Artist website bio

by Jane Litchfield

As an artist, you may not be thrilled about writing about yourself, but you need an artist’s bio for your website, your portfolio, applications, shows, etc. So let’s make it simple, shall we?

Photo by Aaron Burden courtesy of Unsplashed

An artist’s bio is a short paragraph, written in prose, and in the third person. It tells more about the way your life has influenced your work than a CV, which is in point form. A bio is about you, the artist, as opposed to an “artist’s statement” which is more about the work and the themes behind it, and is written in first person.

In an ideal world, you would hire a professional writer to craft the perfect bio, but not everyone is ready to do that. (A great resource is PWAC, the Professional Writers Association of Canada, which has a Guelph chapter.) Here’s how to do it yourself, in five steps.

1) State the basics

The components of a bio are quite straight forward:

• Name and medium you work in; special techniques
• Key themes; what you hope to accomplish with your art
• Showing history; any collections your work is in
• Art-related education; any well-known teachers, influences
• Awards; other professional achievements
• Other art-related work, such as being a curator or art writer
• Media coverage
• Significant projects

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  How to Write an Artist Bio

  As someone who interviews people for a living, I often ask interview subjects for a bio and a headshot. But any time someone has asked the same of me, I balk! 

  I’ve got the headshot covered but the bio gives me pause every single time, especially when I’m asked to write a bio as an artist. I find it challenging to write my artist bio. I want to sound serious but not pretentious. I want to honor the medium that I work in without making it more than it is. And I want to do it in a way that makes me seem like a good writer.

  In some ways, it’s hard to write an artist bio for the same reasons that it’s hard to write resumes and cover letters. An artist bio needs to thread the needle of showcasing your accomplishments without appearing to brag. It can feel challenging to condense your entire artistic practice, vision, and CV into a few short sentences. If you don’t have accolades or degrees from fancy institutions, you might feel inadequate as you write your bio. Plus, they can often feel formulaic and constraining as a written form. 

  But, even though they can be challenging to write, artists need bios. You need them for grant applications, media coverage, your website, for any show that you’re in, or any place where you are speaking

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How to Dash off an Organizer Statement & Artist Bio Like a Pro

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