Artist CV Guide: CAA Format, Templates & Examples

Your artist CV is the professional record of your practice. Galleries, grant panels, hiring committees, and residency juries all read it, and most of them expect the College Art Association (CAA) standard format.

What follows is the section-by-section format, with templates and worked examples at three career stages.

What Is an Artist CV?

An artist CV (curriculum vitae) is a complete record of your professional artistic life. A traditional resume summarizes your qualifications for one specific job. A CV documents the whole career: every exhibition, award, publication, and professional activity.

"Curriculum vitae" is Latin for "course of life," which is a fair description of the job it does. It tracks your development over time.

It also does a lot of practical work. It is the official record of your career, which means it doubles as evidence of your track record when a gallery or curator is deciding whether to take you seriously. Nearly every grant and fellowship requires one, as does any teaching or visiting artist position. And it preserves details you will otherwise forget: the exact title of a group show from 2019, the month a review ran, the name of the juror.

Artist CV vs Resume: Key Differences

Artists mix these up constantly, and the confusion costs applications. The two documents answer different questions for different readers.

Send the CV whenever the reader is inside the art world: gallery submissions and exhibition applications, grant and fellowship applications, academic positions, museum acquisitions, and residency applications. Press and publication requests usually want a CV alongside a short artist bio.

Send a resume when the reader is an employer: non-art jobs (museum administration counts), commercial design roles, part-time work outside the arts, corporate contexts, and any posting that explicitly asks for a resume. If you need both documents in circulation, the arts and cultural CV or resume guide covers how to keep the two in sync, and Artsume's artist resume builder generates the shorter format from the same entries.

The CAA Standard Format

The College Art Association (CAA) is the leading professional organization for artists, art historians, and visual arts professionals. Founded in 1911, it sets the professional standards the North American art world runs on, and its CV format has become the default at galleries, museums, and academic institutions.

Why CAA Format Matters

A gallerist reviewing three hundred applications is not reading your CV so much as scanning it. Standard format means they find what they need without decoding an unfamiliar layout, and following it signals that you know the professional norms, which is a small credential in itself.

Core CAA Sections (In Order)

The standard format uses these sections in this order. Not all of them apply to every artist. Only include a section where you have entries.

1. Contact Information
2. Education
3. Solo Exhibitions
4. Group Exhibitions
5. Collections (Public and Private)
6. Bibliography (Publications, Reviews, Catalogs)
7. Awards, Grants, and Honors
8. Residencies
9. Teaching and Lectures
10. Related Professional Experience
11. Commissions (if applicable)
12. Public Art (if applicable)

Section-by-Section Breakdown

1. Contact Information

Your CV opens with contact details at the top, where nobody has to hunt for them.

Include:

• Full legal name (as you want it to appear professionally)
• City and state/province (full address not required)
• Email address (professional, ideally yourname@domain)
• Website URL (reviewers will go looking for it)
• Phone number (optional but recommended)

Format Example:

JANE SMITH
Brooklyn, NY | janesmith@email.com | janesmith.com

2. Education

List your formal education in reverse chronological order, most recent first. Include the degree, field of study, institution, city, state/country, and graduation year.

Format:

MFA, Painting, Yale School of Art, New Haven, CT, 2019
BFA, Studio Art, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL, 2015
Certificate in Printmaking, Penland School of Craft, Penland, NC, 2013

Graduate degrees, undergraduate degrees, significant certificate programs from recognized institutions, and relevant continuing education all belong here. High school does not. Neither do workshops (give those their own section), incomplete degrees unless you are currently enrolled, or online courses unless they came from a prestigious institution. If you are still in the program, write it as "MFA Candidate, Painting, [School], Expected 2026."

3. Solo Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions are your most important credential as a visual artist. They demonstrate that a gallery or institution believed in your work enough to dedicate their entire space to it.

Format:

2024    *New Horizons*, Blue Gallery, New York, NY
2023    *Material Investigations*, Space One, Los Angeles, CA
2022    *First Light*, Project Room, Gallery Name, Chicago, IL

Formatting Rules:

• Italicize exhibition titles (this is standard CAA practice)
• Include full venue name, city, and state/country
• Use consistent date formatting (year only, or month/year)
• List in reverse chronological order
• Distinguish between exhibitions in commercial galleries vs. alternative spaces if desired

Single-artist exhibitions obviously count. So do project rooms, dedicated installations, and solo presentations at art fairs. Two-person shows sit in a gray area; some artists list them here, others create a separate "Two-Person Exhibitions" heading.

