Beyond the actual process of making art, I find that writing an artist statement is a close second in degrees of challenge. While doing a bit of research on the topic, I came across a number of sources that frame the artist's statement as an effective marketing tool, which serves as an important component in the presentation of one's work.

Personally, I prefer not to think of the artist statement as a marketing tool as it adds additional pressure to the process of writing. Rather, I like to see it as an effective means of reflecting upon the work and to help contextualize and concretize the materials, choices and themes I have arrived at. It also gives me a place to start when it comes time to speak about my work.

Although I may have reservations around the term "marketing" I do agree that an artist statement is an essential part of the presentation of one's work whether it is for an exhibition or as a component of your portfolio. I guess it's all about perspective—or framing, for that matter.

In my experience, it often takes several drafts with time between drafts to come up with a good statement. For some people there is a temptation to tell the whole story in their statement. I would say though that the strongest artist statements I have read achieve a fine balance of being concise and clear without being reductive or restrictive in directing the reading and experience of the artwork.

Ideally, the statement should support the presentation of your work and in some cases add further layers of complexity for viewers who encounter it. The statement can help clarify your intent, approach to making art, the processes you use, and formal aspects that are important to your practice. In some senses, the artist statement in its brevity and clarity represents you in your absence—it locates you and your work.

As a rule of thumb, the tone and clarity of your statement should also be reflected in the overall organization of your portfolio. Similarly, an effective portfolio will not attempt to cover your life's work but instead provide a selective overview that covers different bodies of work while giving the most prominence to current work. Remember, like the artist statement your images are being "read" so the punctuation and order count!

The basic components of a portfolio presentation package generally include an artist's resume (also called a Curriculum Vitae or CV), artwork samples, clippings or publications, and most importantly a cover letter. When making a formal submission for a grant, school or a call for submissions take note of the requirements. If there is no statement length indicated, 3/4 to a full page is a good limit to set. If it is not clear on what type of documentation is acceptable make sure you ask. In addition, if you can squeeze in a couple of digital prints or photos of your work it provides great "eye candy" to entice the reviewers to look more closely at your slides or images on CD. When putting all these components of your presentation package together always edit, edit, edit.

Depending for what purpose you are writing your artist statement or putting together a portfolio the content of both will and should change. Keep each specific goal in mind and you can shape the statement and the package around that goal.

If you were to ask me if it gets any easier each time I write a new artist statement or update the content of my portfolio, I would have to answer that so far, no. Instead, I think that each time I tackle this aspect of my practice I become a little more comfortable with the language I use to describe my work, I find new ways to write about it and organize it, and I become a little clearer on what it's all about.

Alison MacTaggart is a Vancouver-based artist completing her MFA in Visual Art at York University in Toronto. There are only a few weeks left until her thesis exhibition and the countdown is on!

Online Resources for Artist Statemets

Beyond establishing your own art group where you can share knowledge with other artists and workshop your statements and portfolios amongst yourselves, there are numerous resources out there. Here are a few:

www.artists.ca/resources/index.htm
The Federation of Canadian Artists (FCA) has some online resources and also publishes a useful artist's resource called Art Avenues five times a year.

www.ceramicsmonthly.org/mustreads/artist.asp
This article by Ariane Goodwin, has a number of great writing exercises to help get you started when writing your artist statement.

www.instantcoffee.org
An alternative, volunteer-run email list that includes workshops, exhibition and other announcements. This organization has different lists that are directed to specific areas of Canada.

www.allianceforarts.com
Located in Vancouver, they have a resource library that features among other things: how-to guides, information on workshops, and calls for artists.

www.carfac.ca
Provincial CARFAC chapters occasionally offer professional development workshops for artists.