Writing about Art offers context for the work

Matthew Dols (artist, professor, and podcaster) reflects on the need for written text to accompany visual art in the form of artist statements, grant applications, residency applications, etc. How should they be thought of and how to approach writing about your artwork.
Done is a very stream of thought manner, or in the form of a Morning Pages (verbal journal) I try to talk through things that are vexing me about the art world.
Morning Pages are based on The Artist's way by Julia Cameron - juliacameronli...
Matthew Dols has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, and is in the collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Crown Point Press, the al Serkal Foundation, and the deYoung Museum’s Auchenbach Collection, among others. My work has been widely published including F-Stop Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, US News and World Reports, Billboard Magazine, and The Washington Post Magazine.
I have received an EEA and Norway Grant and a Research Incentive Fund Grant for my artwork and as an Arts Podcaster, I have given workshops at Photoworld Dubai, Gulf Photo Plus, Maraya Art Center, University of North Carolina At Wilmington, and participated in a residency at No Boundaries Artist Colony.
I am currently a Professor of Photography at the University of Maryland Global Campus, and host and creator of the Art podcast, The Wise Fool. I received an MFA in New Genres Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a BFA in Photography from the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington DC. I also do portfolio reviews online for LensCulture.com.
Over the years, I have worked in museums, galleries, universities, stock photography agencies, as a photojournalist, picture framer, art critic, director of a community darkroom, a waiter, a roadie. I studied with artists and photographers, massage therapists, chefs, reflexologists, Native American shamans, and was a mentor/judge on “I am Nat Geo Photographer” Arabic TV show. In 2003 I founded the ongoing affordable art fair Art for the Masses, and in 2004 created a public sculpture program Pedestrian Art, both in Wilmington, NC.
matthewdols.com
/ matthewdols

[@steffens.1734]

Hello Matthew, thank you very much for sharing your deep knowledge. Many more followers will come soon! :)

[@photomatthew]

Thank you, I always hope that sharing my experiences will help others not have to go through the same. Trying to help the next generation do better then I did.

[@bretthayes2758]

Thank you Mathew, I feel quite isolated working creatively, but it is something I feel is important for my work. It's awesome listening to you share yourself, it's all stuff I am concerned about, am trying to understand and work through. Keep pushing you have made my day.

[@photomatthew]

I often wonder if feeling isolated is necessary as a visual artist. It seems like a common theme for many visual artists. But it is just a feeling, not reality. And often that distance from others offers a unique perspective.