Meant to post this Friday. Posted it Saturday instead. Apologies; busy week.
Artist’s Biographies:
If you haven’t yet accomplished enough to make for an impressive resume, you can simply write a bio, which can often be a mild combination of the two. Below I’ve listed a typical bio, this for a woman in my gallery–Kim Casebeer. Due to her relative youth, Kim’s accomplishments don’t yet rank with those of my older artists, but I know in time they will; her work has a sophistication that goes beyond her age. But for now she needs a bio that simply reflects her skill, and uniqueness, as a painter. Accomplishments of greater significance will come later.
Kim Casebeer
Kim Casebeer has been working as a professional artist since 1995. While her primary subjects are the Flint Hills, New Mexico, and Wyoming, her work focuses not so much on a particular place but on dramatic use of color and light. This has brought her to be placed in collections in San Francisco, Aspen, Kansas City, Phoenix, and several other cities. She is especially passionate about interpreting skies at various times of day and year.
Kim received a Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree from Kansas State University, and is a member of the Oil Painters of America, the Pastel Society of America in New York, and the Mid America Pastel Society. In 2007, her work was featured on the cover of the book, “Not By Bread Alone.†In 2006 she was featured in an article in The Artist’s Magazine. In 2005, 2004, and 2003 she juried into the Pastel Society of America’s 30th Annual exhibition, held in New York.
Kim has exhibited in several juried competitions such as the Oil Painters of America Central Region Exhibit in Estes Park, CO; the Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters in Jackson, WY; and the American Women Artists exhibit in Santa Fe, NM.
Kim has also been featured in numerous one-person shows and exhibits at Leopold Gallery in Kansas City, Galleries West in Jackson, and Meyers Gallery in Scottsdale. Her work is in several private, corporate and museum collections.
If you can glean any ideas of how to write your bio from this, please feel free to do so. And please notice that Kim has made a point of joining the various societies that reflect her media. This may not appeal to everyone, but if you can gain membership to an oil-painting, bronze-sculpting, or glassblowing society, it can only help your credibility, assuming that the society is credible. Believe me, if you ultimately want to make a living from your work, this can only help. But for all you more rebellious artists for whom there is yet no society–well, you probably wouldn’t want to join one anyway. So, form your own.
Paul, thanks for the advice in the article. It helps a lot as I have been building up my portfolio for a long time while working for an art distributorship and now I’m beginning to promote myself. Such insights are a lot of help as I refine my message. Thanks.