How to Write an Artist CV

CV, Résumé, Bio and Statement: Keep Them Separate

Readers in the visual arts use three documents that search engines and application portals often muddy together. The CV (or artist résumé) is the dated credential list. The statement explains the work in the first person. The bio is a short third-person paragraph for wall text, websites and press. Mixing those forms produces the document curators skip: a two-page essay with a few shows buried inside, or a job résumé with bullet points about soft skills and no exhibition record.

Terminology shifts by country. In the United Kingdom and much of Europe, “CV” is the ordinary word for the short arts document Artquest describes: clear headings, reverse chronology, arts-related content only, about two pages unless the call asks for more. In the United States, CAA draws a sharper line. The artist résumé is the abbreviated file for galleries, residencies, public-art proposals and grants. The visual artist curriculum vitae is the long record for academic hiring, tenure files and related institutional use. A “short CV” in CAA language is often three or four pages of selected highlights for grants or special events. If a US open call asks for a “CV or résumé,” read the page limit; if none is stated, a condensed two-to-three-page arts document is a safe default for residencies and gallery packets.

The artist CV is not an employment CV for museum internships, registrar posts or education departments. CAA’s separate Curriculum Vitae for Museum Professionals guidance expects career summaries, management metrics, exhibition square footage, budgets and leadership subsections. That is a different genre with different readers. The CV is also not a substitute for images: CAA states that a polished CV will not rescue weak work or weak documentation, while a messy CV can cost you an opportunity when the art itself is strong. Keep photographs of yourself and of the work off the CV page; Artquest and CAA both reject decorative layouts, coloured type and headshots on this document.

Why Galleries and Residencies Read the CV First

Selection panels often open the CV before they open the statement. The reason is practical. A residency jury comparing two hundred applications needs to see, in under a minute, whether you have shown outside your peer group, whether you have completed a prior residency without drama, and whether your education matches the programme’s level. A commercial gallery considering an approach wants a clean solo and group record, a sense of geography, and a bibliography that proves someone else has written about the work. The CV answers those questions without rhetoric.

Artquest notes that curators also use CVs when they approach artists, so the document works in both directions: outbound applications and inbound invitations. Residencies read recent exhibitions as a proxy for career stage; Artquest’s own tip is to include recent shows on a residency CV even when you would strip employment history from an exhibitions-only cut. Grant panels look for awards, catalogues and institutional venues. Public-art commissioners look for commissions and completed projects with named clients. Each reader filters for a different column of your master file.

Credibility follows consistency. Fake venues, inflated “solo” shows that were shared walls, and family “collections” are easy to check and hard to recover from. CAA warns against padding and against listing pay-to-play exhibitions once stronger, non-fee-based shows exist. Refereed or invitational shows carry more weight with academic and institutional readers unfamiliar with the studio field; CAA flags that administrators outside art departments often treat juried activity as a rough analogue to peer review. Your job is to give them accurate dates and venues so that check takes seconds.

Keep a Master Record, Then Cut for Each Opportunity

Build one comprehensive master file before you send anything. CAA’s advice for both the long CV and the artist résumé is the same: document everything you do, keep proof (installation shots, emails, contracts, catalogue PDFs, press links), and store an editable master you can thin for each deadline. Artists who only maintain the last PDF they sent forget residencies, visiting lectures and small catalogue essays within a year. The master is the archive; the submission is an edit.

Work in a plain text or word-processor file you can search. Use the same heading names every time so you can reorder sections without rewriting lines. Save a dated PDF for each submission so you can prove what you sent. CAA recommends keeping both an editable document and a PDF; if the guidelines allow either format, send the PDF so margins and type survive across platforms. Mid-America Arts Alliance’s artist-career materials make the same point: PDF is the format that preserves what you designed.

