How to Write an Artist Statement That Sounds Like You

Hey, if you're an artist with a solid career but you're quietly exhausted by how hard it still feels, this is for you. You're not stuck because you lack talent. You're stuck because no one ever showed you how to navigate the next level. I created the artist mastermind circle to change that. It's a six months group coaching program where I work closely with mid-career experienced artists to sharpen their thinking, strengthen their positioning, help them make clearer rave decisions about their work and creative life. We tackle pricing, selling, galleries, studio visits, confidence and long term planning, but more than anything, I help artists stop firefighting and start steering. Applications open Monday the 12th of January and close Monday the 2nd of February. There are just 25 places curated by me. And if you want a clearer sense of what group coaching with me is actually like, I'm running a free live webinar on Wednesday the 21st of January at 6.30pm GMT. I'll walk you through the program. My head of ops recap is going to show you inside the online hub so you can see the depth of resources available and we'll explain exactly how everything works. If you come prepared to share a creative challenge in the chat, I'll even coach you live so you can experience just how much can shift in a few minutes. And then imagine what could change for you in six months. You'll find a link to register in the show notes or on the website. I'd love to see you there back to the episode. Welcome to the Extraordinary Creatives Podcast. I'm Kerry Hand, your host and creative coach. Join me each week as we delve into the journeys of creative travel lasers, aiming to inspire you to embrace your creativity and chart your own unique path. Hello, hello, my friends. Have you ever sat in front of a blank screen trying to describe your work and felt like every word made it sound shitter or flatter or worse, like it belonged to someone else entirely. Well, surprise, surprise, you're not alone. Writing about your work can feel like trying to bottle smoke. You know what you mean when you make it, of course, you can feel it in your hands, your gut, your bones, but the minute you try to put it into words, something vanishes. Maybe you start to overthink it. Maybe you feel the pressure to sound smart or impressive. Or maybe you freeze because the idea of summing up everything you've ever made in a paragraph feels nigh on impossible. Well, in this episode, we're going to hopefully change that. We're going to explore what a good artist statement actually does, why most of them fall flat and how to write one that sounds like you. Clear, alive and true. By the end, I'm really hoping that you've got a simple framework to follow some real-world examples to learn from and practical steps to help you write a statement that connects your work to the people who encounter it. So let's start with why this process can feel so uncomfortable. Most artists were never taught how to talk about their work to a general public. They were only taught how to make it if that at all. So when it comes time to write, we slip into performance mode. We've got our peers on our shoulders or behind our backs. We start imagining some invisible audience, whether it's curators, critics, funders watching over that shoulder. We try to please everybody. We try to sound professional. We write for approval instead of understanding. Does that sound familiar? And that's where it goes wrong. The fear of saying the wrong thing takes over. So we hedge, pad and generalise until our statement sounds tedious or like a grant application or a textbook. Your artist statement isn't about proving your clever. It's about helping people see what's already there. You're already doing the great thing in the work itself. The statement really just helps people to see that and bridge the gap between what you make and how they might encounter it and experience it. You're not telling them what to think or what the work is about. When it's written well, your statement doesn't just help others. It helps you. It brings clarity to your process and language to your instincts. It becomes part of your practice, not an afterthought. So if you think of your artist statement as a key rather than a summary, it gives your viewer something to hold on to or an entry point into the work. It offers vivid clues, images, textures, emotions that invite curiosity. It says come on in. There's something here for you. I can't wait for you to see it too. It also helps you recognise your own patterns. So when you describe what drives you, you can make more deliberate decisions. You begin to see your work from above, connecting the threads between projects, materials and ideas. A stock statement doesn't shut the door with big words. It opens one with honesty. Now let's talk about how to do that. I use a simple framework to help artists move from abstract to authentic. It's called clear. C-L-E-A-R. C stands for context. Where and how you work. What's around you that shapes what you make? So this could be your upbringing, kind of where you were raised, the area that you live in now, the studio itself. There is something about the geographical and the personal relationship to your environment that usually filters into the work. Maybe in an overt or a covert way. Next up is L. That's lineage. What's influenced or informed you? The people, places, ideas, experiences. So again, this could be family, mentors, artists. It could be books, it could be films. There are a whole heap of things that have informed and continue to inspire that helps us to understand your kind of visual language. E is for exploration. So that's what you're curious about. What questions you're asking through the work. So that's really about your line of inquiry. So what is it that is exciting you that you can't wait to discover when you go on that journey into the work. What are the questions you're trying to answer for yourself? And A is for action. How you make the materials, the gestures, the processes. That really makes you all practice specific to you. That helps define your practice. Hey, if you're muddling through the art world on your own, you already know the cost. Lost time, avoidable mistakes, weak stuck on something that could have been solved in minutes with the right support. Inside the carry hand coaching membership, you don't have to do it alone. Each week you can bring whatever you're facing and I'll help you cut through it fast. Creative blocks, pricing, pitches, confidence dips, applications, all