Biography construction
It's all about YOU!
.... in the third person, of course!
Bios should be short and concise, listing only relevant information.
They should not be more than 150 words.
They should not be more than 150 words.
Avoid listing personal statistics, such as family and hobbies; instead angle the bio to the intended audience, whether for a personal website or a professional networking website.
Remain professional in all the information you put out there!
This is often the first impression you will make to your potential reviewers, critics, collectors, employers and the like!
This is often the first impression you will make to your potential reviewers, critics, collectors, employers and the like!
Begin the bio by introducing yourself, and always write in the third person.
For example, write "Jen Pepper is a visual artist" rather than "I am a visual artist."
State your area of academic and studio art concentration.
Do you have a double major?
A Minor?
State these.
State your expected year of graduation of your Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, May 2018 and list any areas of specialized expertise / media and technical knowledge.
For example, write "Jen Pepper is a visual artist" rather than "I am a visual artist."
State your area of academic and studio art concentration.
Do you have a double major?
A Minor?
State these.
State your expected year of graduation of your Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, May 2018 and list any areas of specialized expertise / media and technical knowledge.
Education and Credentials
List your education after the introduction sentence, including the name of any degrees you have earned and the institution you attended. Include any other relevant experience, such as additional certifications earned as well as the names of any professional organizations that count you as a member.
Notable Achievements
State any notable achievements or awards earned. Keep the information relevant to the intended audience of the bio. List any exhibitions you have been in, The Annual Juried Student Exhibition in the Reisman Hall Art Gallery, list your academic awards and accomplishments. List other professional awards or other recognition achieved in your careers. Stay away for achievements prior to your entrance as a college fresher.
Honors' student?
Master student?
Study abroad?
Closing Statement
Conclude the bio by briefly stating any current or upcoming projects, such as a new exhibition to take place. Adjust the bio as necessary when your education, expertise or achievements change to reflect the most current information. For students looking towards graduation, write about what your immediate plans are following.
Examples
B I O
Erika Lynne Hanson creates weavings, videos, and installations that connect diverse materials, histories, and places. Running through her work is a concern with the idea of landscape; specifically how landscape exists, by definition, as a view or representation—a space or scene that can never be reached physically. Hanson received her MFA from California College of the Arts, and holds a BFA in Fiber from The Kansas City Art Institute. Her work has been exhibited in various locations including Los Angeles, Kansas City, San Francisco, New York, and Houston. Hanson is a Charlotte Street Foundation Visual Art fellow and has been artist in residence at Real Time and Space in Oakland CA, The Icelandic Textile Center in Blonduos, IS, and The Wrangell Mountain Center in McCarthy, AK. In 2012 she CO-Founded 1522 Saint Louis, an experimental project space in Kansas City. Hanson is currently Assistant Professor of Fibers/Socially Engaged Practices at Arizona State University.
B I O
Roy Baugher grew up in Shenandoah, Virginia. He graduated from Roanoke College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Art. Most of his art are works-on-paper, but he works in photography and video as well.
Baugher works have been shown at the William King Museum, Roanoke College, the Roanoke City Art Show, the Roanoke College Biennial Juried Exhibition, and the Riverviews Artspace Juried Art Show. In 2009, he earned the Second Place Award and a Purchase Award in the Roanoke City Art Show.
He currently lives and works in Roanoke, Virginia.
Baugher works have been shown at the William King Museum, Roanoke College, the Roanoke City Art Show, the Roanoke College Biennial Juried Exhibition, and the Riverviews Artspace Juried Art Show. In 2009, he earned the Second Place Award and a Purchase Award in the Roanoke City Art Show.
He currently lives and works in Roanoke, Virginia.
B I O
Hackett, Mary Addison
b. Atlanta, Georgia
lives/works: Joshua Tree, California
Mary Addison Hackett is an artist whose practice spans painting, video, and other time-based projects. Her work is grounded in what the artist Allan Kaprow called, the ‘aesthetic of regular experience’ —transient experiences in the everyday world that were felt to be as significant as traditional works of art. Focus on the mundane, and maintaining an active engagement with her surroundings are common threads throughout the work. She often combines performance with absurd humor, philosophical inquiry, and feminist overtones.
