Bonjour tout le monde!

Please forgive my absence, I know I’ve been away from the Cabinet for a wee bit (almost two weeks!)

I really wanted to make this post last Tuesday as normally planned, but I had to give full attention to my efforts and performances at the Musée this past week as the week-long festivities of Acadia Day within the St. John Valley tend to bring heavy foot traffic to the institution during our summer season. (…btw: Bonne fête nationale de l’Acadie!)

But I digress. Today, I want to offer some notes and insights on the subject of writing as it relates to those operating within the artworld, particularly academics and specialists alike (e.g., students, scholars, museum professionals, connoisseurs and critics). I’ll also share some thoughts on the matter of “Artspeak” – a sort of language that, to many, seems rather bizarre, convoluted, and utterly foreign upon glancing at it within the texts plastered on museum walls, but is a language that is markedly shared amongst those highly educated within their unique [artworld] specialties. I’ll touch much more on Artspeak in future posts.

---

Above all else, I have found that it is of foremost importance to be aware of the overall, wider purpose(s) your excerpt, paper, or whatever, serves or seeks to serve. One must be constantly aware of the reasons that underpin why they are writing what they are writing. Professionals and academics alike within the artworld don’t write with no intention in mind; we write to propose answers to questions, to fill in gaps within existing literature, and to engage in dialogues that we wish to elevate.

Given this, its equally as important to be cognizant of what roles and influences our written works’ target audience(s) have on the composing of our works entirely. Amongst the many reasons that may underpin one’s writing(s) is who’s attention they are hoping to reach and garner. This is especially important to those holding public-facing roles within museological spheres; museum curators of early twentieth-century American painting are careful and methodical in drafting exhibition catalogues and collections essays that sufficiently capture the attention of those who may hold an interest in seeing a retrospective of John Singer Sargent’s works. This is no different when a student drafts a paper with their professor and fellow classmates as their main audience(s) in mind.

Those in similar roles to museum curators are even cognizant of how the broader missions and values of their associated institutions might shape what they produce. To demonstrate, during my time at the Ogunquit Museum of American Art in Ogunquit, Maine, the institution and its various departments sought to concentrate their efforts on showcasing their collections and composing exhibitions that highlighted the distinguished queer history and visual culture that not only abounded this southern Maine coastal region, but became intimately connected with art centres and systems of patronage the world over. Such a commitment reflected the institution’s initiatives to promoting diversity, inclusivity, and greater equity within

Apart from this, a usage if not reliance on the language of Artspeak can even be a pivotal influence into how one devises their written works. Artspeak is a unique, albeit seemingly pretentious and auspicious system of terminology and grammatical structure, devised and utilized most especially by those trained in the art historical discipline and its adjacent fields. Its conflated vocabulary is its distinguishing hallmark; the language can be recognized even to those not familiar with its existence merely after glancing at and subsequently becoming dumbfounded and confused by the very texts of an exhibition that were meant to provide clarity to onlookers. For this reason, Artspeak in recent years has come under fire for its pretentious nature, being criticized as a sort of privileged form of communication understandable only to those who expertly know the work-arounds of its grammar and sentence structure. Though this may hold some truth, its important to nonetheless acknowledge that there is an established adherence to a language that is commonly understood and utilized by those in the vast spheres of the artworld. This form of communication will likely continue to hold some weight in how academics and professionals in the artworld devise their written works, seeing that they are indeed likely to share and discuss their works amongst each other.

As such, for those who may be within their early career (like myself), becoming more familiar and understanding the language of Artspeak may rather prove useful in terms of entering into conversation(s) with trained specialists within the artworld.

There are innumerable talking points to be made on the subject of writing than just what I touched on here as it relates to academics and professionals operating within the artworld. But of all that I will discuss on writing in the future, I want to make perhaps the most important point below.

---

Writing is an inherently messy process; a journey of both highs and lows no matter the extent or perceived significance of the content you are composing. It’s full of creative thinking followed by doubtful thoughts, structuring and textual organizing followed by considerable editorializing. It is best, I have found, to not just acknowledge this messiness, but to find comfort in it.

In past experiences of devising excerpts and extensive papers, whether in the library or in my study, it wasn’t uncommon to find me tugging on my hair, tapping my feet, or even nervously breathing, as I was absorbed in worry and anxiety about what the outcome of what I was writing would amount to. But in coming to grips with and, thereby, appreciating the inherent messiness of this activity, I’m able to reassess my approach to writing more whole-fully while elevating my awareness of behaviorisms and patterns that may rather be more harmful than beneficial to my writing efforts.

I encourage others to see writing more in this light as well, and also share how it might have impacted your writing process(s) just as it impacted mine!