artist statement

I've been applying for a few writer-related things and recently had to write an artist statement. Like most people, the idea of writing an artist statement fills me with dread because every attempt I make to write one leaves me sounding I'm pushing too hard to make my piece sound important and symbolic or that I'm more in love with myself than the work itself.

I read an article by Robin Grearson, who suggested that a statement should never "tell me what to see, what it means or how to look. Just show me the bloody but still-beating human heart of the maker. Consider the question: Where in the work that you have made am I seeing something of the human being who created it, if I wanted to look? No one but the artist has the answer..." Then I set out to try to answer that question.

My Junior year of college, I lost every photo and document I had when both my hard drive and external hard drive broke in the same week. Since then, I have always been terrified of losing anything, which is why I am placing my artist statement below. Now, no matter what happens to my computer, I will be saved the anxiety and angst of trying to write another one of these:

I have always been drawn to peoples’ obsessions. This always captivates me as they often lead to an entire world I knew nothing about with rules and rulers that don’t apply anywhere else. People invest so much time, money, and effort into hobbies they love and it often comes out looking so strange to people who are not a part of it. During a Steampunk Convention I was sent to report on for Morkan’s Horse, I repeatedly ran into a group of middle-aged women who created a Steampunk-themed Belly Dance group. They spend hours every week practicing their routines and spend thousands of dollars creating bedazzled Victorian costumes. Every time they preformed, I was amazed that they, after all, were three women—all probably empty-nest moms—but in this Steampunk world they were alluring sirens of dance. I always find it fascinating that there are these epic, life-changing events happening right next to us, and half the time we never even notice that something wonderful or tragic is playing out.






much love,
hedgie