What sections should an artist CV include?

Solo exhibitions, group exhibitions, residencies, education, awards and grants, collections, and press or publications: in that order. The CV leads with exhibitions, not education. This is the standard professional convention for visual artists.

How long should an artist CV be?

One to two pages maximum for most submissions. A CV that runs longer signals poor editorial judgment. Mark sections as 'Selected' once your history is substantial and include only the most relevant entries.

Should the artist CV be inside the portfolio PDF or separate?

Inside the PDF unless the institution explicitly asks for it separately. Most galleries and residencies prefer a single document. If they want a standalone CV, they will specify it in the submission guidelines.

What format should exhibition entries use in an artist CV?

Year — Title (italicised), Venue, City, Country. Use an em dash, not a hyphen. List in reverse chronological order within each section. Keep the format identical across every entry — inconsistency is immediately noticeable.

Artist CV Template (PDF) for Galleries & Residencies

A clean artist CV template with the right sections in the right order. Exhibitions, education, collections, awards. Download or generate with MyArtPDF.

What makes a gallery-ready artist CV?

A strong artist CV is compact, readable and consistently structured. Galleries and residencies use it as a quick reference: they want to scan your exhibition history, education and recognitions in under a minute. The structure must be immediately legible.

The professional convention for visual artists is to lead with exhibitions, not education. This is the opposite of an academic or corporate résumé. A CV that opens with your degree signals that you are either early in your practice or unfamiliar with how the art world reads these documents.

The MyArtPDF artist CV template follows the section order that most galleries and institutions expect: exhibitions first, education after, one to two pages maximum. If you want to see real-world layout choices, read the artist CV examples.

CV sections included in the template

The template structures your CV into the sections curators expect to find, in the correct order:

Name and contact: full name, city, email, website
Solo exhibitions: reverse chronological, year, title, venue, city, country
Group exhibitions: reverse chronological, selective
Residencies: year, programme, location
Education: year, degree, school, city
Awards and grants
Collections: institutional and public only
Press and publications

Each entry uses the same format throughout: consistent punctuation, consistent date placement, consistent typography. Consistency across every entry is more important than any individual formatting choice.

Using your CV inside a portfolio PDF

When your CV appears inside a portfolio PDF submission, it comes after the biography and before the artworks section. The sequence is: cover, statement, biography, CV, artworks. The CV is supporting context: not the lead.

Some institutions ask for the CV as a separate file. MyArtPDF lets you export the CV either as part of the full portfolio PDF or as a standalone document: the same structure and typography in both cases.

You fill in the fields once and reuse them across multiple submissions. When you update your career details, every portfolio you build from that point forward reflects the change. If you still need the statement, start with artist statement examples.

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