Tailoring is not decoration. Artquest asks four questions before you hit send: what is the purpose of this CV, what are you applying for, what do they need to know, and how do you present that without clutter. A sculpture residency that privileges foundry skills may want technical abilities near the top. A painting open call that asks for “selected exhibitions, two pages maximum” wants solo and group shows plus education, with awards only if space remains. A teaching-adjacent academic short CV keeps lectures, publications as author, and service; a commercial gallery packet may drop service. Subtract whole headings that do not serve the reader. Do not invent headings to look busy.

Update the master the week an exhibition closes, a residency ends, or a review appears. Waiting until the next deadline is how wrong years and missing catalogue notes enter the file. If a show travels, record each venue and year. If a two-person show is labelled “solo” on a venue’s social media, correct it on your CV; CAA’s sample entries distinguish Solo, Two-Person and Group with care for a reason.

Recommended Section Order

CAA’s sample order for the artist résumé and the visual artist CV is a default, not a law. The association’s standing rule is to play to your strengths: put the strongest, most relevant material early. For most mid-career gallery and residency packets, exhibitions sit near the top after contact details and education (or right after contact details if the exhibition record outranks the degree list). Early-career artists with thin show histories often lead with education, then a single combined Exhibitions heading. Do not print empty headings. If you have no residencies yet, omit the word rather than writing “none.”

Contact details come first: name, email, phone you will answer, and a URL to a current website or portfolio. Artquest also allows social handles when they are professional and active. Street addresses are optional; many artists omit them on public web CVs for privacy. CAA advises against date of birth, race and marital status. Gallery-published CVs sometimes add “born / lives and works” lines; that is a gallery house style, not a requirement for your own submission PDF.

Website URLs should resolve to a page that matches the CV’s claim of current activity. A dead link under your name is worse than no link. If you use a password-protected portfolio for a specific call, say so in the application form rather than on the CV, and give the password in the portal field the guidelines name. Social handles earn a place only when they show work, not personal noise; one professional profile beats three half-updated accounts.

The sections below cover the headings most visual artists need. The first subsections deal with education and the exhibition record; later subsections cover awards, residencies, collections and press. Teaching, lectures, commissions and gallery affiliations appear when they exist. References belong on academic packs more often than on gallery open calls.

Education and professional preparation

List earned degrees in reverse chronological order: year, degree, subject or concentration if useful, institution, city and country (or US state for domestic US readers). CAA asks you to note honours and to state pending degrees with an expected completion date. Periods of study without a degree go after completed degrees. Artquest’s UK advice is to stop at post-secondary qualifications unless you have none; school exam grades waste space on an exhibitions CV. Short courses earn a line when they prove a skill the opportunity requires (for example a specific software or process for a new-media residency).

Spell out institution names. CAA prefers consistency on state abbreviations and asks applicants sending files abroad to add the country. UK readers expect British spelling in the surrounding packet; match the language of the call. Degree class (First, 2:1) is common on UK employment CVs for recent graduates; on an artist exhibitions CV it is optional and often dropped once the show record carries the file.

Exhibitions, awards, residencies and the rest

Exhibitions are the core. Early on, use one heading and mark Solo Exhibition or Two-Person Exhibition after the year. Later, split Solo Exhibitions and Group Exhibitions, or Selected Solo / Selected Group once the list outgrows the page limit. Italicise the exhibition title when it has one; then venue, city and region or country. Add “(catalogue)” when a catalogue exists. Name well-known curators or jurors with title and institution in parentheses, following CAA’s samples. Screenings and performances get their own headings when that is how the work circulates.

Awards, grants, fellowships and residencies may share a heading or stand alone. CAA treats residencies as time-based commitments (weeks to months), distinct from one-day visiting lectures. Artquest lists residencies with year, name and location. Commissions need year, commissioner and outcome (public work, portrait, edition). Collections list public, corporate and private holdings listed only with the collector’s consent; details sit in the next section. Bibliography covers writing about you; Publications as Author covers writing by you. Lectures, panels, curated exhibitions and professional memberships appear when they strengthen the specific application. Gallery Affiliation belongs near the end and only for current relationships; CAA warns against listing past or casual dealer contacts as if they were ongoing representation.

