Art colleges - what are they looking for in HS portfolios?

Parents Forum
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<p>What are top art colleges looking for in HS portfolio? </p>

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<p>Daughter who is an A-B student from NJ who LOVES art -- has always been gifted in it -- is now looking to seriously develop a portfolio to prepare her for an art college in a few years.</p>

<p>What do these art school or top arts programs look for? Her work has already been selected to exhibit at a prestigious gallery in our area since middle school. Are they looking for diversity of media? A passion in one area? </p>

<p>Is there something special that really attracted the eye of certain schools you can share?</p>

<p>She is also very well rounded -- very active in extracurricular activities, in an IB program, community service and top athlete in soccer and softball, if that helps. </p>

<p>Thanks for the input.</p>

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<p>Cinderellie, CC has a subforum for arts majors here: <a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=503%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/forumdisplay.php?f=503&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>You might have better luck getting responses there, and there are sure to be older posts with some of the information you are looking for. Hope this helps...</p>

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<p>Cinderellie,</p>

<p>I can only address the part of the question regarding applications to universities or liberal arts colleges. For art schools, per se, do try the arts forum as mezzomom advises.</p>

<p>Artistic talent and achievement can indeed be a valuable hook in admissions. I'm sure your multifaceted daughter would be of interest to many colleges. I'm most familiar with the smaller liberal arts colleges because that is the route my son chose and I can say in general that the combination of demonstrated talent in studio art plus sports plus solid academics is a persuasive profile. The IB diploma program is especially compelling.</p>

<p>Many schools will give specific information on their websites regarding their requirements for submitting supplemental art material. </p>

<p>Most commonly, they specify slides (though finally some are going digital) and give you instructions for how to label them. Usually they ask for a list denoting the title, medium, size, top and date.</p>

<p>The admissions committee will then pass the slides over to the art department for evaluation. They will be looking for talent, creativity and technical skill so the slides should cover a range of media. An emphasis on drawing from life is important and self-portraits are always well received. You may also include details of larger works.</p>

<p>I’d strongly suggest having the slides taken by a professional photographer (no shadows or fingerprints). </p>

<p>I also like the idea of submitting an arts package along with your application. This would include:
Slides with accompanying descriptive list
Brief statement of artistic intent
Resume including a description of courses taken, grades, scores, awards, achievements, shows, travel opportunities if pertinent
Recommendation from an instructor
If required, an essay on "what EC means the most to me" about a significant art-related experience</p>

<p>All large universities have substantial art departments. Some are better than others, but a couple that come to mind are University of Michigan and Carnegie Melon. If she’s in the range academically, then among the very selective schools Yale and Brown have great art departments.</p>

<p>For smaller liberal arts colleges, take a look at the following for good studio art.
Very selective: Williams, Wesleyan
Less selective: Hamilton, Skidmore, Connecticut College, Kenyon, Vassar, Smith</p>

<p>Here are some examples of webpages that give submission instructions. If you can’t find this information for the colleges of interest, just give them a call.</p>

<p>Skidmore
<a href="http://www.skidmore.edu/admissions/inquire/forms/skidmore_supplement_instructions0607.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.skidmore.edu/admissions/inquire/forms/skidmore_supplement_instructions0607.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Kenyon
<a href="http://www.kenyon.edu/x21737.xml%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.kenyon.edu/x21737.xml&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Williams
<a href="http://www.williams.edu/admission/app_2005/06arts_evaluation.pdf%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.williams.edu/admission/app_2005/06arts_evaluation.pdf&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

<p>Good luck and let us know how it goes.</p>

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<p>To echo momrath, you should check the requirements at each college to which you are applying - usually specified on their website. Some colleges have very specific requirements for art portfolios - slides or CD only, labeled a particular way, maximum # of slides, description of media/intent/dimensions, to be sent to the art department directly, etc. </p>

<p>Many use a professional photographer for portfolios, but this can be extremely expensive. High school art teachers will often help the student do these photos at no cost. If this isn't an option, for liberal arts schools, I'd consider doing the photos yourself -my son took the photos himself, hanging a sheet against a wall. I'm sure a professional's photos would have been far better, but his photos were clear enough I think. For art schools, I'd go the professional route.</p>