To list group shows on an artist resume, put every show under a single “Exhibitions” heading, split it into solo and group subsections, and format each entry on one line as: year, exhibition title, venue, city, and in parentheses the curator or juror if you know it. Work newest to oldest, and put a “Selected” label on the heading only when you have too many entries to fit on one page.
It takes about an hour once the details are gathered, and the skill is consistency rather than cleverness. Curators scanning fifty resumes for an open call notice a mismatched format long before they notice anything else, so the rest of this guide walks through verifying your details, picking the right section heading, writing the entry, and fixing the four mistakes that make a group show list look thin.
Table of Contents
- What You Need
- Step-by-Step: How to List Group Shows on an Artist Resume
- 1. Confirm the exhibition details
- 2. Choose where you list group shows on the resume
- 3. Write the entry in one consistent format
- 4. Add your role, medium and any special credit
- 5. Order and format the list
- 6. Proofread and tailor the resume
- Common Mistakes
- Frequently Asked Questions
- What is the difference between an artist resume and an artist CV?
- Should I list every group show or only the selected ones?
- How do I list a group show where I showed more than ten works?
- How do I list an online or virtual exhibition?
- Should I include open call and juried shows?
- How do I list a show that is current or still upcoming?
- Conclusion
What You Need
Gather these before you open a blank document. Everything after this step is formatting, and formatting is much faster when the facts are already settled.
- The exhibition title exactly as it was printed. Check the announcement, the gallery’s own web page, or the printed press release rather than your memory of it.
- The presenting organization and the venue name. These are often two different names, and listing only one confuses the reader.
- City and state or country. Only the city is normally required, but add the country for anything outside your home region.
- Opening and closing dates. Many entries use just the year, but full dates are useful for short shows and online events.
- The exhibition type. Juried, invited, curated, membership, or open call. If you applied through an open call and were selected, juried is the accurate word.
- Curator or juror name. Optional, but it adds credibility and forum research consistently flags it as one of the fastest credibility signals an entry can carry.
- Your role and the medium. Only for shows where you installed work, coordinated the opening, or presented an unusual body of work.
- Images or a PDF link. A link to the show page lets a reviewer verify the listing in one click, which matters if the venue is unfamiliar.
Print or screenshot the confirmation email for each show while it is still in your inbox. Searching for a show you finished three years ago is the single most common reason a resume gets delayed.
Step-by-Step: How to List Group Shows on an Artist Resume
1. Confirm the exhibition details
Open each show record and verify the title, presenting organization, venue, city, dates, and your participation status before you type anything. Participation status matters more than artists expect: an invited show, a juried show you won a place in, and a show where you were hung without a formal acceptance all read differently to a reviewer.
Write your participation in plain language first, then simplify it. “Invited to exhibit three pieces in a member-organized show” becomes “Invited” or “Juried” once it fits on a line.
2. Choose where you list group shows on the resume
Group shows belong under a single “Exhibitions” heading, split into subsections. The standard split is Solo Exhibitions, Two-Person Exhibitions, then Group Exhibitions.
Keep two-person shows separate from group shows. A two-person show is a distinct commitment with a named partner, and burying it inside a group list loses the one detail that makes it easy to read. If you have no two-person shows, drop the subsection entirely rather than leaving an empty heading.
Inside the group subsection, decide between a full list and a selected list. Use Selected Group Exhibitions when you have roughly eight or more shows and the resume needs to stay inside two pages. Use Group Exhibitions when you have fewer, or when you are applying somewhere that explicitly asks for a complete exhibition history, such as a grant panel or an academic review.
| Situation | Heading to use | How many entries |
|---|---|---|
| Fewer than eight group shows | Group Exhibitions | List them all |
| Eight or more, resume must fit two pages | Selected Group Exhibitions | Pick the strongest half |
| Grant, fellowship, or academic application | Group Exhibitions | List them all |
| Applications asking for recent activity only | Recent Group Exhibitions | Last three to five years |
Online shows can live in the same group subsection. Use the platform name as the venue and the city as the platform’s base, so the line stays consistent with your offline entries.
3. Write the entry in one consistent format
Use this formula for every single line:
Year | Exhibition Title | Venue, City (Curator or Juror)
Italicise the exhibition title and the venue. Keep the year at the start, left-aligned, so a column of dates lines up down the page. Examples in the format above:
- Field and Fold, Textile Arts Guild, Boise, ID (juried by R. Calloway)
- Ground Truth, Bend Art Center, Bend, OR
- Small Weather, Quay Gallery Online, Brooklyn, NY
- Cut and Stack, Northside Workshop, Chicago, IL (member show)
- Long Line, Hill Country Fiber Guild Annual, Austin, TX (juried)
Pick one punctuation style and hold it for the whole section. Mixed styles, a comma in some lines and a pipe in others, make a list look like it was assembled from three different resumes.
4. Add your role, medium and any special credit
Most group show entries stop at the venue. Add a second line only when something about your participation is unusual or creditable: you installed the work, you wrote the wall text, you curated the show, or you received an award at it.
