What if high school is not help with portfolio?

College Majors Architecture Major
1

<p>My 9th grade D is interested in architecture. Unfortunately, our high school has a very weak art department and has not previously been helpful in student portfolio preparation. Since we have time, where can we look to for opportunities and guidance in creating a portfolio?</p>

2

<p>I'd recommend trying one of the summer programs- I know that Harvard, USC, Cornell, and SCI_Arc all have them, and expect there are many more. These programs typically last a couple of weeks and give students who are considering architecture exposure to the world of studio. Or even have her do a longer summer program in art, which most of the major art schools offer. These are not only great portfolio builders, but also a chance to test out a school she may be interested in.</p>

<p>And of course: draw, draw, draw.</p>

3

<p>Summer classes--and at the end of junior year--post her portfolio online for comment here on the CC architecture boards. There are quite a few posters who have experience on admissions committees--Marsden for one.</p>

4

<p>The summer program idea is a good one. I just want to point out that the summer program at Harvard Graduate School of Design tends not to have high school students in it. Great program however. The others might be better suited to a high school student.</p>

5

<p>Cal Poly also offers a summer program that might be less expensive than the others mentioned. IIRC, Cornell's is close to $7,000 and lasts all summer. </p>

<p>Do you have community center art classes? My daughter could not get into an art class in 9th grade and took a class at our local city-sponsored art program (which is wonderful). She loved it and really improved her drawing technique. If the class was $75 I'd be surprised. Private group or individual art classes would be another option. Sometimes they are offered at art galleries.</p>

<p>Also, find out as soon as you can where to get her artwork reproduced for the portfolios that she will be submitting. This was a stumper for us that the art dept. at the HS knew nothing about. After calling all over the SF Bay Area, I finally found a guy in a tiny photo store about a mile from my house who has a huge flatbed scanner, ability to make negatives (thus can make slides even with no negative to work with) and fantastic attention to color and detail when doing imaging.</p>

6

<p>Thanks for all of the great advice everyone! I knew I had to look elsewhere for art classes. When I search for some, will it matter what media they use or should there be a variety? Also, what year(s) would be best to attend a summer program?</p>

<p>Thanks too for the advice on reproduction. That never would have occured to me until I had to actually do it! I sure have a lot to learn.</p>

7

<p>The summer after junior and senior year is the best--if you can afford to do both.</p>

<p>In the meantime, try some local art classes--particularily if you have any sculpture opportunities--or glass blowing.</p>

8

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<p>You get a little bit of a mixed message from the schools in this respect. All of the schools that ask for a portfolio say they want to see your creativity and that that can even include creative writing or other non-visual endeavors. On the other hand, I think they do mostly want to see that you can DRAW. Some schools, like University of Oregon, specify that you must include a drawing of a tool and a self-portrait in the portfolio. Wash U asks you to include a drawing of a shoe (my daughter did a cowboy boot) and some other things as well. So I would say that a class focusing on drawing technique at some point is important. Other media would be great perhaps after she is getting pretty well versed in hand drawing.</p>

<p>My daughter has had a couple of really positive portfolio reviews and has been accepted to all the arch schools she has applied to so far (with one remaining to be heard from) so I feel relatively confident in giving the advice I've given, but there isn't any substitute for going and looking at some real portfolios. If you live anywhere near a good architecture program that requires freshman applicants to submit a portfolio, go there and ask to look at some sample portfolios. They keep some on file for just this purpose. My daughter looked at them at Cornell and again at University of Oregon. It was incredibly enlightening just to see what kinds of things the accepted students had put together.</p>

9

<p>Awesome idea J-Ro. Thanks! That is just the kind of advice I was hoping for. It is really a shame that our hs, which has a really comprehensive and outstanding music program, has not been able to do the same thing with the visual arts. It just goes to show you how much depends on the individual teachers and not the funding involved.</p>