Alongside professional documentation of your strongest work, you’ll need to include some written statements. Writing about your work will provide viewers with insight into your process, medium, and ideation. It’s also a great opportunity for self-reflection! You’ll want to include these three types of writing in your portfolio:
- Introductory statement. The introductory statement or artist statement goes at the beginning of your presentation before the work. This is a chance to introduce yourself as an artist and describe what your work does and what you hope to accomplish with it. It can be briefer than a typical full page artist statement since you can elaborate on it more during a presentation about your work or on your website. However, the portfolio statement should be more formal than what you might put on a website. You should not discuss unrelated personal hobbies or interests in a portfolio artist statement, for example. For more information, check out the SLC tip sheet on Artist Statements or schedule an appointment for help on developing your artist statement!
- Details about each piece. The second type of writing will be the details about each piece included in your portfolio. These details will be brief and succinct. They will include the title of the work, the date it was created, the medium(s) used, and the dimensions. The format will look something like this:
Wheat Field with Cypresses
1889
Oil on canvas
28 3/4 x 36 3/4 in
- Statements about your work. The third type of writing will be a brief statement about the work. This is where you will give viewers more insight into the process, inspiration, or meaning behind the piece, as well as how it might connect to your other work in ideation or creation. When including a statement about your work, be sure that the description isn’t too lengthy. The description should be simple, short, and informative, not elaborate, wordy, or poetic (unless poetry is directly tied to your process). In general, avoid writing a paragraph of text that takes up more space on the page than your art.
Don’t forget that you can write about your work at any stage of the process. Writing about your art during and after it is completed is a great way to reflect on your creative process and see how your ideas are connected while the work is still fresh in your mind.
Finally, have your writing revised. You can show your statements to an instructor or schedule an appointment with an SLC writing coordinator to have your work proofread and revised!
