<p>D16, a rising junior, is thinking about entering YoungArts for the first time. Drawing is her preferred medium. The portfolio requirements are:</p>
<p>*Portfolio must include a total of ten (10) of your best works from the last two years.<br>
*Five (5) of the ten requested should reflect a cohesive idea or technique or theme.
*The remaining five (5) should either support the first five or reveal another strength.</p>
<p>She has a group of abstract drawings in graphite on a common theme that could be the first group of five. She doesn’t have another thematically or stylistically linked group of five, and doesn’t necessarily have the time between now and mid-October to create one of high quality.</p>
<p>What she does have are some very good realistic drawings - a graphite figure drawing that took 24 hours, an amazing charcoal still-life with strange objects and shadows, a charcoal self-portrait, etc. If she were to submit these as the second group of five, the idea would be ‘we’ve seen in the first group that I can do abstract and conceptual, and now we see in the second that I have great technical skills and can draw what I see’</p>
<p>Would this be okay? Any comments/suggestions appreciated. Thanks!</p>
<p>The thing is, it’s all about WHO is going to be reviewing the portfolio. For example- the Boston Museum school is very much into still-lifes , self portraits and examples of technique. When I presented mine- the ONLY piece they liked was my ink and pen self-portrait because it illustrated a mastery of a technique. However, the reviewers of the Vancouver art school, Hartford university and SCAD loved most of my pieces in addition to the one self-portrait. It’s about the reviewer- who is generally an artist themselves.</p>
<p>My suggestion is, make sure she has 2 drawings of her hand/of hands, one of a bicycle and 2 other still-lifes. Simply so that she will have the “classical” drawing element covered incase who ever reviews her portfolio happens to be someone who values the illustration of technique and classical drawings from real life. Have her cover all her bases!</p>
<p>You should check out Portfolio Day. It’s a great (FREE) opportunity to have her portfolio reviewed by as many colleges as she’d like. I did it 3 years in a row, the benefit is- every year they tell you how to improve it and they can watch it grow and betters her chances in getting accepted to these schools because there’s a member of staff (reviewers tend to be staff) who is familiar with her art and will recognize it come admissions time.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice, Avidcuts; sorry I missed your response until now. She’s getting ready for her first Portfolio Day three weeks from now. I hadn’t thought about the same school staff member coming back each year and seeing how your work has grown, or recognizing it at admissions time - both very cool things.</p>