5 Articles To Help You Write A Great Artist Bio

I’m an artist. Too. Definitely into non-profit technology work, but one of my passions is my music and getting it out into the world. When networking and explaining what I do professionally, I’ve spent countless hours crafting and re-crafting my ‘resumé‘. It’s always a work in progress. Well, like my professional statement, my artist’s bio also changes as I grow and develop new techniques and skills.

But where do you start when making your own artist’s bio. Here’s 3 resources for coming up with your artist statement.

It’s an Artist’s Bio, Not A Resumé
This one’s geared towards musicians, but should be translatable to your form of making. Covers red flags to look for, the importance of humor, and knowing your reading audience.
25 RANDOM THINGS: Action Steps for Your Artist Statement #3
This one is great because it focuses on the writing and story of who you are. The rest of the series is pretty excellent too as is the rest of Luanne’s blog. I particularly love her wall hangings.
How To Make a Great First Impression (as an artist, online)
This one is pretty geared towards online profiles, uploading pictures of yourself. But I love the tips it has. One takeaway – make a quick list of words that describe your art – these can then be used in your ‘keywords’ used to describe your page for search engines (and thus make you more easily discoverable online).
How to Write an Artist Biography: A Bio Made Simple
Also music related, but again, translatable (that’s half your work as an artist, right? Translating the awesome?) I like this one because it provides a paragraph by paragraph template.
How To Write Your Artist Bio
- This one also provides a template too – in three sentences:
  “(Full name) is a (state)-based beadwork (profession or verb+er) who specializes in (list of two beading techniques). She is currently (verb+ing) a (noun) that will be (published/exhibited/for sale) in (date). You may contact (first name) at (website or email address).”

Do you know of any good articles/resources on writing your artist statement? What about your artist statement? Please link in the comments below – we wanna know!