For a large body of work, say so plainly. Instead of asking for a “Featured Artist” designation, which organizers use inconsistently and often will not grant, add a parenthetical after the venue: “(sixteen works, mixed-media installation)”. That states the scale of your participation without claiming a title the venue may not have given you.
Include a jury or selection note when there was one, because juried shows carry a selection signal that open shows do not. Forum discussion among emerging artists is consistent on one point: regular annual activity reads better to a reviewer than a single prestigious show every three years.
5. Order and format the list
Order every subsection in reverse chronological order, newest first. Put forthcoming shows at the top of the group subsection, above the completed shows, since they are the most current record of where your work is.
For typography, use one plain font at 10 to 12 point. Arial, Calibri, and Garamond are all safe. Leave out coloured text, background blocks, sidebars, and skill bars, because the reviewer is scrolling fast and graphics slow them down without adding information.
Align dates, titles, and venues into columns if your word processor lets you set a hanging indent. Nothing else in the resume needs columns, so this one section reads as a table of contents for your career while the rest stays in flowing text.
6. Proofread and tailor the resume
Read the section once against your source documents, checking every title, venue, and date for spelling. Venue names are where errors hide, since galleries often have unusual capitalisation and a stray letter changes the name of a real institution.
Then tailor the selection to the opportunity. For a juried open call, weight juried shows and any award you received there. For an academic or teaching application, the exhibitions section can be shorter because the teaching and professional appointments sections carry more weight.
Save the finished file as a PDF with your name and surname in the filename, and keep the editable version separate for the next update. Updating a resume should take ten minutes, not an afternoon, and that only works if you kept the source document.
Common Mistakes
Listing the venue with no year. A reviewer cannot place an undated show in your timeline, and undated entries look like filler. Fix: start every line with the year.
Calling an open call show “curated.” These are different things. An open call is open to anyone who applies and is selected by a jury or panel; a curated show is invited by a curator. Fix: label open call entries as juried, and reserved as invited.
Repeating “Group Show” as an entry title. Once the subsection heading already says Group Exhibitions, a list of ten lines all titled Group Show tells a reviewer nothing. Fix: use the actual title of each show.
Listing only the venue and skipping the exhibition title. The show title is the searchable part, and it is what lets someone find documentation later. Fix: always include it, italicised.
Inconsistent date formats. One line gives the year alone, the next gives a season and year, and a third names the month on its own. Fix: pick the month and year for every entry, or the year alone for every entry, and never mix the two styles.
Overloading each entry. A full paragraph per show is not an exhibition history, it is an essay. Fix: one line, one entry, and move the detail to your website or statement.
Hiding a thin exhibition record by padding. Adding unrelated activities, vague affiliations, or a skills list with software like iMovie does not fill the gap and does cost you credibility. Fix: list the shows honestly and let your current work and statement carry the rest.
Listing a private collector in a Collections section without permission. Fix: ask first, or leave the entry out. Public and institutional collections carry enough weight on their own.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the difference between an artist resume and an artist CV?
A resume is short, usually one to two pages, and highlights your strongest work for a specific opportunity such as an open call or a gallery submission. A CV, or curriculum vitae, is a full record of everything: every exhibition, award, residency, and publication, often several pages long. Group shows appear on both, but a resume carries a selected subset while a CV lists them all.
Should I list every group show or only the selected ones?
List them all when you have fewer than about eight, or when the application asks for a complete exhibition history. Switch the heading to Selected Group Exhibitions once the list will not fit alongside your other sections within two pages. Choose the shows with the strongest venue, the largest body of work, or the most competitive jury, and keep roughly the most recent five years if you have to cut further.
How do I list a group show where I showed more than ten works?
Add the scale of your participation in a short parenthetical after the venue, such as sixteen works, mixed-media installation. This states the facts without claiming a designation like Featured Artist, which organizers use inconsistently and frequently will not confirm. If the show genuinely named you a featured or highlighted artist, list that title in the same parenthetical and use the organizer’s exact wording.
How do I list an online or virtual exhibition?
Treat the platform as the venue and its headquarters city as the location, using the same format as your offline entries. Give the exhibition its full title and the year, and note the format in a short parenthetical if it helps, such as online exhibition or virtual jury exhibition. Keep these in the group subsection unless the show was curated as a solo presentation, in which case it belongs under solo.
Should I include open call and juried shows?
Yes. Juried shows carry a selection signal that open shows do not, and most of the group entries on any emerging artist resume are juried. Label them as juried in the entry so a reviewer can tell which lines involved a panel. Membership and open shows belong on the resume too, but if your list runs long those are the ones to trim first.
How do I list a show that is current or still upcoming?
Put forthcoming shows at the top of the group subsection, above completed shows, using the year they will open. For a show running now, list the current year and add a short parenthetical such as current through March so nobody thinks it has already closed. Update the line as soon as the show ends, then let it fall into the normal reverse chronological position.
Conclusion
Verify each show against its announcement, pick one entry format, and use it on every line. That is the whole of how to list group shows on an artist resume: reverse chronological order under a single Exhibitions heading, the curator or juror name when you have it, and a PDF filename with your name on it before you hit send.
