Reading the room and other problems with zoom…
This morning I took part in a zoom discussion with makers about sustainable and responsible making practices. I think in my mind it was going to be more of a discussion, but it mostly felt like I was giving a talk. Perhaps that’s just the way it needed to go to start this process off. […]
4 tricks for writing an awesome artist’s statement in the 3rd person
It’s been a little while since we talked about writing-specific issues here on the blog, so I thought I’d return to something I’ve mentioned before and which I get asked about again and again – whether to write your artist’s statement in the 1st person or 3rd person. In my opinion it doesn’t matter which you choose so long as the writing suits the audience you are writing for and the work that you make (see my post on this topic). You can write a superb artist’s statement, that sounds professional and engaging, in either.
So, let’s assume you’ve thought about who and what the writing is for, and have decided which point of view works best for your work… and it’s the 3rd person. Now what? Here are some tips to help you get started and write that awesome artist’s statement.
Communicating in person: reclaim your authentic voice
When you are communicating about your work through writing, the goal is to find the voice that best expresses your ideas, a voice that sounds authentic. Usually this is your own voice – the voice that sounds like you. It’s so much easier to write in the way that you would naturally talk and it almost always sounds better to the reader. So, once you have found your voice in your writing, you would think that when it comes to communicating verbally, in person, things would be easy. But somehow confidence gets lost and the authentic voice that you’ve harnessed on the page disappears. So often this comes from the anxiety of dealing with your audience face to face (whether at a show, an interview or in a video for promotion) but often it is because we forget to use our natural speaking voices. Now, I can’t help you with the anxiety of public speaking, but I’ve found some great resources which can help you find and reclaim your authentic speaking voice, so that you can communicate clearly and confidently.