Since the early 90s, her work has been exhibited and screened in non-profit spaces, galleries, museums, and film festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including recent solo shows at Seed Space (Nashville); Marcia Wood Gallery (Atlanta); John Davis Gallery (Hudson, NY); David Lusk (Nashville); and Kristi Engle Gallery (Los Angeles); and screenings at The New York Underground Film Festival (New York, NY); The Independent Prague Film Festival, (Prague, Czech Republic); and The Aurora Picture Show (Houston, TX).
Hackett is a 2016 Hambidge fellow and has been awarded project grants by the Tennessee Arts Commission, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and P.O.V. Television, The American Documentary Inc. Her work has been critically reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Burnaway, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and Arts ATL, among other publications. Public collections include the J. Paul Getty Trust and The Riverside Art Museum.
She holds a MFA in Studio Art and Video from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA in Painting from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After having lived and worked professionally in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Nashville, Mary Addison recently established her homebase on a parcel of land in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park.
b. Atlanta, Georgia
lives/works: Joshua Tree, California
Mary Addison Hackett is an artist whose practice spans painting, video, and other time-based projects. Her work is grounded in what the artist Allan Kaprow called, the ‘aesthetic of regular experience’ —transient experiences in the everyday world that were felt to be as significant as traditional works of art. Focus on the mundane, and maintaining an active engagement with her surroundings are common threads throughout the work. She often combines performance with absurd humor, philosophical inquiry, and feminist overtones.
Since the early 90s, her work has been exhibited and screened in non-profit spaces, galleries, museums, and film festivals throughout the United States and abroad, including recent solo shows at Seed Space (Nashville); Marcia Wood Gallery (Atlanta); John Davis Gallery (Hudson, NY); David Lusk (Nashville); and Kristi Engle Gallery (Los Angeles); and screenings at The New York Underground Film Festival (New York, NY); The Independent Prague Film Festival, (Prague, Czech Republic); and The Aurora Picture Show (Houston, TX).
Hackett is a 2016 Hambidge fellow and has been awarded project grants by the Tennessee Arts Commission, Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs, and P.O.V. Television, The American Documentary Inc. Her work has been critically reviewed in the Los Angeles Times, Burnaway, Atlanta-Journal Constitution, and Arts ATL, among other publications. Public collections include the J. Paul Getty Trust and The Riverside Art Museum.
She holds a MFA in Studio Art and Video from the University of Illinois at Chicago and a BFA in Painting from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. After having lived and worked professionally in Chicago, Los Angeles, and Nashville, Mary Addison recently established her homebase on a parcel of land in the Mojave Desert near Joshua Tree National Park.
B I O
Born and raised in Fredonia, NY, Sarah Cross recently returned to New York to serve as Director of the Photography Program at Cazenovia College. She received her BFA from the University of Buffalo and an MFA from Illinois State University. Sarah was a Visiting Assistant Professor at Beloit College in Wisconsin for five years before returning to New York. Her work has been shown nationally at galleries including the Catherine Edelman Gallery, the Schweinfurth Art Museum, the Black Box Gallery and the Silvereye Center for Photography.
B I O
Born in Canada, Jen Pepper has exhibited in solo and group shows in international and national venues since 1990. Her work is included in the Flatfiles at Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. A solo exhibition of her work including video projection with sculptural components was mounted in the Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY and was reviewed in Sculpture magazine Vol.30 No.2, March 2011.
Pepper has been the recipient of granted awards including NEH, NYFA, NYSCA, Astraea Foundation and Saltonstall Foundation for the Arts. She has been an artist in residence at Kunstnarhuset Messen, NORWAY, NES AiR, ICELAND, Gæsteatelier Hollufgård, DENMARK, Art Colony Galichnik, MACEDONIA, Foundation Valparaiso, SPAIN, The Virginia Center for the Creative Arts, Anam Cara Colony, Ireland, Corporation of Yaddo, Sculpture Space and Millay Colony for the Arts, NY. Pepper has been a guest panelist at national Women’s Studies, Social Science and Society for Aesthetics annual conferences presenting papers on feminism and explorations of identity, and a visiting artist at various colleges and universities. She holds a BFA from The Maryland Institute College of Art and an MFA from The University of Connecticut at Storrs. She is an associate professor of Studio Art and Design at Cazenovia College since 2003 and the Gallery Director of The Reisman Hall Art Gallery since 2005.
