The Art Resume Fact Sheet

Name

• Use your full name, centered at the top of the page, bolded and underlined. Do not use your initials or nickname. You do not have to include a Jr., Sr., or III unless you always include it. It is alright not to include your middle name or initial.
• If your resume is more than one page long, your name should appear at the top of each new page. Create a header and a footer so it is automatically added to each new page.

Address

• Always use your complete address. The state of your residence is always abbreviated to capitalized letters, according to post office standards. Always include correct zip code, enter on same line as city and state.
• Always include your phone number with area code.
• You may want to include a permanent address as well as a current or campus address.
• You may want to include your email address.
• Do not include other personal information: birth date, age, marital status, gender, race, religion, national origin.

Education

• List as a heading, bold and underlined
• List in reverse chronological order the institution(s) attended, their locations, degree(s) received. You may abbreviate the educational degrees if you are cramped for space. You might list Bachelor of Fine Arts (to be completed, May 1997).
You might decide to list the degree first, then the institution, etc. Either way is correct, just be consistent.
• Selectively underline, bold or italicize when possible to highlight /separate important facts for readability.
• List academic major or areas of concentration.
• List academic awards, Graduated Magna Cum Laude, etc. GPA if it is 3.0 or higher. You can also list your GPA in just your major or from your last two years of study.
• If you did not receive a degree you can describe the area of study, i.e. Special courses in painting, drawing, art history.
• List the dates out to the left side.
• Initially this category will probably come first as it is your main significant accomplishment. As you gain experience, I will be moved to the end of your resume.

Grants | Awards

Solo | Group Exhibitions

• Reverse chronology with dates out to the left side. Only list the year one out to the left side.
• May separate entries between solo exhibitions and group exhibitions using sub-headings. Ma also consider national, regional, and local subheadings, but this gets a little tricky in determining what constitutes each category.
• You could also combine all the categories into a Selected Exhibitions category, to make the category appear more significant.
• List the name of the gallery or museum first in bold, then location (city/state) followed by "Title" of the exhibition, and juror(s) names in italics, (solo) optional add on.
• Traveled to: List names of other sites indented 2 spaces under initial entry.

Commissions | Clients | Projects

• Freelance projects
• Simply list the name of the person, school or company the work was for and briefly describe your project.
• List in reverse chronological order.

Collections

• Public, corporate or private. Collectors of note, not friends and family.
• List hierarchically; Museums, publc collections, Corporate collections, Private/Individual (Use first names of individuals, not Mrs./Mr)
• List location.

Bibliography

• Reviews, catalogs, newspaper articles, with or without reproductions, radio interviews, video documentary, etc. You may want to indicate in parentheses if there is a reproduction.
• List alphabetically by author's last name.
• Author, name of publication, Title of article, page(s) on which it appears, DATE. If you do not have the author's name, start with the name of the publication.

Art Related Employment

• List teaching experience, assistantships, internships, gallery related jobs, lectures, workshops, art related summer employment, special skills.
• You do not have to have been paid to list the experience.
• List your title, place, ad description of accomplishments, duties performed, etc.
• Use action verbs when describing skills and accomplishments.
• List dates out to the left side in reverse chronological order.
• You may want to subdivide this category with sub-headings indicating different areas of expertise; i.e. Teaching, Administrative, Muralist, Graphic Designer, etc.

Gallery Representation

Bibliography: "Resume Writing Guide", by University Career Center, Virginia Commonwealth University Commons. This is a free publication. "The College Student's Resume Guide", by Kim Marino. "Resumes that Knock 'Em Dead", by Martin John Yate.