Project by Elizabeth Johnson

1. Select a favorite work of art that you have created in class this semester (it must still be available for digital photographs!! If you have taken it home, you will need to bring it back to school for one day only, so we can get some pics on it, ok?).
   
   Please choose a work that you think best meets the following criteria:
   • excellent craftsmanship
   • good use of elements & principles of art
   • represents you as an artist
     
     
2. Create an artist's statement. This means that you will need to sit down and think about what you personally wanted to achieve in this class as well as what kind of message you were trying to communicate to the viewer(s) of your work. Not sure what to write about or what kind of information you should include? Take a look at the attached examples of artist's statements that I just randomly pulled off of the Internet. As you write, consider that you are now going to be writing to a WORLD WIDE AUDIENCE. Anyone who has access to a computer could now see an example of your work from anywhere in the world. Not only does an artist's statement say something about their work (meaning processes/techniques/craftsmanship), but it also should give the viewer many compelling insights about the artist who created the work (meaning emotions/feelings/inspirations/ideas, etc.,).

How long should my artist's statement be?  

It should be about one and a half hand written pages long (single-spaced) or one page single-spaced using a computer or typewriter.

What do I do after I write the first draft?  

You will need to type our your statement using Microsoft Word and save it to a 3 1/2" floppy computer disk. You will probably have to do several revisions of the first draft, just to hammer out all of the rough spots and fine-tune it. You MUST use the computer in the art room to put your statement onto a floppy disk. (Don't worry I will provide you with the disk.) You may NOT bring in a disk from home to put into my computer due to the possibility of passing viruses. You will get ONE and ONLY one class period to type out your artists statement. That is plenty of time for you to get the work done. I will have a sign-up sheet near my desk so that you can reserve the computer for that day. 

This handout contains an overview and a check-list of what information must be included in your artist's statement.

	_____ An introductory paragraph that is interesting and makes the reader want to find out more about you in the paragraphs that follow
	_____ Contains information about your selected piece on the web-site _____ Title of the work? (What is the work called?) _____ Medium? (Material it is made out of) _____ Dimensions of the work? (in inches) _____ Explanation of why the artist chose to represent this piece
	_____ Contains information on your vision and ideas _____ Explanation of where you got your inspiration or ideas from in creating the work _____ An explanation of how you incorporated these ideas into your finished work
	_____ Use of appropriate and correct terminology pertaining to the work chosen _____ Explanation of each of the elements and principles of art that pertain to your work ELEMENTS: _____line _____color _____shape _____value _____space _____form _____texture PRINCIPLES:   _____ balance _____ emphasis _____ movement _____ harmony/unity _____ pattern _____ rhythm _____ proportion _____ variety
	_____ Artist states what kind of message they were trying to communicate to the viewer (mood, feeling, emotions, etc.)
	_____ Explanation of why the artist enjoyed working on this piece the most _____ Degree of craftsmanship _____ Amount of time spent working on the piece _____ Explanation of what makes this a successful work of art _____ Why this work best represents the artist
	_____ A good ending paragraph that neatly brings the ideas above to a satisfying conclusion