<p>Has anyone been to a portfolio review for CMU? Is it just a critique of your artwork or did you get to discuss your work? How many pieces did you bring? Should it be a mix of media or all one type (ie: Painting).<br>
Thanks for any other suggestions you may have.</p>
<p>We did with our daughter. You should follow their guidelines to the letter. If they want a variety of observational drawings, don’t use a lot of photos or just self portraits… Be prepared to discuss your work and what you like most about it.</p>
<p>D did not do a portfolio review at CMU. but every other one she went to, the expected her to talk about her work. At SAIC, the reviewer said he was so happy she could do that, as many people can’t, he had to draw every syllable out of them. They usually look for mix of different things. D had illustration, photography, and the all important drawn-from-life pieces. Check their website, sometimes they will say what should be in there.</p>
<p>Thanks for the advice. D had a review at Sam Fox (Wash U) last week. Reviewer did not give her a chance to say anything. Basically, she just went through D’s work suggesting that she should have used different colors! It was not what she was expecting at all!</p>
<p>From our experience, that does not sound like a typical review to me. Every reviewer asked her something about her work and expected her to talk about where she got her ideas from, etc. and wanted to see her sketchbook as well, so make sure you bring that. Check the NPD thread for lots of advice as to how to interact with the reviewers.</p>
<p>My S had a review at both CMU and WUSTL. The portfolio reviews were helpful for getting a feel whether it was a good fit but you have to be careful that you don’t generalize because of one reviewer who may be in a bad mood or just not representative of the school. That being said, S felt he was given clear signals at WUSTL that his art was a little outside their comfort zone. He did get into WUSTL but he definitely didn’t feel the fit there because of the review but also looking around at the work being done by the kids there–high quality but more conventional than what he generally does. The visit to CMU and review were an unqualified success and S is doing his first year there now.</p>
<p>About the review…I ended up taking him to CMU after initially thinking he could just go on the plane with a laptop with images of his work. I think it was a good choice despite his strongest part of the portfolio being digital animation. Like Taxguy said, it is important to follow their guidelines which, if I remember, asked for a variety of media. That is why I took him and portfolio there and then brought back the portfolio while he stayed and participated in a diversity weekend. My S took a few small but fragile sculptures and about 15 pieces of 2-D art that had painting (oils and acrylic and wc) still life, figure drawing, etc. I was not at the review but they asked him to lay out/display his 2-D and 3-D in an area in a large room with about 12 other students. Then they interviewed them individually (reviewers pretty much wandering between a few students but then checking out all of the work eventually) and asked them questions about the pieces–why this, why that, story behind it…anything you would do differently with some feedback/suggestions but all constructive. The LOVED his IB sketchbook where all his ideas were worked out for each piece. CMU is a “conceptual” school and the emphasis is on the creative process/artistic concept so a big chunk of foundation is spent in studying the creative process for artists. </p>
<p>At the end of his portfolio review they saw his animation…at that point they did say…you know the animation would have been sufficient…I think what they meant was that this was his strong suit not that he should have blown off the directions and only brought digital animation. Still…it was a little confusing. However, he definitely enjoyed the portfolio review and he felt it was helpful and gave him a positive view of the CFA. After that, the parents and students went on a very long tour of all the art facilities…very complete but a lot is in dark basements and (for a parent) a bit grim compared to places like VCU or Temple or WashU. </p>
<p>If you can, try to stay overnight and do a sleeping bag weekend because you get a sense of what the university is like and it is critical that you feel at home at CMU not just the art program. It is a very special environment of incredibly hard working students and there is certainly an aura of geekiness/techlovers that leaks into the fine and performing arts too.</p>
<p>I wouldn’t discard an art program after a dissatisfying portfolio review (on your part) but put it into the whole “is this a good fit for me?” question.</p>