10 Steps: Your Art Writing Template
Artspeak. Opacity. Dangling participles. On wall label, press release, even Facebook post, we’ve all encountered that kind of art writing that makes us say…What?
If your intention is to connect with a wider public, flip the script. Consider your text from the readers’ point of view. Think like a magazine editor: Tone down the theory, switch off footnote mode, be generous with language and information.
Of course, as a former magazine editor I would say that. As executive editor of ARTnews for 16 years, I trained generations of writers and editors to craft clear, accessible prose for a mainstream audience. Now, I teach art workers across the industry to write promotional content in the shifting territory where editorial and marketing merge. So I’ve developed this checklist to serve as a framework for any kind of text.
Blank screen? Answering these questions will help you organize your thoughts and your words:
1. What is it?
Not what it explores, comments on, interrogates.
Is it a sculptural portrait, digital abstraction, community project? Abstract or representational?
Say so up front.
2. Who made it?
Don't assume readers already know.
Share the makers' identity: where they're from, live, and work; era, culture, style or movement, best known for....
3. Main points on subject and the content
For example: Who/what is in portrait/landscape/still life and why were they chosen?
4. Materials matter
Share the tools and materials: woven with alpaca, or silk? Carved from bamboo, or maple? Oil paint, acrylic, or motor oil? Backstrap loom, or 3-D printing? For mixed-media works, where did you source your materials and why?
Each object or substance carries geographic and cultural DNA that conveys the artist’s intentions, setting you up for Step 8.
5. How was it made?
Using an active voice, describe the artist’s process. It helps us imagine them in the studio, and their sequence of actions can itself hold a larger significance.
6. Think like a novelist
Assume the reader can't see the image. Describe the work generously. Highlight as many senses as you can. Consider appearance, texture, surface, motion, vibration, sound, scent, flavor.
7. Become the viewer
Go beyond what the work looks like. What's the experience of looking at it? Is it kaleidoscopic, dazzling, soothing, unnerving? Does it provoke us to laugh, cry, speak out, change our perceptions or minds?
8. What is is “about”?
Interweaving evidence from points 1-8, explain the work’s larger meaning, message, and takeaway.
9. Evaluate (optional)
Elaborate on the above to explain what’s successful, and how.
