How To Write And Format A CV
Through this guide, we will give you knowledge on how to format and what to include in your CV. Here is how to compose a CV in 9 steps.
A CV or curriculum vitae is an overview of your artistic professional history and achievements. Although it looks similar to a resume, it contains different elements related to your professional artistic practice.
One mistake emerging artists often make in writing their CVs is trying to oversell their work. Less is more. Your CV should be neatly organized and only include information pertinent to your artistic career.
Through this guide, we will give you knowledge on what to include and how to format your CV. Are you looking for additional support? Hire us to design your digital portfolio or have us review your portfolio! Here is where how to compose a CV in 9 steps.
1. Personal details
Often, more established artists will keep it simple. This is because their CV is usually referenced as a biography rather than a resume.
First Name, Last Name, (b. year, country)
However, you can include contact information if you are sending out your CV to galleries in the hopes that they will reply:
First Name, Last Name, (b. year, country)
email | website | phone number
Either of these formats is appropriate for an artist's CV. Just keep in mind that you should only include your website if it directly relates to your artistic practice.
2. Education
You may have attended post-secondary school for art, or you might be a self-taught, mentored or otherwise educated artist. Generally speaking, this section of a CV relates to institutional education, specifically in the field of visual arts. If you do have post-secondary education in the arts field, including the school(s), the year(s) that you graduated, and the degree(s):
University Name, Master of Fine Arts, Graduation Year
University Name, Bachelor of Fine Arts, Graduation Year
If you do not have a degree in the visual arts field, fear not. This section of the CV is not a pre-requisite for exhibitions or gallery representation. The only thing to note is that you should not put down any other type of education (high school graduation, degree in business management) unless it directly relates to the artwork you make. Leaving this section off of your CV is perfectly acceptable.
3. Exhibitions
Beginning with your most recent, you should list your exhibitions in a similar format to this:
2021 Title of Show, Gallery/Museum/Organization Name, State, Country
2019 Title of Show, Gallery/Museum/Organization Name, State, Country
Title of Show, Gallery/Museum/Organization Name, State, Country
2018 Title of Show, Gallery/Museum/Organization Name, State, Country
If you have a large number of exhibitions, you can split them into two or more categories: solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, and even duo exhibitions. Doing this helps define in what capacity your work has been shown (you don't want to undersell your solo show at a prominent Museum or Gallery.)
A method often used by artists is to list "selected" exhibitions, i.e., the heading would read "selected group exhibitions." This has benefits whether you have many exhibitions or not: if you have lots, you can weed out the exhibitions that are no longer relevant to your career. If you don't have many exhibitions, you are assuring the reader that they are not looking at a shortlist but rather your most relevant history.
4. Bibliography
In this section of your CV, you can include any articles you or your art appeared. If it is an article, it should consist of the author, title, publication, volume, publication date, and page number:
Last Name, First Name: "Title of Article," Publication's Name, vol. #, Month year, p. #-#
If your work appeared on the cover of a publication, you could format your information like this:
Publication's Name, Cover, vol. #, Month Year
If writing about your artwork or your artwork itself appears in a book, the formatting should read:
Last Name, First Name (Compiler), Title of Book, Publisher or Printing House Name, Year, p. #
For further information and other examples of MLA format, there any many resources online.
5. Collections
Generally, the "collections" portion of your CV is to list public institutions which own your artwork, including but not limited to museums, corporate collections, or even municipalities or agencies. They can be listed under the heading collections:
Organization's Name
Organization's Name
Organization's Name
Suppose you only have artwork in private collections and you wish to include this section on your CV. In that case, you should not list the collector's name unless they have explicitly agreed to be listed on your CV in whatever venue it gets published (the web, etc.).
If several people own your artwork in private collections, you can list them like this:
Private collection, State, Country
Private collection, Country
Just don't go too overboard with the list– if you have lots, you'll look more understated and impressive by inserting something like this: Works held in private collections in Country, Country, Country, and Country.
The above points are the most common and usually the most notable elements artists include on their CVs. However, there may be several other professional and artistic points of interest to list, depending on your practice. Here are some examples:
6. Teaching
List any teaching positions you may have had, either as a faculty member, guest lecturer, or speaker. You should only include those explicitly related to your practice or visual arts:
Year, Guest lecturer, University Name
Year, Visiting Artist, University Name
7. Curatorial projects
If, as well as being an artist, you have also undertaken curatorial projects (as so many artists seem to do now), you can list them simply as the exhibition itself or add on a brief explanation:
Year, Exhibition Name, Gallery/Museum/Organization's Name
Year, Exhibition Name, Gallery/Museum/Organization's Name, co-curated by First/Last Name
8. Awards and Grants
Some artists choose to list awards and/or grants they have received. If you decide to include this, the list should all be specifically related to your artistic practice, unless it is highly notable, such as the Turner Prize:
Year, Award Name
Year, Grant Name
Year, Award Name
9. Residencies
Artist's residencies you may have attended are good to include on your CV as they show a dedication to your practice and your professional development:
Year, Studio residency, Organization, State/Country
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