clustering

for the artist statement...

Clustering

The clustering technique will kick-start the first draft of your artist statement. Before beginning the exercise, read all the way through. Then come back and follow the instructions.

You will need:

4all, and I do mean ALL, the writing you have generated during and since the last class.
4photocopies of original pages that you do not want to mark up.
4a highlighter pen
4felt tip markers in various colours (and maybe sizes)
4a large piece of paper about 30 X 45 inches (80 X 120 cm)
4a writing pen or pencil (ball-point, sharpie or whatever)
4a good chunk of time…90 min or so

pull out ALL the writing exercises, your gathering notebook, and anything else you have written about your art since last class. Grab a highlighter and highlight every single phrase or word that strikes your heart-mind. If you don’t want to mark up your originals, first photocopy the pages you wish to highlight.

Some Information About Clustering

Clustering is a right brain, learning technique pioneered in the 1970s by Tony Buzan in Using Both Sides of Your Brain. Instead of using linear outlines and sequential data, he theorized that learning works best when we organize material the same way the brain organizes information, with neural pathways branching off central points.

The Clustering :
Draw a small circle in the centre of the large paper and inside it write “artist statement”. Next draw one line, like a spoke off a wheel, from the centre circle out. Look at your highlighted phrases/words and choose one. Write it at the end of that line (in another small circle or box or shape). Look at another highlighted word/phrase and decide if it is connected to what you just wrote down, or if it is an entirely new thought. If it’s new make a new line off the circle and write it in a shape at the end. If it’s related to the first word/phrase draw a line off that shape and add the new word/phrase in a shape at the end of it.

Work your way through all your writing, selecting phrases and words to cluster around your centre circle. Make sure you connect thoughts which are alike to the same bubble (thought) and brance off with more lines, like the branches and twigs of a tree.

The Shift:
At some point, as you are clustering, you will experience a shift in your awareness. It is as if the clustering fragments fill up the right brain with enough material so that ides finally flow over into the left brain and the words and phrases shift into coherent thoughts.

When this happens, begin writing down these thoughts for as long as the flow continues. This will be the first draft of your artist statement. If the river dries up, but the first draft is not finished, go back to clustering until you experience another shift. Do this until you have completed a satisfactory first draft of your statement.

Once you have a satisfactory rough draft, you can begin tinkering with the details. Because an artist statement is compact, each word really, really matters.

from: Writing the Artist Statement, Ariane Goodwin