How to Write Each Entry Line

A strong CV line is boring on purpose. The reader should parse year, title, venue and place without decoding a design system. CAA places dates on the far left for dated categories. Collections, gallery affiliations and some bibliography formats are the usual exceptions. Artquest insists on reverse chronology and on stating whether a show was solo or group. Avoid narrative sentences; Artquest’s rule is headings and lists, not prose paragraphs on the CV itself.

Proof every proper noun against the venue’s own materials. Gallery names change. Cities need the country when the reader may not know them. If you showed with a commercial gallery at an art fair, state the fair, the city and the presenting gallery. Collaborative projects should credit co-authors in a consistent way; CAA suggests a Collaborative Projects heading when that clarity helps. Do not list conferences you only attended. List conferences where you presented, chaired or exhibited.

The subsections below give line patterns for exhibitions, collections and bibliography. Use the same punctuation and italic rules from the first page to the last. Inconsistency reads as carelessness even when the shows are real.

Exhibition lines that survive a fact-check

Model a solo line on CAA’s pattern: year; italicised title; venue; city; region or country; “(catalogue)” if relevant. Model a group line the same way, adding curator or juror credits when they carry weight. For untitled group shows, CAA allows the plain label Group Exhibition without italics. If you won a prize inside a juried show, you may bold the award on the exhibition line or repeat it under Awards; pick one method and keep it.

Thin the list with honesty. “Selected Exhibitions” means you chose the strongest and most relevant entries, not that you deleted the ones with weak documentation while keeping vanity group hangs. Artquest’s advice for long careers is explicit: select the most interesting, impressive and relevant shows. Drop repeated appearances at the same student union once you have museum or reputable independent-space credits. CAA’s caution on fee-based “pay-to-play” exhibitions applies once you have invitational or non-fee juried alternatives; early-career artists sometimes list a first juried show with a fee and later retire it.

Collections and bibliography without padding

Collections prove acquisition, not friendship. CAA lists collector or institution, city and region, in A–Z order within each subcategory (Public, Corporate, Private). Ask private collectors before you print their names; many prefer “Private collection, London” or similar. Do not list parents, partners or studio mates. Artquest’s UK note sometimes pairs a sale year with the collector name; if you use years, stay consistent and only for verified acquisitions. Public and corporate collections with clear institutional standing earn the heading; a single modest private sale may not.

Bibliography entries document reviews, features, catalogue essays and broadcast interviews about the work. CAA points to Chicago Manual of Style habits adapted for reverse chronology: author first name then surname, title, publication, date, page or URL. Distinguish Bibliography (others on you) from Publications as Author (you on the field). Online links break; keep a local PDF of important reviews in your proof folder. Once the list is long, retitle the section Selected Bibliography and keep the pieces a residency or gallery reader would recognise.

Layout Specs and Submission Checklist

Design serves reading speed. CAA and Artquest converge here: simple type, black ink, generous white space, no coloured paper, no headshots, no images of the work on the CV pages. Artquest advises a single typeface and warns against squashed text. CAA suggests 10–12 point type in readable faces (Times New Roman, Palatino, Garamond and similar for résumés; avoid novelty fonts). Sans-serif faces can work for screen PDFs if contrast and size stay clear; CAA notes that some sans faces weaken italic contrast used for titles.

Paginate from page two. Put your name in a header or footer on every page after the first so a printed stack can be reassembled. Export to PDF and open it on a second device before you upload. Check that italics survived and that no line crashes into the margin. If the portal also demands a plain-text paste box, keep a stripped version without fancy characters.

Edge Cases: Thin Records, International Packets and Sticky Shows

Emerging artists often fear a short CV. Artquest’s counsel is the opposite of padding: a clear two pages (or less) with real entries beats a three-page list of classroom critiques and café walls. Combine solo and group under one Exhibitions heading. Include degree shows when they are your strongest institutional credit, then retire them as better venues arrive. Relevant short courses and a first residency matter more than a skills paragraph copied from a job template.

