Preparing for Your Artists Interview
Instructions for Writing and Using the MSWord Template.docx
Step One – Choose your Work of Art and the Artist
Artists learn to take criticism from just about anyone, even curators. In this activity
you, as a curator, will interview an artist about one of their works of art.  Choose a
work of art from one of the permanent collections of any one of these United States
art museums below.
http://www.metmuseum.org/ (Metropolitan Museum of Art)
http://web.cmoa.org/ (Carnegie Museum of ART)
http://www.philamuseum.org/ (Philadelphia Museum of Art)
http://www.mfa.org/ (Museum of Fine ARTS Boston)
http://www.moma.org/ (Museum of Modern Art)
http://www.lacma.org/ (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
________________________________________________________________________
Step Two – Prepare to “Meet” the Artist
It makes your interview more compelling if you disagree with the artist in
some way. You have educated yourself on this one work and the artists
work, so that makes you qualified to disagree. Use the web and the
museum to educate yourself.
The artist you are interviewing may be dead or alive.
Step Three Formatting your Interview in the MSWord Interview
Template.docx
(Your initials signify you are talking)
(Artist’s initials signify he is talking)
(Place a thumbnail size jpg image in every placeholder on the template)
(Include tag lines and write headers as the template layout defines) 

The Introduction
1. Introduce yourself to the artist and your audience, tell your qualifications and
and experience in making the interview request.
2. Tell the artist which work of art you have chosen to pinpoint your questions
about, the year it was created, and the museum where it is located. (Titles
of works of art are ALWAYS capitalized and italicized or placed in quotation
marks.)
3. Relate whether this work physically on view in the museum or is it in storage
in the museum?
4. What drew you to this work of art that you wanted to know more about it?
5. Ask the artist if he is dead or alive and if there are any details he would like
to share about his life that he considers relevant to this one work of art.
Step Three The Body of the Interview
Choose one of these three topics and ask at least two questions of the artist:
1. Media, Processes, or the Technique the artist used to create the piece.
a. If the work is sculpture, what are the materials he used and what is
the scale of the work?  If the process is printmaking, what type of
print resulted from the process?  If it is a drawing, what media did the
artist use and what tools did he use? It the work is an installation,
describe the materials you see in the work and talk about its location.
2. Elements & Principles of Design you see in the work of art
a. Determine one element or design principle that is emphasized in this
work of art.  Does the artist agree with you? Why or Why not?
3. Art Historical Period or Movements that the work references
a. Was this work “a first,” did it somehow change the perception of art at
the time it was created? If you, the curator, have an opinion about the
work’s place in art history, ask the artist if he agrees or disagrees
with you.
b. What elements in this work does the artist think was inspired by
another art movement, either locally, or in a different location in the
world, styles such as Cubism, Impressionism, or Baroque, etc. This
sort of questioning about art historical movements makes an
impression on your audience.

Step Four- Wrap Up the Interview with a Closing Question and Remark
Tell the artist why you think this work of art has value in the world today and
see what he says.
End with a closing remark, and thank you.
Includes jpg self-portrait and biographical information.
__________________________________________________________________
Step Five- Turn in your assignment.
Attach your interview Template to your Artist Interview forum post.
Use the subject line for the title of your interview (5MB maximum).
Step Six- Peer Review
This module started here, Art can leave us asking more questions than it
answers.  When we talk about art with our friends we get a chance to
deepen our understanding of it.  Art grapples with unknown regions in our
mind.  Feeling comfortable seeking answers about what we are looking at
takes practice.
Your interview assignment asked you to consider questions to deepen your
understanding of an artist.  Your questions were to get into the artists mind. 
Now is your chance to consider the effectiveness of questions asked in the
interview. 
Compare and contrast two interviews of your fellow curators in class.
When they asked their questions, which curator got more information and
deeper understanding of the artists work and mind