The Pain of a Personal Biography

One rough patch most artists hit during the development of their careers is the need to present certain unpleasant documents: the C.V., the Biography, the Artist's Statement. These demons can be mountains of procrastination and lost sleep until they're properly tamed. The best way to do that: just sit the fuck down and start writing. It may come in raspy spurts, it may flow like a blood letting; either way, it needs to be done and you as an artist need to inure yourself to the pain and just do it.

Below follow some basic pointers (jacked from other Web sites) for writing a biography that is useful and doesn't suck.

Gleaned this from the BrandYourself Blog:

1. Make three versions: short, medium and long. Most of the time, someone else will dictate the length of your bio. They will likely tell you how many words you can use to ensure that yours is the same length as other bios. Because of this, one bio will not do. You need three bios:

• One sentence bio
• 100 word bio
• 250 word bio

Each bio has its place. You will save you time and energy when the time comes time to post it, and establish consistency between every professional bio about you that is published.

2. Introduce yourself as if you’re meeting a stranger. Lead in with your name. People need to know who you are before they hear what you’re all about.

3. Immediately state what you do. If you are “Portrait Photographer,” don’t wait until the last moment to say it. Your most important details should go in the first sentence. Remember: people on the web rarely read more than the first and last sentence.

4. Touch upon your most important accomplishments. Don’t list them, and make sure they fit. A bio is not a resume; it is simply a quick summary of who you are. If you have space, mention them. If not, ignore them.

5. Include your contact information. You should have a line in your bio that makes it easy for people to contact you. Stick to the norm and put your contact info in the last sentence.

6. Talk in the third person. Since your bio is something other people use to describe you, make it sound like someone else is talking about you. Good: “John Doe is a portrait photographer with six years of hands-on experience working with clients… etc.” Bad: “I am a portrait photographer… etc.”

7. Get feedback from a friend. A great way to test your bio is to have someone else read it. Ask for their feedback. Does it accurately state who you are and what you do? If after reading your bio they still don’t understand what value you provide, revise it until they do.

8. Keep it up to date. You’re constantly moving forward in your career, and your bio should reflect that. Never send out your bio if it still says you work for a former employer.

I snagged this from CopyLicious:

• Set a timer for 26 minutes. This is very important. Do not skip this step! If you’re a Level-9 Procrastinator like me, you’ll never start this exercise if you don’t give yourself permission to do it quickly. This doesn’t have to become a 3-hour, story-of-my-life writing intervention. (Unless you want it to.)

• Answer the questions in a rambling, conversational style. You might even write them in the body of an email you pretend to send to a friend. Don’t worry about perfect sentences. This exercise is not designed to help you craft your bio. It’s simply to help you dig up all the good, fresh stuff buried in your brain, which you can then use to craft your bio. If you hate writing and are better at thinking on your feet, then speak your answers into a recorder or iPhone and transcribe them.

• Let your answers sit for a while. Then bold the answers that seem interesting, unexpected, insightful, profound, or just plain feel like you.

16 Questions to Help You Write Your Bio

1. How did you arrive at running this business? What path brought you here?
2. What are you known for professionally? What do you have a knack for?
3. What’s the one problem you are best at solving for your clients? What do your ideal clients say about you?
4. Who have you worked with in the past? And what have you done for them?
5. What are you most passionate about professionally? What most excites you about your work & the contribution you can make?
6. What are you passionate about personally? What do you really enjoy? What can’t you stop talking about?
7. Where can we find you when you’re not working? What’s your favorite way to spend a weekend or a Sunday afternoon?
8. How long have you been doing what you do?
9. Where did you grow up and why aren’t you there now?
10. Any volunteer activities you’re crazy about?
11. Any nonprofits you love, & why?
12. Any awards or medals, or even medallions? Personal okay, too.
13. What would be impossible for you to give up?
14. Why would someone not want to work with you?
15. How do you want to be remembered?
16. Anything else you’d like to tell people about yourself?

Solid advice. Solid advice I very well might follow!

Personally, when I'm stuck on something I turn to my fellow artists and my favorite authors and take note of how they compose their biographies, what points they address, which phrases I think are particularly eloquently constructed and look for ways to incorporate the same greatness in my writing. I find that letting examples of strong writing saturate my thoughts allows me to write much more easily. Whether I'm successful or not at writing a kick-ass pro-sounding biography has yet to be determined, but everyone has to start somewhere, right?

What inspires you to write? Where do you turn when the words just aren't working?

Do you TED?

I suspect most people in Dallas are familiar with TED Talks: they're the go-to entertainment for pseudo-intellectuals who want something more substantial than politics or life or death or humanity's over-arching struggle for happiness to talk about. Well, let's pretend that long pauses and funny hair-dos make for substantial content and start our own series of discussions about stuff. My first vote is for old shoes:

You know...








shoes that have, well...








weathered the storm...








sacrificed themselves for our soles...








trod through life and shit alike and still possess the redolence of apple cider vinegar.

I think my point has been made: what began as something inspiring and great quickly descended into formulaic mediocrity that somehow still holds its appeal with the masses. How do you avoid that as an artist? A community?

Was it commercialization that killed TED? Every speaker who graces TED's iconic stage seems to bear one of a few trademarks: they're fucking rich, they possess a quirkiness a little too blatant to be natural or they're pretty cool people pouring soft-serve shit for the cooing public who shell out anywhere between $995 and $125,000 for seats at live TED talks. (View their pricing structure here: http://www.ted.com/pages/tedconferences_attend.)

In the TED's wake Pecha Kucha popped up with a similar idea: share something you experienced/observed/learned in a way that makes everything seem profound. I think, generally Pecha Kucha's presentations are more naive and because of that possess a feeling of honesty that the gleaming, well-produced TEDs no longer have.

