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#291 Should You Create An Artist Statement?
39 Plays2 years ago
Have you ever contemplated the significance of artist statements in pottery? If so, you're not alone. Join me, Nic Torres, as I dissect the relevance of artist statements in the wondrous world of pottery. We uncover what an artist statement is and how it can articulate the essence of your pottery to the world, while also discussing the fleeting nature of pottery and how this affects the utility of these statements.
If you have any questions don't be afraid to reach to me on instagram @nictorres_pottery
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Transcript
Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Do you need an artist statement for your own pottery? If you love pottery and want to take your skills to the next level, you're in the right place. Find your own pottery style right here on Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Let's get started. What is up, Shaping Nation? This is Nick Torres here. And on this episode, I want to talk a lot about artist statements.
00:00:23
Speaker
For those that don't know me, my name is Nick Torres, and I run this podcast to help potter let yourself discover your own unique voice. And I do that by giving you tips and tricks on things I've learned along the way.
What is an Artist Statement and is it Necessary?
00:00:35
Speaker
So artist statements. Do you need them for your pottery? And what are they? Well, an artist statement is a way to convey to other people what you make the body of work that you are making. And the question is,
00:00:52
Speaker
Do you need them and will they actually help you find your voice? So the answer is both yes and no. An artist statement can actually help you find your own voice. But it does it in a way because it helps you get out the words that you want to describe your own potter.
00:01:11
Speaker
And if you're able to describe your own pottery, then you're pretty close to finding your actual pottery voice because now you know what you are making, right? You know what you're making, you know what you are doing because you have it written out in words, you have thought about what you're actually making.
The Dynamic Nature of Pottery vs. Static Artist Statements
00:01:28
Speaker
But you see, the problem with artist statements is that our pottery changes a lot.
00:01:34
Speaker
And so not really one single thing can determine what you really make. What you say in that artist statement can't really determine what you make. Unless you go really broad with it and you say, I make pretty much a bit of everything and my potter is always growing. You know, that is fine. But an artist statement is literally just a way to help you get your thoughts out into the world so other people could see it as well.
00:02:00
Speaker
I personally enjoy looking at artist statements only because I interview a lot of potters. And when I'm trying to come up with questions, an artist statement with a biography, a bio makes it really easy for me to come up with good and interesting questions for everybody else for myself while I'm interviewing someone. So I enjoy artist statements on that level, but I wouldn't like go so far as to say I go out to look for artist statements.
00:02:30
Speaker
but now the no part of Do you need an artist statement is?
Value of Artist Statements in Professional Opportunities
00:02:37
Speaker
Because I kind of really hinted at it earlier is that you don't need To make an artist statement to make good work, right? The most important thing is to make good work good pottery and you don't need an artist statement to do that in order to start making good pottery and
00:02:56
Speaker
Here is the kicker though, an artist statement can provide some very good value to you depending on your goals and other things. So let's say for example, you are somebody right now that wants to try to get into a residency. One of the things that the residency is probably gonna require is an artist statement. It's an artist statement of what you are making right now and then what you hope to achieve in the future during this residency.
00:03:26
Speaker
So you're going to need an artist statement to help you just to get into residencies or even if you're trying to get into a gallery as well. Not only that, if people are looking at your own work, your own website, they're going to probably look at the artist statement and they're going to look through that and they're going to see what you are making and you're going to be able to, if you convey it well, then people are going to be a little bit more interested
Prioritizing Pottery Enjoyment Over Statements
00:03:52
Speaker
But you don't need an artist statement to make pottery or to make art in general. Because the most important thing is to make pottery that you enjoy and are making pottery that looks the best that you can make it. You don't need an artist statement for that. An artist statement will help you if you're trying to get into residencies or galleries. But that's pretty much it. You don't need one. You don't even need to make one if you want to.
Crafting a Concise Artist Description
00:04:18
Speaker
What I suggest though is you do make one sentence describing your own work. I learned this from some of the interview Christian Kiefer I believe I might be way off about that but.
00:04:34
Speaker
Essentially you want to make one sentence describing what you make in this sentence can be very brief, right? I could be saying I make pottery that has dioramas below the mug Simple that's the type of potter I make and you can do the same thing as well, right? I make flower theme pottery that excites the soul Boom, that's a very good one sentence if you make flower pottery
00:04:58
Speaker
This one sentence is going to help you convey your thoughts out to the world without having to make the whole artist statement. So those are my thoughts on artist statements. I hope you guys enjoyed it. I'll see you guys in the next one.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
00:05:15
Speaker
We hope you enjoyed this episode of Shaping Your Pottery with Nick Torres. Do you have questions about pottery that you'd like Nick to answer? Send them to us on Instagram at Nick Torres underscore pottery. We'll see you next time.