4. Group Exhibitions

Group exhibitions demonstrate that curators and institutions have selected your work to be shown alongside other artists. They show you're participating in broader art world conversations.

Format:

2024    *Emerging Voices*, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
        *Summer Group Show*, Blue Gallery, New York, NY
2023    *Annual Juried Exhibition*, Art Center, Denver, CO
        *New Acquisitions*, Private Collection, San Francisco, CA

Strict reverse chronological order is the most common organization. You can also separate by venue type (Museums, Galleries, Alternative Spaces) or by geography (International, National, Regional). Once your exhibition history runs long, list only the selected shows and note "(selected)" in the section header. That is standard practice for established artists, and it reads as confidence rather than omission.

5. Collections

List public and private collections that have acquired your work. This shows institutional recognition and that the work holds its value.

Format:

Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA
Progressive Art Collection, Cleveland, OH
Private collections in the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, and Japan

Name public collections (museums, universities, corporations) directly. For private collections, you may list a collector by name if you have permission; otherwise write "Private collection, [City/Country]," or group them as "Private collections in [countries]." Order by prestige or alphabetically. Either is fine. Mixing the two is not.

6. Bibliography

Document the publications that feature your work: articles, reviews, catalogs, and mentions. This section shows critical engagement with your work.

Format:

Smith, John. "Rising Stars in Contemporary Art." *Art Forum*, March 2024.
Jones, Sarah. Exhibition catalog essay. *Solo Show Title*. Gallery Name, 2023.
"Best of 2023." *Hyperallergic*, December 2023.
Interview by Maria Garcia. *Art Monthly*, Issue 42, Fall 2023.

What to Include:

• Published reviews of your exhibitions
• Feature articles about your work
• Exhibition catalog essays
• Interviews (print, online, podcast)
• Significant blog features from recognized publications
• Books that feature your work

Pick one citation style and hold to it (Chicago is common in art). Italicize publication and book names, include the author when you know it, note when you wrote the piece yourself, and add page numbers for print if you want them.

7. Awards, Grants & Honors

Recognition from foundations, institutions, and competitions validates your work externally. This section demonstrates that others have invested in your career.

Format:

2024    Artist Fellowship, Jerome Foundation, Minneapolis, MN
2023    First Prize, Juried Competition, Museum Name, City
2022    Grant for Individual Artists, City Arts Council, $10,000
2021    Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant

What to Include:

• Grants and fellowships received (funded)
• Competition awards and prizes
• Honorable mentions from prestigious competitions
• Artist-in-residence selections (or list separately under Residencies)
• Nominations for major awards (e.g., "Nominated for Turner Prize, 2024")
• Scholarships for educational programs

Including the dollar amount is optional. Some artists include it to show funding level; others leave it off. If this section is thin, the artist fellowships guide covers the programs that fund artists directly rather than projects, which is usually the faster way to fill it.

8. Residencies

Artist residencies show that competitive programs have invested in your development. They demonstrate your ability to work in new environments and engage with communities.

Format:

2024    Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Madison, ME (Summer)
2023    MacDowell, Peterborough, NH (6 weeks)
2022    Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts, Omaha, NE (3 months)

Give the program name, the location, the duration or dates, and any notable outcome (an exhibition, publication, or commission that came out of it). Residency juries read CVs differently from gallerists; the residency-specific CV guide covers what they weight and what they skip.

9. Teaching & Lectures

Academic and educational activities demonstrate expertise and a willingness to mentor.

Format:

2023-Present    Adjunct Instructor, Foundation Drawing, University Name, City
2023            Visiting Artist Lecture, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, IL
2022            Workshop Leader, "Introduction to Encaustic," Art Center, City
2022            Visiting Critic, MFA Program, School Name, City

Categories to Include:

• Academic positions (full-time, adjunct, visiting)
• Visiting artist lectures and talks
• Workshops taught
• Critiques and studio visits at educational institutions
• Jury and review panel participation
• Guest lectures in courses

10. Related Professional Experience

This is where relevant non-studio work goes: museum or gallery employment, arts administration, curatorial projects, art handling and installation, fabrication, studio assistant positions (especially for a well-known artist), and art-related freelance work. It demonstrates professional competence and art world engagement even when it isn't your own practice.

Formatting Best Practices

Typography

Your CV should be easy to read and professional in appearance.

