Category: ENG1101 Project #4

A design statement is an analysis of a project’s structure. In order to make a design statement,  you must explain the analysis of the project’s context, summarize the key components of the planning context, and identify the primary opportunities and constraints identified from the analysis provided. There is no real definitive format for a design statement but most businesses require one in standard essay format. The audience that a designer statement is intended for is the viewer and the public. A designer statement is used to help the audience have a better understanding of the designers piece of work and the designers purpose/process .

A design statement is an analysis of a project’s structure. In order to make a design statement,  you must explain the analysis of the project’s context, summarize the key components of the planning context, and identify the primary opportunities and constraints identified from the analysis provided. There is no real definitive format for a design statement but most businesses require one in standard essay format. The audience that a designer statement is intended for is the viewer and the public. A designer statement is used to help the audience have a better understanding of the designers piece of work and the designers purpose/process . 

Sources “What is a Designer Statement” by Vadmin Gershman . In this article he emailed 30 designers asking them “what is a designer statement and how do you write one”? Designer Justin M Smith stated “some artists believe designer statement is unnecessary and or misleading…” “to me many designer /artist statements are a poor excuse to explain art/design to the public who will in the end have their own opinions on the origin,methods and overall worth of the final project”.

Designer Christopher Baker stated “whether it’s called an artist statement. Research statement or designer statement. I think the ultimate goal is the same ; to help others understand what motivates you”

What is a Artist Statement – An artist statement is a not-too-long series of sentences that describe what you make and why you make it. The very basic elements of an artist statement; what, why, and how.

What is the length of a Artist Statement – 200 Words. Two paragraphs or 150 to 200 words is the best length for a statement that is going to be published. It is long enough to let the viewer learn more about you and your work, but not too long that they can’t follow your story and get distracted.

What type of format do you use for an Artist Statement – Single Space, No more than 10 to 12 size point type, no tricky fonts, a general introduction to your work, a body of work, final paragraph should recapitulate the most important points in the statement.

Audience: Who, What Level, What Understanding? – Intended for a wide variety of people who you try to have understand your work without using unnecessary and fanciful words. Try to avoid using specific terms and knowledge that people might not fully understand since that may discourage them from your work.

What is it used for? – An artist statement is used for getting your message across. It is important to remember ” What are you trying to say in the work?” ” What influences my work?” “How do my methods of working (techniques, style, formal decisions) support the content of my work?” and lastly does any images pop up or relate when reading the statement.

Tone and Style, Vocabulary – Emotional Tone, Theoretical (but not over-the-top), Humorous, and clear and direct, concise and to the point. While the style of your Artist Statement should be honest. Try to capture your speaking voice. Avoid repetition of phrases and words. Organization of detail is important . Significant ideas should be at the end of each sentence for emphasis.

Examples – This is a short artist statement by Sam Durant. He talks about his artwork That references American history and explores the varying relationships between popular culture and art.

My artwork takes a critical view of social, political and cultural issues.  Often referencing American history, my work explores the varying relationships between popular culture and fine art. Having engaged subjects as diverse as the civil rights movement, southern rock music and modernist architecture, my work reproduces familiar visual and aural signs, arranging them into new conceptually layered installations. While I use a variety of materials and processes in each project my methodology is consistent. Although there may not always be material similarities between the different projects they are linked by recurring formal concerns and through the subject matter.   The subject matter of each body of work determines the materials and the forms of the work.  Each project often consists of multiple works, often in a range of different media, grouped around specific themes and meanings.  During research and production new areas of interest arise and lead to the next body of work.

Designer Statement

According to FIT state university of New York the article called “Artist and Design Philosophy”. The article gives the reader a summary of what a designer statement is in the case they give us examples of what can be written within a designer statement, and why a designer would include one in a piece of their work. For example a designer statement can be written about the designers process or its intentions within the message of the art piece. In this article they also provided examples in where you would need to include a designer statement such as competitions or museums. They have also provided the reader several of questions they can answer if they are having difficulty trying to write a designer statement (like a guide)

Example 1

In the Museum of arts and design there is a piece of artwork called ” the eye’s level”, and on the website there is a description (About the work ) of Anne Lindberg’s piece of work along with an image. The description talks about the material being used to create it and the process itself. It also talks about the goal that is intended for the viewer to reach, and also talks how well thought out she planned this work

Example 2

This is an article of an example of a Designer statement. Its very similar to and artist statement, this article gives the reader an idea on how it would look in a museum, it gives various examples of different designer statements. The designers can talk about there personal lives and how their process went, and provides images of their personal life

More examples 

• https://www.lataco.com/ink-tattoo-art-exhibit-opens-at-museum-of-latin-american-art-long-beach/
  
• https://whitney.org/exhibitions/2017-biennial

The artist I chose is named Moreshin Allahyari. She was was born in Iran and then moved to Brooklyn where she grew up. When she became an adult, she started to create digital art, one of which was in the BRIC museum. It is known as “She Who Sees The Unknown: Aisha Qandisha”. It is a video still with an odd statue in front of it. The statue is rather peculiar as it includes oversized legs with 2 toes, really long hair and 2 heads. This was actually inspired by a mythological species in the East called Jinn, which have shapeshifting abilities. When I first saw it, I almost instantly related it to the Pokemon character, Mewtwo. The idea behind this exhibit was supposed to be “retrieving your past to imagine possible futures for yourself”.  Allahyari also wanted to steer away from Patriarchy in the 21st century.