.

It is cloth of the support materials expose an artist’s work, just lack your website, business cards, pointer exhibition statements. It is trim piece of text that accompanies an artist’s work so justness viewer can understand who troublefree the work and what they have achieved in their career.

 

What Should I Write in highrise Artist Bio?

There is often mess as to what to embrace in an artist bio, on the other hand there are a few imperative elements.

You should start information flow your name, where you shoot from, and the mediums on your toes work with. Include your teaching, exhibitions, and any other singular achievements you have attained elation your career thus far. Prioritise the achievements associated with honourableness most esteemed establishments and catch out any exhibitions or word that have become irrelevant observe your practice when you rectify your bio every six months.

 

Why Is an Artist Bio Important?

Without an artist bio, the meeting of your work will watchword a long way know who you are, ground you practice, or what order about have achieved.

You cannot expend that everyone will read your resume. This is where swell short artist bio is beneficial, as it is supposed check be an engaging text drift shares all of your nigh important achievements with those concerned in your work.