Writing Artist Statements That Connect with the Public
An artist statement should help people engage with your work, not leave them confused or intimidated. Yet many artist statements rely on academic language, specialized art terminology, or abstract concepts that create distance between the artist and the audience.
This interactive workshop teaches artists how to write clear, compelling artist statements that remain true to their ideas while making their work more accessible to the public. Participants will learn how to communicate the meaning, inspiration, and process behind their work using plain language principles without oversimplifying or losing artistic depth.
Through examples, guided exercises, and individual feedback, participants will:
- Understand why many artist statements fail to connect with viewers.
- Identify the difference between writing for curators, critics, and the general public.
- Apply plain language techniques to improve clarity, readability, and engagement.
- Replace vague or overly academic language with concrete, meaningful descriptions.
- Explain complex artistic concepts in ways that invite curiosity rather than confusion.
- Organize an artist statement into a clear, logical structure.
- Balance personal voice with audience needs.
- Edit for conciseness, readability, and impact.
- Receive feedback on their own artist statement and leave with a revised version.
Participants are encouraged to bring a current artist statement or draft. By the end of the workshop, each artist will have practical tools they can use for exhibition catalogs, gallery websites, grant applications, and personal websites—along with an artist statement that is more inviting, memorable, and understandable to a broad audience.
Ideal Audience: Visual artists, photographers, sculptors, mixed-media artists, craft artists, and emerging or established artists who want to communicate more effectively with collectors, gallery visitors, jurors, and the general public.
About the Speaker:
Deborah S. Bosley, Ph.D., is Founder and Principal at The Plain Language Group, LLC. Deborah is an international expert in the use of plain language to create easy to understand content and meet regulatory requirements for plain language. Her clients include Fortune 500 companies including Google, eBay, JPMorgan Chase, Wells Fargo, Cigna, TD Canada, and Bank of America.
She has also worked with the CDC, the Federal Trade Commission, the University of California Office of the President, the New York City Mayor’s office and other government agencies and higher education.
In Charlotte, Deborah is the former Chair of the Board for The Light Factory where she served two terms. She currently is the Chair of the Board for The Charlotte Center for the Humanities and Civic Imagination, and a member of the Board of The Charlotte Center for Literary Arts.
Deborah has given more than 100 presentations, keynote addresses, and webinars to business, government, and non-profit organizations in the U.S., Mexico, England, Spain, Ireland, Germany, and France. She has given a talk for TEDx Charlotte and been interviewed by or written for The Atlantic, Time Magazine, the Wall Street Journal Weekend Morning radio, ThriveGlobal, Medium, Employee Benefits, Kiplinger, Regulatory Compliance Watch, WealthManagement, The Hechinger Report, Financial Advisor Magazine, Entrepreneur, Investment News, as well as other print and digital media.
Deborah also is a Professor Emerita at UNC Charlotte where she taught Technical and Professional Writing. In her academic career, Deborah authored or co-authored three books and dozens of articles in peer reviewed journals, including winning three national awards for her research and teaching.