What's your take? Is Pecha Kucha as contrived as TED? Does it bleed a desperate need to be cool and topical the way TED does?




The opinions expressed in this post are solely those of the author and do not reflect the opinions of 2ND Thursday.

Mark Your Calendars

One month from today we will host our inaugural 2ND Thursday Studio Night! Grab your art supplies, snacks and whatever drink your heart (or palette) may fancy and head over to The American Beauty Mills for an evening of socializing and laid-back arting.

The purpose of this evening is to socialize with other artists in a laid-back and judgement-free environment while creating art. This will be a great opportunity for artists to get in-progress critiques on current projects and a chance to brainstorm/collaborate with fellow artists.

Try Something New

Feeling burned out? Looking for some inspiration? Maybe some motivation? Perhaps just a change of pace? Here are a couple of projects you might enjoy:

Illustration Friday

Illustration Friday is a weekly creative outlet/participatory art exhibit for illustrators & artists of all skill levels. A new topic is posted each Friday and you have one week to draw, paint or doodle your interpretation. Let’s make some art!

Draw to match a theme!

The Sketchbook Project

The Sketchbook Project is a global, crowd-sourced art project and interactive, traveling exhibition of handmade books. Our community is made up of over 75,000 people, and our permanent collection at Brooklyn Art Library holds over 26,000 sketchbooks from 135 countries around the globe.
We invite participants from all walks of life to fill the pages of a blank sketchbook and send it back for inclusion in our ever-growing library of inspiration.
Anyone, from anywhere in the world, can participate in the project.

Fill a book and send it across the country!

The Art of Bonsai Project

The Art of Bonsai Project is an online journal and community for the examination and exploration of the bonsai art form.

Grow some tiny trees!

The Self-Portrait Project

The Self-Portrait Project is a work-in-progress that seeks to capture the zeitgeist of New York City and beyond. It is essentially a glorified photobooth utilizing a large, two-way mirror, with a camera set up on the transparent side and the participant located on the mirror side. Using a remote trigger & the mirror's reflection, the participant chooses how and when to shoot him/herself. 

In the simple act of letting the model be photographer, the dynamic of the photo changes - as does the energy - and therefore the final image. Giving someone who is accustomed to having their picture "taken" the opportunity to document their own likeness under their own terms produces images that address issues of vanity and insecurity, empowerment and self-awareness, superficiality and substance. As the photographer *and* model, you are wholly responsible for the images you create of yourself. 

The Self-Portrait Project begins with a metaphorical premise: that to catalyze a positive and healing intertia in the world, one must first see one's self honestly in the mirror and then, to take responsibility for what one sees.

View yourself in a new light!

What do you to do to keep your mind sharp? How do you maintain your growth as a creative individual?

March 14 Forum

Yesterday's forum was great! Thanks to everyone who came out and contributed. Thanks to those of you who were brave enough to present and offer constructive criticism! You're our heart and blood.

We had a good turn out and covered some very important business at the start of the forum. Here's a recap:

• The Cedars Spring Show is coming up on May 4 and 2ND Thursday members need to speak up before they're left out; if you want to participate in this fundraising show you need to e-mail your submissions to abmartshow@gmail.com post haste! At this show you will want to bring some small items, $20 and under, to sell in order to raise money to contribute to your Cedars Open Studio Tour entry fee.

• 2ND Thursday has an open call to artists for a show in Deep Ellum on May 31. This show will be a fairly unrestricted pop-up show so have some fun with your submissions. (This is a good opportunity for some spring cleaning: any miscellaneous pieces or old items you want to find a home for would be great for this show!) Again, e-mail submissions to 2ndthursday@gmail.com. 

• 2ND Thursday's field trip to the Crow Museum of Asian Art on March 2nd was a success and we already have plans cooking for our next one! 

• 2ND Thursday is interested in organizing life/figure drawing sessions and will address that in the near future. Our own Casey Crane was kind enough to volunteer to take first shift as model - thanks, Casey! 

• Members - if you would like your link listed on the blog drop us a line at 2ndthursday@gmail.com or leave a note in the comments and let us know! Be sure to include your full URL. 

• Members - If you would like us to add your art to our blog, Facebook page or Google Plus community submit presentation-ready files of your art to 2ndthursday@gmail.com. If you have them, please include a short bio, artist statement, titles and your Web site.

Some awesome things our members are up to:

aurora

LIGHT OF CONVERGENCE

The Aurora Project is a free contemporary art event centered in the rapidly developing Dallas Arts District. The project presents interactive new media artworks such as light , video, performance, and sound in exciting and unexpected public spaces. For on unforgettable evening, the sunset signals the transformation of the 68-acres of downtown Dallas into one of the nations largest outdoor exhibitions of this cutting-edge medium. The Aurora Project offers a valuable opportunity for collaboration between hundreds of local, national, and international artists, alongside the Dallas Arts District, for an inclusive artistic experience and community engagement.

This is a great opportunity to experience the thrill of helping a massive cultural undertaking come to fruition. Any and all contributions of any size are greatly appreciated!

HANDLE WITH CARE

Handle With Care Project has one sole mission: to fight human trafficking through the arts. 

Handle With Care Project is a non-profit organization that takes a stand against injustice. We want to be a voice to the voiceless and help rescue those that are held captive. 

Turns out Texas is one of the busiest human trafficking states in the U.S. How sickening is that? 2ND Thursday member Michael McPheeters has started Handle With Care to fight human trafficking and also to help the victims it effects.

Stay tuned to see how this new organization is making a difference and to find out how you can help.

2ND Thursday in CraveDFW

2ND Thursday member Erica Guajardo was kind enough to write up our collective for the local online cultural publication, CraveDFW. Read the write up here.