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Do you know it takes just 10 seconds for employers to read a CV and tell if the candidate is worth their time or not?
As an artist, if you're looking for a new job or you want to participate in an online art contest, a well-structured CV is the only key to success.
So, in this guide, we'll show you how to write an artist's CV that every employer wants to read. Keep reading to know what makes a great CV stand out.
What Is An Artist's CV? How Is It Different From An Artist Portfolio?
Before we go through the guide, let's examine what an Artist's CV means.
"CV" stands for "curriculum vitae," which otherwise means the course of life. It is a detailed one or two-page document that showcases your professional background and accomplishments. As an artist, you can add a summary about yourself, your past experiences, exhibitions, residencies, education, awards, and publications.
When applying for jobs, grants, online art competitions, gallery representation, or exhibition opportunities, a CV is an important document that you must have. It helps the reader understand your artistic journey and qualifications for a particular opportunity.
Also, we have found that many newbies are still confused between an artist's portfolio and a CV.
Well, as you have read above, an artist's CV is a single-page document that provides a summary of your contact details, relevant education, and professional experience.
On the other hand, an artist portfolio primarily focuses on showcasing your artistic work. You can include your creations, ideas, projects, and artwork in it.
A portfolio is a collection of visual representations that allow viewers to get a quick glimpse of your artistic style, skills, and creativity. An artist's portfolio can be in various formats, such as a physical copy, a website, or a digital portfolio.
If you are participating in an online art contest, check out our guide: 6 Tips to Create an Impressive Art Portfolio for 2023's Drawing Competitions.
How To Write An Artist CV?
Now that you know all about artist CVs, it's time to design your own that helps you stand out among peers and get selected for a virtual art exhibition. Let's take a look at the format below:
Header To List Your Contact Information
To get started, you need to first include your contact information in the header.
You must start with your name, prominently displayed at the CV's top. You can choose to center it or align it to the left of the page. To make it stand out, consider adjusting the type size to be larger than the rest of your contact information.
After this, include your other contact information like email, phone number, address, or website. Now align it in the same manner as your name, ensuring consistency in presentation. You can use a slightly smaller type size here to allow more space for the other information.
Note: You must include the correct information so that the reviewers can reach you in any way and shortlist your work for their virtual art exhibition platform. Example- Name
Address | Phone number| Email | Website
A Summary To Describe Yourself
Now in this section, you'll provide a concise summary about yourself, like your artistic training, specific area of focus or specialization, industry experience, and notable achievements.
It's crucial, to begin with a clear and enthusiastic sentence highlighting your background as a professional artist and showcasing your key attributes. You must limit your professional summary to three to five sentences to keep it easy to read and engaging.
Academic Details
The next and another essential detail that you must include in your education. You'll be surprised to know, but most reviewers are interested in learning what you studied, where, when, and who your instructors were.
So whether you have attended a renowned or prestigious school, it can be a valuable highlight for your CV. Also, you can add separate categories for notable achievements. However, you must arrange your education details chronologically, with the recent one at the top.
Example-
Name of School/College/Institute – Degree – Year
Exhibition History
As an artist, you may have participated in online art contests or submitted your artwork to a virtual art exhibition platform. If yes, you must include them all in your artist's CV. You must include 15-20 entries, including solo, selected, and participated exhibition details but not more than that. Your CV should be only one or two pages, so it's enough to showcase your ability.
To organize it in your small detailed CV, you must choose a style for each exhibition entry:
Year (start with the most recent exhibition)
Gallery/Show/Competition Name
Title of Show (use quotation marks or italics for better presentation)
City, Country/State
Also, you can combine everything in one line like:
Year- Title of Show, Gallery Name, City, Country/State
Private Collections Details
In this section, you will list the institutions and collections holding your artwork. It's important to differentiate between various types of collections: institutions (such as museums or schools), public collections (accessible to the public), and private collections (held by individual buyers in personal spaces). Even if your work is displayed in a local coffee shop, it counts as a public collection.
To make it short for your artist CV, you can write like:
Name of the Artwork
Name of the Collection/Institution
Location (City, Country)
Year Acquired or Donated
Also, you can write this in one line for each category:
Artwork Name, Collection/Institution, Location- Year
Awards, Grants, or Certificates
You may have received an award, grant, or certificate whenever you have participated in any online art contest. Well, you can showcase any awards you have received for your artistic endeavors or related work in your artist CV.
Also, you can include art awards that you got, like art history research, art teaching, charitable outreach, and more. You must follow the format for each entry:
Title of Award
Placement (First/Second/Third Place)*
Awarding Organisation
Year
Membership With Professional Organizations, If Any!
To enhance your CV, you must consider including your membership with professional organizations. This showcases your active engagement in art communities and your enthusiasm for collaborating with fellow professionals. Moreover, it also serves as evidence of your career background and the value you bring to the artistic field.
As it is the final section of your CV, you can list the arts or arts-related organizations you belong to. These can range from international artist groups to smaller local circles dedicated to promoting the arts.
Here's an example of how you can present it in your artist CV for the international virtual art exhibition platform TERAVARNA:
Member of the following organizations:
Name of Organisation (Joining year)
Footer To Sum Up
We suggest you add a footer note to your artist's CV. You must include the name and information of any galleries that currently represent you. This section must be typically centered and slightly smaller in font size than the rest of the document.
Your footer should follow a format like this:
Current Representation: (Name Of Gallery, City/State/ Country, Phone number, and Website)
Finally
This is the end of our guide. Also, you must remember to concisely represent all the important details in your artist's CV, as it is only 1 or 2 pages. In addition, you should update the document whenever you participate in a new show, receive an award, or experience any changes in your personal information.