Bonus: 10 Tips for Writing Your Artist's Statement w/ Paddy Johnson of VVrkshop.art

Pep Talks for Artists

Ready your note-taking typing fingers because this week's guest is none other than Paddy Johnson of VVrkshop.art and she's here to give us 10 best-practice tips for writing our artist statements, thank God! Paddy is the founder of Netvvrk, a supportive membership that helps artists level-up in their careers AND also an award-winning arts writer. She has edited a gazillion artists' statements in her program so she knows what's up. Come along with us as we deconstruct the ideal statement and dispel all whiffs of passive voice and artspeak.

Don't forget that Paddy is giving a free *Live* Masterclass on May 9th at 7:30pm ET called "How To Get Seen in the Art World." Click here to find out more/rsvp for the free masterclass: https://vvrkshop.lpages.co/get-seen-in-the-art-world-live-masterclass/

Also, Pep Talk listeners that join Netvvrk during the upcoming registration period can receive a $20 discount by entering the code: PEPTALKS20.

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Paddy's 10 Statement Writing Tips (in brief)

1) Create a Present/Past/Future hierarchy: Start with speaking about your present work, then past & then future

2) Describe the actual objects you make

3) Use plot to tell a story about your work's journey. Include "causality" and your "why": "The King died. Later, the queen died of grief"

4) Use the active voice and "I" statements

5) Unpack the metaphors in your work for the reader

6) Watch out for run-ons. No sentence should be longer than 2.5 lines in a Google Doc (Arial 11pt)

7) No more that 1 list per paragraph and no more than 3 items per list

8) Limit talk about your process to one sentence. Instead, focus on ideas

9) Length: People expect 2-3 paragraphs for a statement on your website. Don't forget to add a paragraph break after each 2 sentence block

10) Expect your statement to be ever-evolving (not static)

**Bonus 11** Write so that a 5th grader could understand and avoid artspeak / jargon (i.e. hegemony, praxis, Anthropocene).

Find Paddy online (Netvvrk) https://www.vvrkshop.art/ and on Instagram @vvrkshop.art

Artists mentioned: Elisabeth Condon, Hans Haacke, Vincent Van Gogh (Wheatfield with Crows), Charles Burchfield, Al Held, John Berger (Ways of Seeing)

Thank you, Paddy! Thank you, listeners!

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