Writing a CV

• The artist's CV
• The job CV

The artist's CV

• An artist's CV is a summary of your life as an artist. Its purpose is to communicate the relevant information to an interested third party as quickly and easily as possible.
   
• Because it is a summary, you don’t have to include everything that has ever happened to you in it, but what you do include should be truthful and relevant.
   
• It is an artist's CV, not an artistic CV: this is not the place to give free rein to your creativity.
   
• It should be in A4 format, so that it is easy to print out and photocopy. If you are submitting a printed version, use white or off-white paper, so that the contrast between the paper and the print is maximised, making it easy to read.
   
• Use legible fonts in a size that is easy-to-read (10 point or greater), and limit yourself to a maximum of two fonts - one for headings and one for body text. If you are sending your CV digitally, stick to the most commonly used fonts (e.g. Arial, Times) to be sure that they will also be available on the recipient's machine.
   
• List information in reverse chronological order within each section of the CV (i.e. start with the most recent, and work backwards).
   
• Your CV should generally be no longer than two pages.
   
• Do not include references on your CV, unless specifically instructed to do so as part of a particular application process.

 
A full list of sections you might include in an artist’s CV

You may not have information to put in all of these sections. In that case, simply omit the empty sections.

• Personal details
• Education
• Awards
• Exhibitions
• Collections
• Commissions
• Publications
• Bibliography
• Relevant experience
• Professional affiliations

 
Personal details

Name

Address
Try to avoid giving more than one address - make life as easy as possible for your reader.

Age
You don't have to include this, unless you are applying for an age-restricted award or grant.

Telephone
Mobile, work and home, clearly marked, and in order of greatest likelihood of contacting you on the first attempt.

E-mail
If you don’t have an e-mail address, get one, and make sure to check it regularly.

Web site
- if you have one.

Consider putting this information into the header and footer of the document, where it is easier to find and distinguish from the other information in the CV.

 
Education

• Include art-related education only, unless other parts of your education are relevant, or you are applying for further study.
   
• Make sure you get the name of your educational establishment right.
   
• Make sure you get the name of your course right (e.g. B.A. (Honours) in Visual Arts Practice).
   
• Include grades unless you don't want to draw attention to them. The usual advice is to include honours grades. However, if you omit them, people will assume you have something to hide, so it's really a matter of personal choice. Do not include grades for each subject, just an overall grade for your final qualification
   
• It is OK to include programmes of study in art that you attended and did not complete, but put them after the stuff you completed and got a qualification from.

 
Awards

List college awards, grants, residencies, prizes in exhibitions, etc. here, in reverse chronological order.

 
Exhibitions

This is normally divided into solo exhibitions and group exhibitions. Later in your career, the latter may have to be edited, and then it becomes "Selected group exhibitions". If (like most of us), you have only taken part in group exhibitions, then just list these under Group exhibitions, by year, in the following form:

 
Collections

If any of your work has been bought for inclusion in a institutional collection (such as the IADT collection, for example, or the OPW or AIB), note it here. Again, make sure to get the name of the collection right. In general, don't list private collectors. However, if your work has been purchased by a private collector of note, you may wish to include this, but you should ask permission before doing so.

 
Commissions

If you have been commissioned by an organisation to produce a work of art, note it here. Again, it is not customary to include private commissions.

 
Bibliography

If anyone has written about you as an artist, your work or your practice (e.g., if your work has been reviewed in a newspaper or journal), list it here. Do not confuse this with "publications" (see below).

 
Publications

If you you have written material on an art-related subject and had it published, list it here.

 
Relevant experience

If you have done something that is not listed in any of the other categories above, but tells an important part of your story as an artist, list it here. This section is important if you are applying for a grant, award or residency, as it is a chance to show your involvement in the art world outside of your practice. However, if you are producing a CV to accompany a submission of work for exhibition, there is no need to include this section.

 
Professional affiliations

If you have gained membership of a studio that has a selection process, or have joined the VAI or other professional body, put it down here.

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The job CV

All the points made about the artist's CV also apply to a job CV - it is a summary of your working life; it must be truthful, it should be easy to read quickly; items should be listed in reverse chronological order; it should not normally be longer than two pages, etc.

However, you will need to include different sections in a job CV and omit many of the ones you had in the artist's CV. It is also important to remember that you should tailor your CV to each specific application, as you may wish to emphasise different experience or skills, depending on what is required for the particular job you are applying for.

 
A full list of sections you might include in a job CV

• Personal details
• Education
• Training
• Work experience
• Relevant skills
• Professional affiliations
• Hobbies

 
Personal details

As for artist's CV.

 
Education

• Usually, only third-level education is included. However, if your work experience is limited, and you think that some of the subjects you studied for the Leaving Certificate are relavent to the job you are applying for, it is worth including your Leaving Certificate here.
   
• All the other information in the Education section under Artist's CV is relevant here.

 
Training

List any training courses that you have taken, along with the year(s) in which you took them, and the name and address of the Training Body.

 
Work experience

List your previous jobs in reverse chronological order. For each job, give the job title, the name and address of your employer, and a brief summary of the responsibilities the job entailed.

 
Relevant skills

Summarise your skill set here. A bulleted list can make this information easier to take in at a glance.

 
Professional affiliations

If you are a member of any professional body, list it here.

 
Hobbies

This section often makes people feel a bit embarassed, but it is a useful opportunity to give a prospective interviewer or selector some idea of what you are like as a person. If you have a hobby that you think is relevant to your job application, or that demonstrates a particular skill, list it here. Similarly, if you have a pastime that is unusual, or might help you find some common ground with the interviewer, you should include it.

Try to include some group activities - listing "reading, long-distance running, making model aircraft, meditation" as your hobbies on a CV for a job that requires a lot of team work would be counterproductive. A sport of some kind is always useful.

Be focused - three to five different activities is enough. If you are a member of something with a selection process (football team, choir, aeronautical display team) that demonstrates ability and committment, put it in.

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