How to Write an Artist CV: Format, Sections and Examples
An artist CV is a record, not a pitch. It lists what you have done, where and when, in a form a gallery, a residency panel, a grant committee or a competition jury can scan in under a minute. The facts do the persuading; the format’s only job is to stay out of their way.
This guide covers what goes in an artist CV, the order of sections, how to write each line so it can be checked, and what counts when you are starting out.
Artist CV or resume: which one is being asked for
An artist CV lists your artistic activity: exhibitions, awards, publications, collections. It has no job descriptions and no skills section, and it grows over a career.
A resume is a general employment document, usually one page, describing roles and skills. If an application asks for a CV, it wants the first. If a teaching or arts-administration job asks for a resume, it probably wants the second, often with a short exhibitions section added.
The usual order of sections
- Name and contact details: name, city and country, email, website
- Education, including relevant courses if formal training is limited
- Solo exhibitions
- Group exhibitions, including juried exhibitions
- Awards and honours
- Publications: catalogues, articles by you, articles about you
- Residencies and grants
- Collections, where you have permission to name them
- Professional activity: jurying, teaching, talks, curating
Within each section, list entries in reverse chronological order, most recent first. Leave out a section you have nothing for rather than filling it.
Exhibitions, line by line
Each line gives the year, the title, the venue or organiser and the place, in the same order every time. Say what kind of exhibition it was, because a reader weighs a juried selection differently from an open show. The examples in this guide are illustrative, not real entries.
2026 · Title of the exhibition, international juried exhibition, Curatone.art, online
2025 · Title of the exhibition, group exhibition, Example Arts Centre, Leeds, UK
- Juried: say so. It is the word that tells a reader the work was selected rather than simply hung. What Is a Juried Art Exhibition? explains why it matters.
- Online exhibitions: list them as online. A juried online exhibition with a public record is a legitimate entry; presenting it as a physical show is not.
- Solo and group: keep them in separate sections, or label each line.
Awards, publications and catalogues
An entry that can be checked is worth more than one that cannot. Where a result comes with a verifiable reference, include it.
2026 · Gold Award, Title of the competition, international juried competition, Curatone.art, certificate no. CTA-2026-0000
2026 · Title of the exhibition, exhibition catalogue, Curatone.art, ISBN 000-0-00000-000-0
2026 · Author name, “Title of the article”, Curatone Art & Research Journal, ISSN 3054-6621, doi:10.5281/zenodo.0000000
- Certificate numbers let a reader confirm an award. At Curatone.art they can be checked against the public winners archive; the certificate examples show what they look like.
- An ISBN identifies a catalogue as a published book.
- A DOI is a permanent link to a published record that keeps working when websites change.
- An ISSN identifies a journal as a registered serial publication. We cover publishing in one in How to Get Published in a Peer-Reviewed Art Journal.
Starting out: what honestly counts
A short CV is normal early in a career. What matters is that everything on it is true and specific.
- Student shows and degree exhibitions count; label them as such.
- Selection as a finalist in a juried competition counts, whether or not you won an award.
- Commissions and public projects count, with the commissioning body named.
- Serving on a jury counts, under professional activity. See What Counts as Judging Experience.
- Followers, likes and paid “features” do not.
If the list is short, a heading such as Exhibitions rather than Selected Exhibitions is simply accurate. Selected is for when you are leaving things out.
Formatting
- Reverse chronological order within every section.
- One line per entry, with no descriptions.
- Two pages is plenty for most applications; beyond that, cut to selected entries.
- The same order and punctuation on every line, so the eye can scan down the years.
- A plain, readable typeface, saved as a PDF named with your name.
An example CV for an emerging artist
Illustrative only: the artist and organisations are invented.
Maria Example
Lisbon, Portugal · maria@example.com
Education
2022 · BA Fine Art, Example University, Porto
Group exhibitions
2026 · Coastlines, international juried exhibition, Example Arts Foundation, online
2025 · Graduates, Example Gallery, Porto
Awards
2026 · Finalist, Coastlines, international juried competition, Example Arts Foundation
Publications
2026 · Coastlines, exhibition catalogue, Example Arts Foundation
Once the CV is in order, the artist statement is the other document nearly every application asks for, and the current open calls are one way to add a juried entry to the list.