The difficulty with any artist’s statement lies in using enough technical details and art vernacular to accurately describe the artist’s oeuvre without bogging everything down into a boring slough of senseless jargon.
Client: Laceworks Jewelry makes handcrafted filigree in silver and gold using techniques that are more than 5000 years old.
Project Description: Produce a snazzy artist’s statement for Hisako Yamada, the master jeweler behind Laceworks Jewelry, to help get her work into art shows, galleries, etc.
A Quote
“‘I was drawn to filigree immediately,’ Hisako says, ‘its strength and delicacy… its intricacy and
femininity…'”
The Inside Scoop
Full Disclosure: I’ve been working as the Executive Director for Laceworks Jewelry since late 2013. With the unique skill set I provide, I have built the Laceworks brand from the ground up, both in print and on the web.
The Artist’s Statement
The difficulty with any artist’s statement lies in using enough technical details and art vernacular to accurately describe the artist’s oeuvre without bogging everything down into a boring slough of senseless jargon.
Moreover, unique aspects of personality, background, and philosophy must be allowed to shine through so that whatever technical descriptions are included serve to highlight, rather than obscure, the actual artist.
Instead of writing the piece as a dry addendum to a résumé (the unhappy state of many an artist’s statement, from what I’ve seen), I chose to write in a style more consistent with that of a feature article—albeit a somewhat technical one.
My goal from the beginning was to produce something which someone might actually want to read.
The Résumé
The résumé is fairly straight forward, as such things go, delineating education, work experience, organizational membership, past shows, and past awards (as they existed at the time) in a nice, easy to follow format.
My Favorite Part
Weaving in Hisako’s own quotes with the narrative of the artist’s statement—it lends a nice “glossy magazine” feel to the piece.
See the results:
Hisako Yamada’s Artist Statement
Hisako Yamada’s Curriculum Vitae (February, 2015)
