The Importance of the Artist Statement
For as long as I have been creating art teachers have drilled into me the importance of an artist statement. I have been laughing about it the whole time, even as I wrote it in my college essays that landed me 12 scholarships 10 years ago. The truth is that I love creation for creation’s sake. Until recently that was enough. I suppose the closest thing that I have had to a statement has been the need for community within art. The only people who truly seem to appreciate art is.. well other artists. So when I go to make my prints, for example, I see my canvas as an art as well, choosing to support the small businesses that create their own. I try to order from small businesses rather than big corporations at a great cost to myself because I see this as a worthy cause.
Now that is no longer the case and I find myself needing more drive and motivation behind my art, as I discover that not having a niche is hurting me! I have gone in so many directions with so many mediums that I find myself lost in my own sea of different audiences. To help with this I have created a separate shop for each “collection.”
My latest goal with my art, which is driving me now, is to uplift my mother’s book and to help grow her audience through my own artistic journal in her fantastical world. I am the daughter of the author Anne C. Miles who is working on her second book in the Lorica series. I feel that an artist’s statement needs to be about identity to truly identify with it, and envelope it and what hits closer to home?
I try to post daily on tik tok to grow my audience, I record and document my experience with video. Think of it like my new sketchbook because my children have used all my paper! Follow my journey you can find me at the handle EmilyGerlach92.