Writing an Artist's Statement

For many artists, myself included, writing an artist statement is a necessary and dreaded chore. I’ve read countless statements over the years and have come to appreciate the ones that read like a poem. They are concise and take you to where the art lives. I am not a poet, and therein lies the challenge. So I have found that keeping it simple is the way for me.

Getting to simplicity is not always simple when writing about what one’s artwork is about. I tend to paint and read what interests me and fill notebooks with notes. This summer I worked with Mike O’Conner , who leads storytelling workshops, writing stories about my work. I asked Wayne Roosa , a recently retired art professor and art historian, to write a statement about my work. Both were invaluable at helping me find the words to write my statement.

Papers and notes for writing my artist’s statement ©2023 Susan McDonnell

I am reminded of taking golf lessons years ago. The first five sessions were spent learning technique and form, watching videos of my swing and adjusting, and repeating again and again. The last session was, ‘forget everything and hit the ball‘.

After spending months writing and reading and distilling words about my artwork, I sat on the ground in my backyard in the shade of a huge maple tree and wrote my artist’s statement:

Radiant Realm

 We live in a radiant realm. The light of the sun illuminates and reveals the beauty of the birds, animals, flowers, trees, mountains and waters of the Earth. We live in paradise. As far as we know, no other planet has what we have. These paintings are meditations on moments when the light causes us to pause and simply look at the wonder of it all.

September 20, 2023