International applications need location hygiene. CAA tells artists trained outside the US to name the country after the institution, and tells US-trained artists sending files abroad to add “USA” where needed. UK packets want city and country for overseas venues (Berlin, Germany) without US state codes. Match spelling to the call: catalogue and organisation for UK readers; follow US spelling if the host institution’s forms use it. Translate degree names only when the equivalent is standard; otherwise keep the original award title and institution language. Dual-language CVs should be two complete files, each consistent in its own language, rather than mixed lines that force the panel to decode mid-entry.

Sticky ethical cases deserve plain rules. Vanity gallery “solo shows” purchased as packages belong off the CV once you understand the distinction; if you must record an early misstep while you still have nothing else, do not dress it as museum peer review. Benefit auctions and charity hangs are optional; they seldom help a residency jury. Student group critiques are not exhibitions. Instagram “featuring” is not a bibliography line unless a named publication ran the piece. If a collector refuses naming rights, use the private-collection formula. If a collaborator disputes credit, resolve the credit before the PDF goes out.

Two documents for two careers are normal. Studio artists who also apply for museum education jobs or registrar posts should keep an artist CV and a separate employment CV. University of Oregon’s College of Design career guidance states the split in US terms: artist résumé for venues and grants; conventional résumé for most internships and jobs; long CV for higher-education search. Do not paste museum-job bullet metrics into the exhibitions file, and do not paste solo shows into a museum employment CV without the role, budget and programme facts CAA’s museum-CV guidelines expect. Internship applications to museums want evidence of customer service, collections handling, research or education delivery; those claims live on the employment document, with the studio CV attached only if the posting asks for creative work samples.

What Seasoned Artists and Advisers Practise

Professionals treat the CV as versioned infrastructure. They update the master on a fixed rhythm, export named PDFs (Surname_CV_ResidencyName_2026.pdf), and keep a one-page “selected” cut ready for sudden requests. They read peers’ CVs on gallery sites to learn local conventions without copying layout gimmicks. Mid-America Arts Alliance’s handbook frames that comparison as research into what your field lists, not as vanity.

They also cut harder than beginners. Selected Solo Exhibitions may be eight lines while the master holds forty. Bibliography shrinks to the five pieces a curator would trust. Awards that mattered at graduation disappear once major fellowships arrive. CAA’s short-CV advice formalises that edit: omit service and nonacademic filler, and mark sections Selected when the full list is too long.

Advisers inside art schools and organisations such as Axis push audience focus before aesthetics. Axis’s artist-CV guidance asks you to decide whether the reader is a commissioner, gallery, funder or university, then emphasise the matching evidence. UAL’s careers material separates the artist CV (artistic achievements only, no unrelated employment) from the standard employment CV. That separation keeps your exhibitions packet legible when a portal also asks for a statement and image list.

Proof culture separates reliable CVs from aspirational ones. Keep installation views with captions that match the CV line. Save the email that confirms dates. When a venue’s press release spells the title in a form that differs from your memory, the press release wins. Seasoned artists correct the CV in public when a show is postponed or cancelled; leaving a phantom exhibition live on a website is how rumours start.

Costs of CV Help and Portfolio Services

Most artists can produce a compliant CV with a template, CAA or Artquest examples, and a ruthless proofreader. Paid help becomes rational when English is an additional language, when an academic short CV must mesh with a teaching history, or when a gallery asks for a bilingual packet on a short deadline. Expect to pay for editing time, not for myths about secret fonts.

