Artist's statement and CV

(Client: Prudence Bansemer)

Prudence was referred to me by a mutual friend when she was looking to update her CV and prepare an artist's statement for some photography competitions she planned to enter. Her surreal landscape series was inspired by Dr Seuss's The Lorax and examined humans' relationship with the environment. Prue's CV just needed a straightforward edit, but the artist's statement required me to use a bit of creative thinking and more hands-on writing.

Prudence was over the moon with the result and went on to use the statement in her winning application for an arts grant. You can see some of Prudence's work here.

If your resume and CV need a refresh or you're struggling with that job application, get in touch to see how I can help!

Above: Prudence's email briefly explains what the artist's statement should cover.

Index

A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People

(Client: David Boarder Giles)

David is an academic in the field of anthropology. He has a particular interest in food security and was engaged by Duke University to publish his book A Mass Conspiracy to Feed People: Food Not Bombs and the World-Closs Waste of Global Cities. Of course, no good academic text is complete without an index, and that's where I came in.

I worked closely with David to develop a comprehensive word list for the index, which we tweaked and fine-tuned as we went along. I then used indexing software to produce a print-ready index to be appended to the manuscript. The final index contains over 300 entries, many of which are referenced more than 50 times, covering topics from anarchy and dumpster-diving to Seattle and the Wombles of Wimbledon. You can read more about the book and purchase a copy here.

This project required absolutely meticulous attention to detail - there is no room for error in an index!

To discuss how I can help with your indexing needs, send me a message.

Above: The artist’s statement I wrote for Prudence. The gaps are for technical information that Prudence hadn't provided.

Whole book

Cool Change: The History of Venus Bay & the Surf Lifesaving Club

(Client: How and Why Creative)

Written by a first-time author with a passion for his club, this edit involved careful crafting to retain the author's voice while working towards a polished, professional book. There were lots of stakeholders with an interest in the project, and the end product is beloved by all. The below sample is taken from the book's introduction. No matter what stage of development your book is at, I'd love to hear from you!

Above: Sample text from the book’s introduction showing my mark-up.

Above: The same sample text, clean and ready to go.

Self publishing

Tea, War & Crocodiles – Tales from an extraordinary life

(Client: Brockhall family)

The author of this extraordinary family history is Ferdinand J Brockhall – known affectionately as Terry. Terry spent close to twenty years working on his memoirs, which cover a vast span of time and geography.

Terry's family saw the immense value – both personal and historical – in the work Terry had done, and approached me to help them prepare it for publishing. After much consideration, Terry and his family decided to self publish. My responsibilities included:

• undertaking a comprehensive structural edit and in-depth copy edit

• helping the family find a legitimate publishing services company

• guiding the family through the self-publishing process

• managing the images and captions, including sourcing images and permission to use them from interstate and overseas

• engaging a designer to draw maps and other elements

• engaging a proofreader to ensure the final layout was pristine

• overseeing the development of the title and cover design.

During the project we had up to eight family members involved, as well as the author and others involved in production. Coordinating everybody was no small feat! But the end product – a 536-page book of precious memories that four generations have contributed to – is a legacy to be proud of, indeed.

You can read more about Terry and order his book here.

If you have questions about self publishing, or a story you're ready to share, send me a message via my Contact page – I'd love to chat!

Above: The finished product: Tea, War & Crocodiles – Tales from an extraordinary life.

Image courtesy of Breeana Dunbar 2022