No Portfolio is complete without the Artist Statement. As we go through the semester each of the pieces you select to include in your portfolio must have an Artist Statement. What the Artist Statement does is informs the audience about the art, and the artist. You cannot get your art into a gallery without an Artist Statement, no matter how amazing your art is. Why? Because an Artist Statement helps the audience understand and correctly discuss your art, and connect to you as an artist. They are separate from the Artist Biography, though that can be referenced, as each art piece had its’ own Artist Statement.
Before we learn how to write our own Artist Statements I have below some of my artwork and Artist Statements to see if you can match them. The Title is used in the Artist Statement see if you can match the title to the art piece using the Art Statement as your only source for clues.
(Artist Statements below pictures.)
(Answers at bottom of Blog.)
1: Which Artist Statement Matches
A: Cactus Wren
B: Triassic Coral Reef
C: Bear Gulch
D: Ordovician in Missouri
2: Which Artist Statement Matches
A: Cactus Wren
B: Triassic Coral Reef
C: Bear Gulch
D: Ordovician in Missouri
Which Artist Statement Matches
A: Cactus Wren
B: Triassic Coral Reef
C: Bear Gulch
D: Ordovician in Missouri
4: Which Artist Statement Matches
A: Cactus Wren
B: Triassic Coral Reef
C: Bear Gulch
D: Ordovician in Missouri
A:
Artist Joseph A. Garcia
Title: Cactus Wren
I made this Cactus Wren sculpture as part of my bird series. It is a three-dimensional sculpture of a Cactus wren on a two-dimensional bias relief of a Saguaro Cactus. First carving it from micro-crystalline wax, I then molded in silicone rubber, cast in resin, paint and assemble. I chose the Cactus Wren especially because when I was a teenager, I had a horse who would bolt every time he heard a Cactus Wren song, and I would have to hold on or get bucked. This sculpture helps me to remember to hold on when life bucks. The green of the cactus to me represents the verdant color of life in the harshest environments, a life worth hanging on to.
B:
Artist Joseph A. Garcia
Title: Triassic Coral Reef
This was a commissioned illustration, if I were to give it a subtitle it would be "Life on the edge." The mixed media piece was made combining an acrylic on canvas piece, some portion I then made in 3D MAYA, and finished the piece Adobe Photoshop. I like to use the element of value, the principle of color, to bring out the principles of balance, emphasis, rhythm. Here I used yellow ochre color in all but the water to unify the environment both past and present. I made this piece to illustrate how a fossil formation came to be. There was an ocean reef community on the edge, that broke apart and fell down to the deep ocean, and was preserved where it did not live, but died. I found the concept and challenge of this piece to be exciting and dramatic as the event itself.
C: Bear Gulch
This acrylic on canvas painting was made for a natural history display. I used the values of my favorite Ultra Marine Blue throughout this piece. I left large areas of blank space to represent the area wasn't heavily populated with animal life. The dramatic linear perspective I felt helped to focus how the silicate sand barely visible on the waters edge preserved the colorful creatures below in their crystal-clear bright water. I made each animal to represent the population amount that has been found so far. The Falcatus Falcatus above are the best-known sharks of the Bear Gulch fossil formation.
D: Ordovician in Missouri
This is a preservation of memory piece, not only of ancient history, but personal as well. My family and I lived in Missouri for awhile and were due to move within a month. While on a walk with my wife and children I was lamenting that I had never found an Orthocone the entire time we had lived in the state. My daughter asked what they looked like and I told her of the long triangular shape, with regular segments. Bending down next to her foot and picking something up the asked “Like this Dad?” and there in her hand was an Orthocone fossil. Represented are the fossils we found that lived in the area of Missouri as we did, but in the Ordovician. I used Adobe Photoshop to make the piece. Crowding the space with as much life in the shallow ocean as was there. Contrasting the smooth shell of the mollusks with the bumpy texture of the sponges, while the algae sways between them. Each organism in the piece was preserved as a fossil, and again in my memories of my children.
MORE ABOUT ARTIST STATEMENTS:
Many times, as artist we feel the art should speak for itself, we wanted to make an art piece not write a novel. Think of the Artist Statement as how you would describe the art to a family member or close friend, you want the audience to feel like they know you. This technique also helps that panicked mind blank that inevitably happens, just remember when you were little telling your favorite person about the picture you just made them, that was your Artist Statement.
Think about what you first thought when you see the piece and then read the statement. This is how the audience of your art will feel/react as well when they see your art and Artist Statement for the first time.
The Artist Statement has a structure that is expected to be followed, this structure makes the process easier so it doesn’t end up as twenty-page ramble, or just one line. There are no set rules yet for an Artist Statement, but there are general rules of thumb.
Basic Rules of ART Statements:
An Art Statement is written in first person.
They are expected to be short, and simple, 100-300 words.
Introduce the piece. Give a brief description. Include the title of the piece. What are the main elements of the piece. The Artist Statement needs to include the “how”, “what”, and “why” of the piece. “How” how the art piece was made. “What” what is the art piece made of, its medium. “Why” why was the art piece made, even if it is an assignment there was a reason why you chose one subject and/or medium over another.
Remember the Seven Elements of Art: Line, Shape, Form, Space, Texture, Value, and Color. Usually at least two elements are present in an Artist Statement. Remember too the Principles of Art :Balance, emphasis, movement, proportion, rhythm, unity, and variety; the means an artist will use to organize elements within an art piece.
Remember!!!! Include in your Artist Statement (100-300 words in first person).....
How – How the piece was made; the tools, techniques, and process of the piece.
What – What is the medium. (This can be included in the ‘introduction’ or the ‘how’, just remember to include the material used to make the art.)
Why – Why did you make the piece? Who/What inspired the artwork. What is the message to the audience. Is it supposed to convey emotion, provoke thought, provide information.
Helpful Hint: Make a list of adjectives to help you think about how to describe your piece. Use visual and tonal descriptors.
Answers (1: Bear Gulch, 2: Triassic Coral Reef, 3: Cactus Wren, 4: Ordovician in Missouri.)
Comentários