Recommended Fonts:

• Serif: Times New Roman, Garamond, Georgia, Baskerville
• Sans-serif: Helvetica, Arial, Calibri, Avenir

Size: 10-12pt for body text; your name can be slightly larger (14-16pt)

Margins: 0.75" to 1" on all sides

Line Spacing: 1.15 to 1.5 for readability

Consistency Rules

Consistency is the hallmark of a professional CV, and it is the thing most artists get wrong. Pick one date format and never deviate (2024, or January 2024, or 01/2024). Include city and state or country for every single entry. Italicize exhibition and artwork titles every time. Keep the spacing between entries and sections uniform, left-align your text, and format all section headers identically. If you right-align dates, right-align all of them.

File Format

Always submit as PDF unless otherwise specified. PDF preserves your formatting across devices and prevents accidental editing.

File naming convention: LastName_FirstName_CV_2024.pdf or LastName_CV.pdf

Never submit as a Word document, Google Doc, or other editable format unless specifically requested.

CV Examples by Career Stage

The same format serves a first-year MFA graduate and an artist with forty years of exhibitions, but the emphasis shifts.

Emerging Artist (0-5 Years Post-Education)

Recommended Section Order:

1. Contact Information
2. Education (your primary credential)
3. Group Exhibitions
4. Awards/Grants/Scholarships
5. Residencies
6. Related Experience

Education is your primary credential at this stage, so it stays near the top. Include student exhibitions and thesis shows, and list your scholarships and academic awards, which count more than most emerging artists think. Relevant part-time work belongs here too: gallery assistant, art handler, preparator. Do not pad. A one-to-two page CV is completely acceptable, and a short honest one reads better than a long inflated one.

Mid-Career Artist (5-15 Years)

Recommended Section Order:

1. Contact Information
2. Education
3. Solo Exhibitions
4. Group Exhibitions (selected)
5. Collections
6. Awards/Grants
7. Bibliography
8. Teaching

Solo exhibitions now come before group shows, and the group section starts getting curated down to "selected." Collections and bibliography grow into real credentials. Teaching and lectures start doing work for you. Three to six pages is typical.

Established Artist (15+ Years)

Recommended Section Order:

1. Contact Information
2. Solo Exhibitions (selected)
3. Group Exhibitions (selected)
4. Collections
5. Bibliography
6. Awards/Grants
7. Education

Education moves toward the bottom, because by now experience matters more than where you trained. Everything is "selected"; nobody expects the complete list. Collections and bibliography become the primary credentials. Some artists add a brief project summary or artist statement at the top. An active career can easily run 10-20+ pages.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Most CV problems are formatting problems. Mixed date formats ("2024," "Jan 2024," and "January 2024" in the same document) look sloppy. Missing locations force the reader to guess. Italics applied to venue names instead of exhibition titles reads as unfamiliarity with the convention. Section headers that don't stand out from entries make the document unscannable. Typos survive because you have read the file forty times, so hand it to someone else. And "CV final final v2 (1).docx" is not a professional file name.

The content mistakes are more expensive:

• Including prices or sales information - Never appropriate on an artist CV
• Listing every group show - After 10+ shows, curate for relevance
• Exaggerating credentials - Easily verified; damages reputation permanently
• Including personal information - Age, marital status, children not relevant
• Forgetting to update - Outdated CVs suggest inactive practice
• No website - Reviewers want to see images; without a URL, your CV is a list of claims they cannot check. If your documentation isn't ready, that is the thing to fix first
• One-size-fits-all - Tailor the section emphasis to each opportunity type
• Ignoring instructions - Follow the application guidelines exactly, even when they contradict CAA convention

How Artsume Simplifies Artist CVs

Keeping a CV current is tedious. Every finished project means another update, and then remembering to carry that update across every version you have floating around.

Artsume's artist CV builder generates CAA-formatted CVs from your profile entries instead. Add an exhibition, award, or education entry once and every version updates, so there is no reformatting and no drift between the copy on your desktop and the copy you emailed a gallery last spring. You can generate tailored versions for different application types, attach the current CV to any opportunity you apply to, and share a public profile link when someone asks for materials. The step-by-step CV walkthrough covers the entry types and export options, and the free artist CV maker shows what the finished document looks like.

Frequently Asked Questions

Next Steps

Your CV grows for as long as you keep working. Start with a clean template, follow CAA formatting, and add entries as they happen rather than in a panic the night before a deadline.

Once the document is current, it stops being homework and starts being useful. A finished CV is the first thing most applications ask for, so the next move is finding something to apply to: browse open programs, or read the guide to finding art opportunities if you want to widen the search beyond one platform. Create your free Artsume account and the formatting takes care of itself.