National Portfolio Day

National Portfolio Day is coming soon to a city near you…or on-line! Prior to submitting your portfolio to an art school, we recommend that you have your work critiqued by professionals who evaluate 1,000’s of student-work each year and to learn more about a school. Reviewers will provide you invaluable feedback about individual pieces and your overall body of work - both of which are helpful as you develop your portfolio (Sophomores and Juniors) and prepare your college applications and portfolio submissions (Seniors). The more opportunities that you have to present and talk about your work, the easier it will be to talk about and present your portfolio when the time comes. With 40 or more schools attending each event one of the easiest ways to do this is by attending a National Portfolio Day event.

The 2023-2024 Schedule has been posted with many in person and five online event opportunities (Sept 10, Oct 27, Dec 3, Jan 7, May 4).

Before your attend…

• Registration is required to attend the in-person and virtual events. After registering for an in-person event, you receive a QR code that is used at the NPD check-in. For the online registration, you will receive a confirmation email with a unique link that is used to enter the zoom rooms on the day of the event. You can see the events you are registered for by clicking on the menu box, MY EVENTS, on the left side of the header.

• Make a list of the schools you want to visit. Investigate which schools are participating at the event ahead of time. Many schools have uploaded videos and have chat boxes. Click on the VIEW DETAIL button for the event you want to attend. In the menu box on the left side of the header EXHIBITORS shows the participating schools.

• You can not sign up for a review in advance for either virtual or in person events. For virtual events you will sign up the day of the event, for in person events you will wait in line for a review. 

• Research faculty and programs (degrees offered, foundation year, school cultural, etc.), if you have questions write them in your sketchbook and ask the reviewer, they may not know the answer but it's a great way to show you're interested in their program and to start a conversation you can continue later by email. Don't ask questions you can answer online.

• If you are showing your actual work make sure it is neat and clean (no dog ears, smudges, etc.) and ordered in your portfolio case so you can easily find the work you want to show. 

• If you are showing your work electronically photograph and organize your work on a google drive or laptop folder. Photographs should be neat, clean, and professional in appearance (they do NOT need to be professionally photographed, schools want students to be able to present their work themselves). Make sure you can access your work OFFLINE as you will not know if the venue has an accessible, and strong enough, signal.

During your review… be yourself

• Dress neatly and comfortably, wear comfortable shoes, it’s a lot of standing and waiting in line

• Practice talking about your work, you may be asked what was successful? what you would do differently? how you might use this medium in future work? what inspired this work? 

• Bring water and a snack, you’ll be more receptive if you aren’t hangry.

What to show

• About 8-12 pieces of work, both completed pieces and works in progress

• Sketchbooks, photographs of prototypes (for 3D work) and of your process if you are showing an installation

• There is NO size limit for your work, if you work in 3D take multiple photos from different angles

• Observational drawings (they don’t have to be figure drawings)

• Show work in different media if you have it... 2D, 3D, design, photography, short animations, short films, etc. Demonstrate your comfort using different techniques. 

• Make sure that your work is well photographed so reviewers can easily see it. Schools love to see work in a variety of mediums, they also love seeing sketchbooks and observational drawings both at NPD and in your portfolio.

• You can show work on Instagram but MAKE SURE YOU CURATE YOUR FEED!!

• Order your work so you can show your best work first in a logical progression in case you run out of time at the end

What to expect for the online experience

• Be on time for your meeting. You will sign up for a 15 minute appointment on the day of the event. 

• Schools will use google drive or zoom to view your work. We recommend that you practice moving through the slides so you know what you want to say. Put your best work first, in case you don’t have time to review everything you queued up.

• Find a quiet environment where you can hear, be heard, and won’t be interrupted.

Remember to note the name, phone and email of the reviewer and follow up with them after the event.

Good luck and HAVE FUN!

Laura and I have started offering Portfolio Reviews, you can read more or sign up for one here.