Four Ways to Craft an Artist Statment
Infographic
Artist statements are a fundamental component of an artist’s practice; however, undergraduate students are often not confident when communicating the technical and conceptual importance of their work. This infographic illustrates four pathways to create a professional artist statement.
Target audience: Undergraduate Art and Design students in a Professional Practice course
Tools used: Adobe Illustrator, Pinterest, Flaticon.com
Year: 2021
Overview
Learners can often be overwhelmed and uncertain when attempting to translate the ideas in their head to paper, which is what makes crafting an artist statement from scratch a difficult endeavor. Professional practice courses and higher-level studio classes help build learner confidence, but sometimes, new exercises are needed to help spark inspiration. This infographic provides four ‘paths’ for anyone attempting to write a professional artist statement for their practice.
EMDT Program Learning Goal(s):
Students will evaluate and create instructional media and technology to support teaching and learning.
Students will participate in and contribute to communities of practice and professional networks.
Instructional Goal of the Artifact:
Encourage student agency with multiple activity types and allow students to personalize their learning path.
Process
In my undergraduate art degree, one of my instructors used a ‘sticky note method’ to help us narrow down our main themes. At the beginning of the term, we would take 50 sticky notes and write down themes, symbols, and ideas that were important to our practice. Each week, we would then discard or combine five sticky notes in the hopes of narrowing down what we were truly exploring. At the end of the 10-week term, we had five solid ideas that could help guide us when drafting an artist statement. This helped me discover recurring themes and symbols that were important to the work I was creating at the time.
Final Color Scheme
When building an infographic to help students create an artist statement, I wanted to include out-of-the-box methods to provide alternative brainstorming techniques, including the sticky note method. Starting with a Pinterest board, I collected infographic examples to inform my design choices. I also finalized a color scheme, gathered free vector icons, and created a rough sketch of what I wanted to produce. I then created a rough draft of the text copy, including the steps, descriptions, and other tips. This project was completed in Adobe Illustrator, and the entire file is in a vector format for large scale sharing. The final product showcases four ‘pathways’ that students can follow to draft an artist statement. This infographic is meant to be concise to reduce the confusion and uncertainty that often comes along with putting an artist’s thoughts down on paper. However, with four separate paths, I struggled with condensing some of the information.
Presentation Design Pinterest Board
Throughout the design process, I referenced infographics with the same look and feel that I wanted to replicate. I incorporated colorful design to inspire and add excitement to the document. Rather than creating my own flat-lay icons, I incorporated free designs that I found to help reduce the build time. As an instructor, utilizing resources that already exist can help streamline the creation process for any project. Just because it is not built from scratch, doesn’t mean it has any less value.
Final Infographic Design
Gardner and Hatch (1989) describe that educational theories, such as Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences, may have complex implications to a person’s education, but the overall consensus is that using them as a basis for engagement and learning can be worthwhile. The infographic I created was born out of a need to address different learning paths and offer choice to students. With this choice, students have the agency to personalize their learning how they see fit. Giving students multiple ways to complete assignments and process information is how Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences plays into my own instructional practice. In fact, this strategy may lead to higher retention and engagement (Terada, 2018). It is through creative and fun visuals that I see myself supporting students’ preferred learning path best.
Results and Takeaways
Designing and creating an infographic this complex from the ground up is difficult. It helped to chunk the process into multiple steps to avoid any confusion or unneeded complexity. Whether it was gathering all the design materials (inspiration, icons, color story) or creating the copy, managing this project in stages helped streamline the overall production process. I did get feedback from an instructor that encouraged simplicity, which I will keep in mind as I design future infographics. Although the initial design was meant to be concise, I ended up sharing a lot more information than planned. If I were to recreate this project, I might separate each exercise into its own infographic to minimize clutter. I also tend to subscribe to a ‘maximalist ideology’ which may not be conducive to simplified graphics.
I also shared this infographic on Pinterest for any other educators to review, use, and pass along. The image links directly to my website for further conversation if needed.
References
Gardner, H., & Hatch, T. (1989). Multiple Intelligences Go to School: Educational Implications of the Theory of Multiple Intelligences. Educational Researcher, 18(8), 4. https://doi.org/10.2307/1176460
Terada, Y. (2018, October 15). Multiple Intelligences Theory: Widely Used, Yet Misunderstood. Edutopia. https://www.edutopia.org/article/multiple-intelligences-theory-widely-used-yet-misunderstood.
