<p>Today was National Portfolio Day in San Francisco! Here's a report on what I saw and how it went for us. </p>
<ol>
<li><p>This year it was held at the San Francisco Art Institute, a small school located near Nob Hill and North Beach. (Not the Academy of Art, or Institute of Art!) The line stretched around three sides of the block the school takes up. We were worried it would be too small a space, but it worked out really well. For the most part, they grouped one "long line" school with several "short line" schools in areas, which seemed to help reduce the crowding. Last year at AAU, they put several "long line" schools in the same small areas, and it was wall to wall people, really awful. Acoustics in the building were good, and the student volunteers staffing the event were friendly, clueful, and plentiful! </p></li>
<li><p>My daughter saw SMFA, SAIC, Parsons, PNCA, MICA, RISD, and Cooper Union, in that order and in just under 3 hours. We deployed the whole family to do that. My son waited on the RISD line the whole time. My partner was our NYC connection: he waited at Parsons, and then when daughter got there, went and waited on Cooper Union. I did SAIC and MICA. I also coordinated everyone via cell phone SMS messages. :-) My daughter spent almost the entire time either speaking to reps and showing her portfolio or travelling between the different school review areas. </p></li>
<li><p>The past two years, she's been told at NPD to work on technical skills and observational pieces. This past fall she's spent 3 nights a week in life drawing and portrait classes -- about 12 hours a week. As a result, she was told that her technique was incredible and that she didn't need to worry about that any more. :-) Instead, she should work on creating pieces that really indulged her unique point of view. She already had some of those. Basically, she was encouraged to spend the next few weeks giving free reign to her very quirky style, experimenting with non-traditional materials and all the cool techniques she dabbles in. </p></li>
<li><p>Biggest surprises: SAIC said they had already approved her portfolio last summer, and that she should just get her paperwork in and start preparing her scholarship application pieces. Since it's one of her top choices, she was pretty happy about that. Cooper Union was very encouraging to her, which I didn't expect. I wonder if they're just always that way? </p></li>
<li><p>Biggest disappointment: RISD. My son waited in line on my daughter's behalf from just after noon until 2:45 PM in the longest line at the event. When my daughter got to see someone, she got about 2 minutes of time and a cursory, "This looks fine." It was the absolute shortest review after the longest line. I don't really think she's a good fit for RISD, but she wanted to stop in and get a sense of what they would like in her submission portfolio. She felt like the reviewer was bored and inattentive. </p></li>
</ol>
<p>We saw a lot more students bringing only laptops to show this year. That's been true all three years we've done NPD, but this year it seemed to be more students than ever before. I know it's portable, but I just don't see a small screen having the same impact on a reviewer as the larger works they were being shown by other students.</p>