Pair Artist/Designer Statements
In this short, in-class, exercise, you will get in a group of 2 and write an artist statement for your partner. An artist/designer statement can take many approaches, but essentially it is a short description of your experience, interests, and working methods.
Get into pairs, then take a short break to read:
- How to write an artist statement by Sarah Hotchkiss
Follow the steps outlined in "the brainstorming phase" and:
- Gather your art in one digital or physical space and really look at it.
- Write out a list of adjectives that describe your work.
- Record yourself describing your art to a friend (this may be hard to do on your own, so you can do it with your partner or via voice memo by yourself).
- Think about the emotions and reactions you want your audience to come away with
- Write a casual letter to your best friend about what you’ve been up to in the studio
- Jeopardy your practice.
You may not be able too do all of these things in class, so just do what you can and don't worry if you're doing it "right" or "wrong". The goal is to begin an ongoing process of reflecting on and describing your practice.
After you’ve both read the essay, reunite with your partner and conduct a short interview with them in order to answer the "what, why, and (possibly) how" they practice. In your discussion, make sure to consider your partner's audience, and tailor their statement accordingly. Your statement can be a few sentences, or one to two paragraphs.
Share the statement you wrote for your partner and workshop it with them. We'll come back together near the end of class, and have everyone re-introduce their partner by reading the artist/designer statement you have written.
Once you have finished writing your partner's artist statement, add it to the Class Google Doc.
Some examples of artist/designer statements and their strategies...
Biographical / Factual:
Choi Sulki and Choi Sung Min are graphic designers working around Seoul, South Korea. They met at Yale University where they both earned their MFA degrees. After working as researchers at the Jan van Eyck Academie in Maastricht, they returned to Korea in 2005 to start their own practice. Since then, they have created graphic identities, promotional materials, publications and websites for many cultural institutions and individuals. From 2010 until 2013, they worked as graphic designers of the BMW Guggenheim Lab, an ambitious project jointly initiated by the Guggenheim Foundation and BMW, for which they designed an interactive identity system driven by online public participation.
Unique working attitude, methods, and value proposition:
Linked by Air creates design systems, shapes hybrid environments, and builds digital products that grow with their institutions and help institutions grow.
Defining in the negative / Humorous:
At Min Gu-Hong Manufacturing, we do not ridicule family management.
Guhong Min Manufacturing does not measure the literary quality of accident reports with Wolfram Alpha.
Guhong Min Manufacturing does not imply a motto or date of birth in the email ID.
Mission Statement:
On this first day of 2020, we are happy to announce CSS—a new, New York-based consultancy run by Laura Coombs, Laurel Schwulst, and Mindy Seu.
We are three friends who met through our work in design and education. Even though we think of ourselves as quite different, we have wanted to work together for a long time now … Somehow, the first day of this special new year felt like the right time to tell you … 2020—the year we all have perfect vision and feel clearly, putting our complementary strengths together …
Although our name CSS may suggest otherwise (“cascading style sheets”), we are not a design studio. Instead, we want to utilize our professional and personal experiences to strategize creative projects via research, reflection, and direction … We are interested in working with local and distant individuals, companies, and institutions (and others that fall outside of these categories!) on projects such as identities, publications, and environments (offline and on) … We have some other exciting announcements on the horizon …
Laura, Laurel, Mindy
CSS