Now that my sketchbook is done, I’m taking Sherry’s advice and spending the rest of January relaxing and cleaning the house. Paradoxically, this peaceful lifestyle gives me more focus and energy, so that I have been very happily doing some work as well. Today I did a short home yoga practice, had lunch with a friend, reorganized some crafting supplies that have long needed tidying, ran a couple of errands, read a lot of web comics, and began trying to write an artist bio.
Prior to this year, I had never given a thought to a proper artist bio, mostly because I didn’t think of myself as enough of a “serious artist” to merit one. But I’ve changed my mind on that. First, Anthem Salgado emphasizes the bio as the #1 on his Top 5 Essentials for All Emerging Artists. After reading his post, I realized he was right; it’s just as important as having a website or high-quality images of my work. Second, the Sketchbook Project has asked all contributors for a 400-character (roughly 50 words) bio to accompany their sketchbooks, so I do actually need a bio right now. Third, my mom sent me a NYT post by blogger Jennifer Cheng, and when I visited her site (which is, incidentally, another WordPress site), I looked for and was immediately able to find two About pages that summed up what she’s all about. As a newcomer to her story and her site, they were immensely helpful in making me want to read her posts and subscribe to her feed. Although I do have an About page on my website, there isn’t one on this blog, and that should change.
I made my CV first (the #2 on Anthem’s list) so I’d have something to work from, then cobbled together a roughly 100-word bio. For the Sketchbook Project, I cut that down still further and came up with this:
Lisa Hsia is a writer and visual artist based in Northern California. A former scholar of Asian American and culinary history, she left academia in 2007 to pursue her lifelong creative interests. She has studied fiction writing and sequential art (comics), figure and portrait drawing, and watercolor painting. She is currently working on her family history, to be told in graphic novel format.
What do you think? I worry a little that I’m falsely representing myself by saying “I left academia,” since I was a grad student at the time and not a PhD-toting professor. Also, I don’t like portraying myself as what I’m not — a scholar — but I feel obliged to say something about it, because I want to explain why I didn’t go to school for art or writing. I’d appreciate your feedback!
Once I get that done to my satisfaction, I’ll work on articulating a mission statement. This is more daunting than the bio, but since I did write an Artist Statement for the Hedgebrook application, it might not be so bad. I will, as always, keep you posted!
satsumabug.com | Lisa Hsia 
i think the biography describes you well and i didn’t even think about the “does ‘academia’ mean you were a professor?” question until you mentioned it. i’ve heard plenty of grad students refer to themselves as “in academia,” so i think it’s fine. but then again, the thought didn’t even cross my mind until you brought it up 😛
the wikipedia article you linked to starts out by saying that academia is defined as ” the common [term] for the community of students and scholars engaged in higher education and research,” which seems to fit perfectly and doesn’t necessitate an advanced degree.
PS: i hate writing bios! it always feels like bragging and then i feel so silly afterwards 😛
Thank you! Hope you’re right about the academia thing. 🙂 It’s probably one of those things that only actual academics would quibble about. ;b But still, I’d rather not have them all jumping down my throat.
Writing bios is tough, but this one was easier than some, since there’s not too much to say at this point. 😀
Lisa, I think the bio is perfect, and I certainly wouldn’t quibble about the words “academia” or “scholar”. If you had been in art school, academia might not apply. But, with your background, I would not question your right to use those words. (Are the Academic Police combing websites/blogs these days?:)…..Glad you have given yourself permission to take a breather for the rest of January. Good for you!!
Thank you, Sherry! I appreciate the feedback, and as always, the “take it easier” advice! I’m actually going to mention it when I do a follow-up to my January Blues posts — I got such wonderful responses to that series, I feel the need to share the wisdom!
Very well written, and I agree with the previous comments–both of the words you’re concerned about seem completely appropriate to me, and I didn’t give them a second thought until you mentioned something, so unless you plan to include a paragraph about your doubts regarding the wording as part of your bio, all is well. 😉
“Unless you plan to include a paragraph about your doubts regarding the wording as part of your bio” — hehe, that’s what a blog is for! 😉 I actually kind of love that anyone reading that bio in future will be able to, if sufficiently stalkery, find this post and read my doubts about its wording.
And thank you very much for the reassurances. 🙂
[…] the books and attaching interesting things, but in terms of labeling. We were all told to write a bio to include inside the front cover. However, I only saw a bio card in about half the books (maybe the […]