Is your artist statement dull, sheer artbollocks, or just not expressing what you want it to? Still tweeting what you had for lunch or liveblogging The Great British Bake Off to your professional colleagues on Twitter when you could be reminding them what a great artist you are instead? Applying for things but always getting the old “unfortunately on this occasion…”? If you’re an artist who needs to write about your work and would like to do it better, please join me at one of the workshops I’m running this February for a-n the artists information company and Berwick Visual Arts. We’ll be at Queen’s Hall Arts Centre in Hexham (9.30am-3.30pm) on Thursday 4th February, then at The Maltings Theatre and Cinema in Berwick-upon-Tweed on Friday 5th February (10am-4pm). This is some heavily subsidised professional development at £15 a day, £10 for a-n members or artists based in Northumberland.
We’ll be covering artist statements, proposals (artistic ones, not marriage), online texts and social media with a focus on effective writing, i.e. pragmatically achieving your aims as an artist and improving your confidence in expressing visual ideas verbally, not trying to turn you into a professional writer. There will be some insider secrets from the writing world, though, in a supportive group working and sharing environment.
Book here:
If you’re an a-n member and want one of these workshops set up in your part of the country, please let them (or me) know and we’ll see what we can do.
Alistair Gentry 