Indicative UK ranges for freelance artist-career editorial work (statement, bio and CV as a set) often fall in the low hundreds of pounds for a fixed package, with editing by the hour quoted somewhere around £30–£70 depending on the editor’s track record; confirm current rates before you commission anyone. US freelance artist-CV edits advertised by career coaches and artist advisers often land in the 75–250 dollar band for a single-document polish, and higher for full application packages. University careers services and membership organisations (Artquest resources, Axis knowledge base, campus career centres) remain free or low-cost first stops. None of these figures is a tariff; they illustrate that the cost of a clean CV is small beside framing, shipping or residency travel.

Ask any paid editor for a sample redline on one page before you hand over the master file. A useful edit fixes dates, venue names, section order and British or American spelling to match the call. A weak edit adds buzzwords, skills clouds and employment résumé bullets that art panels ignore.

What you should not buy: services that invent exhibitions, promise representation, or replace images with graphic CV designs full of icons. CAA’s warning stands: the CV supports the work; it does not replace it. Spend first on photography and a coherent artist portfolio (sibling in this series), then on copy edits if the text still wobbles.

When to Get a Second Pair of Eyes

Call in a tutor, peer or paid editor when the stakes are high and you can no longer see your own file. Tenure and permanent academic posts need the long CV format with teaching, service and full bibliography. Major fellowships that request a short CV need a deliberate Selected edit, not a compressed font. First approaches to galleries in a new country need a native reader to catch tone and location format. If two opportunities disagree (one wants one page, one wants five), maintain both cuts from the same master rather than rewriting from scratch at midnight.

Stop drafting and seek advice if you cannot verify a line. Missing years, disputed collaborations and unclear collection claims are editorial emergencies. A careers adviser or artist mentor can help you retire weak entries; they should not fabricate strong ones. For museum-side employment documents, use CAA’s museum-professional CV guidance and a careers service aimed at cultural workers; do not stretch this exhibitions CV to cover that search.

When the packet is larger than the CV, assemble it in the order the guidelines name. Many calls want images, statement, CV and bio as separate files with fixed naming. Keep the statement’s voice out of the CV. Keep the bio’s narrative out of the exhibition list. The series hub for these companion documents is the artist career guide.

FAQ

What is the difference between an artist CV and an artist résumé?

In UK arts practice, “CV” means the short exhibitions-and-education document. In US CAA usage, the artist résumé is that short gallery and residency file (about one to four pages), while the curriculum vitae is the long academic record. A “short CV” in CAA terms is a selected three-to-four-page institutional highlights document. Read the page limit on the call and match the reader.

How long should an artist CV be?

Artquest’s default for UK arts opportunities is a clear two-page A4 file unless the opportunity asks established artists for more. CAA’s artist résumé runs about one to four pages. Early-career artists should prefer brevity with real entries over length. Academic long CVs run longer because teaching, service and full bibliographies belong there.

Should I include a photograph or images of my work on the CV?

No. Artquest and CAA both reject headshots and artwork images on the CV. Send images as the application’s separate portfolio files. A CV with embedded pictures often breaks portal uploads and looks like a flyer.

Do I list every group show I have ever been in?

No. Use a combined Exhibitions list while the record is short. Switch to Selected Exhibitions (or separate Selected Solo / Selected Group) as the career grows, keeping the strongest and most relevant venues. Retire classroom and vanity entries as better credits arrive.

How do I list collections?

Prefer public and corporate collections, then private collections with consent. CAA lists names in A–Z order by subcategory without treating friends and family as collections. If a collector wants privacy, write “Private collection, [city].” Only list verified acquisitions.

Is an artist CV the same as a museum job CV?

No. Museum employment and internship applications need an employment-style CV with roles, responsibilities and, for many posts, the metrics CAA’s museum-professional guidelines describe. Keep that document separate from the exhibitions CV used for residencies and gallery submissions.

Where does the artist statement go?

In its own file. Do not paste statement prose into the CV. Draft the statement with how to write an artist statement; keep the CV as dated lists only.

What file format should I submit?

PDF, unless the guidelines demand another format. Keep an editable master for updates. Open the PDF on another device to confirm italics, margins and page breaks before upload.