Sarah Sentilles’ Writing Advice for Artists
“I really view writing as something that belongs to everybody,” says Sarah Sentilles, an artist, writer, and coach. But not everyone believes they can write. Sarah feels otherwise, and through her global workshops, she seems to have found a technique to bring out the writer in all of us. Especially artists.
When Sarah was teaching at the Pacific Northwest College of Art, she realized a big gap between what people’s art looked like and how they wrote about it. She explains how you would see incredible artwork, but the language didn’t match what they created. She also noticed that artists often felt scared of writing and even questioned why they needed language to discuss their visual artwork. Sarah views writing as something that belongs to everybody. And as most artists eventually come to understand, if they want to have a career as an artist, they must be able to articulate what their art is in the form of artist statements to market their work as well as apply for fellowships residencies, and exhibitions.
While attending graduate school at Harvard, Sarah was an encaustic painter, an old way of painting with a pigmented wax, often on wood panels, and fused or burned in through a heat source. She understands firsthand what it means to be a working artist, hence why she pours so much of her life work into helping other artists articulate their work into words. “I love working with artists; they’re my favorite people to teach. They’re unafraid of thinking to the edge of ideas and experimenting and looking at the effects of their language. As makers, they understand that the world is made, and it can be unmade and remade to be life-giving for more people.” For Sarah, art is the most urgent activity we can do in facing the challenges we confront.
Sarah leads workshops helping all artists, not just visual artists, claim language as one more tool and color in their creative palette and find their authentic voice that belongs to their unique artwork.
Interested in a workshop?
Sarah has two upcoming virtual workshops for anyone wanting to better articulate their work.
1. Mini Artist Statement Workshop
Sunday, August 14, 2022, from 12-3 PST.
Starting October 2022.
In this 5 week workshop, Sarah will guide you to create your own artist statement written in clear, concise, compelling prose as well as prepare you to talk about your art with friends, colleagues, gallery owners, journalists, and even strangers on the elevator with the goal to enhance writing skills, adding writing as a resource in your creative toolkit as well as readying you to apply for grants/fellowships and exhibitions.
For more information, visit: http://www.sarahsentilles.com
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