Resources:

	Initial Portfolio Review (.RTF)
	AP Central: Quality, Concentration, & Breadth
	AP Central: Examples of 2-D Design Portfolios
	AP Central: Examples of Drawing Portfolios
	Concentration idea worksheet 1
	Concentration idea worksheet 2
	Concentration idea worksheet 3
	Concentration idea worksheet 4

What's a Portfolio?

To successfully enter a career as an artist students must have a vision, they must master the technical skills required in their art medium, and they should present this in a complete and understandable form: The artist's portfolio.

When presenting a portfolio, not only is the artist's work judged, the artist is also being judged. Is this artist serious? Will he or she succeed in the art world? Are they worthy of being represented?

Your artist portfolio should impress viewers with your vision and with how well you have mastered the technical aspects of your work. In your portfolio, you should provide good artist support materials.

Remember, no matter what you've heard or read, your work doesn't stand alone. Whenever a gallery owner, museum curator, or art consultant reviews your portfolio, the memory of your artwork will be only part of what they know of you. Just as packaging plays an increasingly important role in product marketing, your portfolio is an integral part of your career in the visual arts.

The portfolios for this class will be submitted in two forms: A presentation form (hardcopy) and in digital form.

-Presentation- The hardcover version of the portfolio will have:

	6 photos that express a concentration or consistent theme (modeled aft the AP 2-D Design Portfolio "Breadth" section).
	10 digital photos of work that shows a wide variety of competency in at least six different media (modeled aft the AP Drawing Portfolio "Breadth" section).
	A current artist's statement (should include concentration or theme)
	A current, factual Artist's resume

-Digital- The digital version of the portfolio will have similar information but in varying quantities.

	20 works of art that show a wide variety of competency in at least six different media (Saved as a web page)
	6 of which should express the concentration or theme.

What's in it?

Artist's Statement

An artist's statement is a written introduction to the artist and the artist's work. It should provide insight into who the artist is as a person, why they create the artwork they do, and why that artwork should be important or interesting to those who look at it. Though it may or may not be easy for a student to write about themselves, it is important to try to focus on the main points of the statement without selling yourself short and without being too long-winded. After all, we want people to have something worth reading without boring them. This will be a revised version of our statement from our first year in Advanced Drawing and Painting.

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Artist's Resume

An artist's resume is a reference sheet listing the important information about an artist's career. Contact info, education, shows, lectures, and published articles are all things that should be listed on an artist's resume. This is a precise form that follows specific rules so it is important to get all of the information correct on the resume so prospective collectors and gallery personnel have the information they need. This will be a revised version of our resume from our first year in Advanced Drawing and Painting which includes the shows from this year.

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Portfolio Additions

A portfolio addition consists of two new works of art completed in a three week time period. The work should be accompanied by a quality digital photograph of each work and a photocopy of relevant sketchbook pages. The work should consistently be of higher quality or variety of media than existed in the student's portfolio prior to the addition; after all, the point of a portfolio addition is not to make the portfolio larger but to improve the quality of the portfolio.

For a more thorough description of the Portfolio Addition Process click >HERE<

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Photo's of the artwork

Traditionally artist's portfolios included slides of the artist's work. That way curators that are selecting work for a show can project the work to get a better feel for the scale and get a fair comparison with works of other artists. As technologies change the need for slides in a portfolio is diminishing. Digital photography and the associated equipment is becoming more prevalent throughout the industry so presenting an artist's work in digital format is becoming more necessary. Because of this we will photograph our work to document it and prepare a collection of digital photos to be included in our digital portfolio and printed for our presentation portfolio.

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Examples of a Concentration

The concentration connects all of the work included and focuses the efforts of an artist to consider a subject in perhaps a new and unique way. Concentrations may be almost anything because it is the way that the theme is interpreted by the artists that provides the greatest interest. This portfolio requirement is modeled after the concentration section of an Advanced Placement 2-D design portfolio. For a more thorough explanation of concentration please visit AP Central.

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Examples of Breadth

Breadth is the range of artistic exploration mastered by the student. Artwork exhibited as examples of this category should exhibit work of the highest quality and the greatest variety. This section is modeled after the "Breadth" section of the AP Drawing Portfolio and the "Quality" section of the AP 2-D Design portfolio. For a more thorough explanation of breadth please visit AP Central.

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Last Updated 09/20/2009