of it. You'll find clarity and an international artist community and real guidance from people who understand your world. Join for £10 per month, cancel anytime and stop losing years to guesswork. The link is in the show notes or visit carryhand.com/membership. R is for resonance. So what might people feel, notice or take away after encountering your work? Now I know you're going to say to me, "Carry, I can't be responsible for what happens in people once they look at my work." I get it. I'm not asking you to guess, but I do know that you know your work has got a vibe. It's got a frequency, a resonance. So there is something about that emotional resonance that you are after, whether it's the colours, the mark making, the sound, the kind of the look and the feel that suggests all of the other things that I've just outlined. Your work has a resonance and that is what you're aiming for. So by giving people clues as to what it is that you are up to that helps people to go on that journey of discovery themselves. So when you read an artist statement that moves you, it almost always travels through these five stages. In some shape or form, not necessarily in the order that I'm giving you, the clear order, but if you include an aspect of the clear framework, it really helps you to stay grounded, build curiosity, describing the process and including the feeling. It's what turns information into connection. So let's look at what that transformation sounds like. I'm being playful, but I'm going to give you a typical art speak statement that I read every single day. Now this is so close to a real one, but it's not, it's an amalgamation, I'm going to share with you. The artist's interdisciplinary practice interrogates the porous boundaries between species, positioning intercultural encounters with an expanded ecological and post-humanist discourse. I know you've heard something like that. Now listen to this real one. I'm an artist and writer working with video, sculpture, printmaking and performance to explore our relationship with other animals. This is included serenading a spider, making a diamond from the dead creatures of the river Thames and embracing a giant greasy anatomy. That's a real one from Eleanor Morgan, a brilliant British artist and writer whose work explores our entanglement within natural world. You can find her at EleanorMorgan.com and her statement continues, "I was the child who loved to stroke slugs and I continue to bring this sticky interest to the world around me. I keep a wasps nest on the windowsill beside me next to a framed letter from David Attenborough and a beautiful poem about Malune Dumar written by my friend Miranda Peake." Now that's alive. You can see her studio. You can feel her humor, her curiosity, her tenderness. Eleanor's version is full of images, verbs and personality. It tells us not just what she makes but why she makes it. Her materials and her metaphors are intertwined. And most importantly, it sounds like her. That's what you're aiming for, a statement that could only belong to you. If you're ready to start writing or rewriting your artist statement, here's a simple exercise I give to my clients and artist's mastermind cohort. Take ten minutes, set a timer, don't edit, just write. Answer these eight questions in short phrases or sentences. Number one, where do you live and work and how does this environment influence your art? Number two, what has shaped or informed your work? Number three, what are you curious about? Number four, what do you make? Number five, why are you drawn to your materials? Number six, how do those materials contribute to the meaning? Number seven, what might people see, hear or feel when they encounter your work? Number eight, what do you hope they will take away from it? Once you've got your notes, use the clear structure to build flow that's C-L-E-A-R. Start with what grounds you? Context and lineage. Move into what drives you. That's exploration. Bring it to life through action and finish with resonance, the emotional or sensory impact on the viewer. Then read it aloud, does it sound like you or like a press release? Cut the jargon, keep the rhythm, aim for about 150 to 250 words, short enough to be read under a minute, but long enough to carry meaning. And remember, the goal isn't perfection, it's connection. When you can articulate your practice clearly, you can stop apologising for it. You stop saying, I'm not good with words. You start taking up space with language that reflects the depth and intelligence of your work. A good statement helps other people see what you see. But it also helps you see yourself more clearly. It becomes a mirror, a map, a way to navigate what's next. And the best part, you can keep evolving it. Every time your practice shifts, your words come to. Your artist statement isn't static, it's a living document just like your work. So here's your challenge this week. Give yourself 10 minutes with these eight questions, no editing, no pressure, just listen to your own voices you write. When you read it back, notice the sentences that make you sit up, the words that fill a live in your mouth, those are your anchors, build around them. And if you need a reminder of how personal, poetic and specific a statement can be, go and read Eleanor Morgan's, it's a masterclass in how to blend humour, science and soul without losing clarity. Again, you'll find it Eleanor.com. Because in the end, the best artist statements don't sound like anyone else's, they sound like the person who made the work. So this week, write yours, read it aloud, let it breathe, don't try to sound clever, just sound true. If you'd like more help, you can apply to the artist mastermind circle where we workshop at artist statements, even if you're an established artist, I found many artists still hide in their statements. So we workshop how to make your sound more like you, or you could join the membership and jump on a live call with me each week and ask me any questions directly. And as always, if you find any aspect of this episode useful, you can either message me DM, @KerryHand, post on socials, please do, or please follow rate to review the podcast because it helps more artists find the confidence to share their stories in their own words. Until next time, make right and speak like you. Thanks for listening. Please follow and share the podcast, it helps us to support more brilliant creatives like you. Recommend future guest suggestions in your reviews, they might well become part of our show. Thanks for being part of our creative community, until next time.