template - writing an artist cv

Information in this Checklist is presented as general information only and

should not be relied on as legal or financial advice. Legal advice should be

sought on specific legal issues.

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TEMPLATE

WRITING AN ARTIST CV

As a visual artist, craft practitioner or designer you’ll be

asked to provide a curriculum vitae or CV on a number

of occasions; for grant, residency or prize applications,

exhibitions proposals or a public art proposal. An

artist CV is an overview of your professional visual

arts practice and whilst similar in structure to an

employment resume, it should only contain content

and achievements that are related to your professional

artistic career.

Whilst different artists may order their CV’s in ways

that best communicate their achievements there are

general sector standards to you can use.

If you are just starting to write a CV below is a guide to

help you start the process.

Personal details

Jane Doe (b. 1984 Australia)

You can include more contact information here

depending on what you’re using your CV for.

Education

i.e. UNSW Art and Design, Masters of Fine Art, 2014

National Art School, Bachelor of Fine Art, 2006

If you don’t have a formal training you can list short

courses that you have done.

i.e. Portrait Photography, ACP, 2006

Solo Exhibitions

When listing your exhibitions start with the most

recent and work back.

i.e. 2012 “Title” Findspace, Melbourne.

2011 “Exhibition name” Unamed Gallery, Sydney

“Title” Gallery No. 6, Adelaide.

Group Exhibitions

i.e. 2013 “Title”, Walkers Gallery, New York

Depending on how many you have you may when wish

to edit these down to the most signiﬁcant and labelling

the section, “Selected Group Exhibitions”.

Awards and prizes

i.e. 2013 Finalist, National Photography Portrait Prize

Finalist, Doug Moran,

Artist residencies

i.e. 2011 Green St Residency, New York.

2009 PS5 Residency, Lodz, Poland.

2009 ARTSPACE, Sydney.

Grants

i.e. 2011 NSW Artist Grant, National Association for

the Visual Arts,

2009 Artstart Grant, Australia Council

Bibliography

In the bibliography is where you can list reviews of

your work or articles where you or your work has been

mentioned. When noting articles include the following

details: author, title, publication, volume (when relevant)

publication date and the page number.

i.e John Douglas, “Jane Doe at Findspace”, The Age,

March 15 2012 p. 15

Collections

Generally the collections subheading of your CV is a

list the public institutions, municipalities or corporate

companies that have purchased your work.

i.e. Albury City Council, Albury

Cameron, Smith and Bruckner Lawyers, Sydney

Faigen Trust, Melbourne.

Freeman and Bros Pty Ltd, New York

However as an early career artist you may wish to the

private collections by

i.e. Private Collections, Adelaide, SA

Private Collections, Sydney, NSW

Information in this Checklist is presented as general information only and

should not be relied on as legal or financial advice. Legal advice should be

sought on specific legal issues.

(02) 9368 1900 facebook.com/NAVA.VisualArt

[email protected]t.au twitter.com/NAVAvisualarts

visualarts.net.au instagram.com/nava_visualarts

Texts

Under texts you can include your published writing

that relates to your practice, other artists or

professional research.

i.e “Film noir in contemporary Australian

photography”, Catalogue title, Walkers Gallery, New

York. 2013

Teaching, employment or professional

appointments

In this section you can list any teaching positions,

permanent or casual, you may have had. List

professional employment and appointment positions

when it relates to your practice or the visual arts.

i.e 2014 Guest lecturer, National Arts School. 2014

Other points you may wish to note that are

related to your visual arts career are:

Curatorial projects

Commissions

Conferences, lectures and seminars.

Tips for CVs

• Use a consistent font type and size.

• Keep the formatting clean, simple and ordered.

• Don’t use bold, italics, underline and different size font

all at once for the headings.

• Start with the most recent exhibitions and prizes etc

and work back.

• Leave out activities that are more than 5 years old

unless very relevant / impressive

• Edit back to the most impressive achievements

and activities