Create with Intention. Tell Your Story.

Hi! I’m excited to meet you!

Your ideas, experiences, and interests shape your creative voice. I’d love to help you explore that voice, strengthen your skills, and build a portfolio that reflects who you are and where you want to go.

Before we meet, take a moment to scroll down and see how this process works. You’ll get a sense of my approach, what I look for in portfolios, and how our first meeting helps you take the next step towards your creative goals.

What Makes Art Coaching Different

Art coaching isn’t studio class; it’s focused, individualized portfolio development.

Creative students often face a unique challenge: you have plenty of ideas, but need guidance to bring them to life and show what makes your work your own. It’s easy to focus on technique without developing your personal voice, or to have a strong concept that needs clearer expression.

Coaching helps bridge that gap. I help you strengthen your technical skills, explore your ideas, and build a portfolio that reflects your individuality. Together, we focus on composition, storytelling, and creative choices that give your work purpose and prepare you for college applications.

How It Works

  1. 1. Upload your artwork
    Before our meeting, please upload your artwork into the shared slide deck. I’ll review your materials ahead of time to understand your starting point and get a sense of your current direction.
    If your work is not uploaded at least one day before our meeting, the appointment will be cancelled.

    2. Meet with me
    Once your work is uploaded, schedule your introductory meeting. This conversation is about connection and fit, getting to know how you approach design, what your goals are, and how I can help you communicate your ideas more effectively.

    3. Next steps
    If we both feel it’s a good fit, I’ll share you my art coach session calendar link so you can schedule your coaching sessions and begin developing your portfolio.

What Students Gain

Students I work with learn how to bring their ideas to life through strong technical skills and a clear personal voice. They gain confidence in exploring new approaches, making thoughtful creative choices, and building portfolios that reflect their individuality.

By application time, their portfolios demonstrate artistic growth and tell a compelling story about who they are as creative people.

Create with intention. Tell your story. Let’s build a portfolio that reflects your ideas, your voice, and where you want to go.

Book our introduction conversation here.

Maddie C., 12th grade

Coaching That Honors Your Design Process

Meet Abigail Zola, our Architecture & Design Coach,
Portfolio Specialist, and College Advisor

Abigail Zola
Architecture & Design Coach
Portfolio Specialist, College Advisor

Abigail Zola helps students bring structure, clarity, and meaning to their design portfolios. With a background that bridges architecture, research, and visual communication, she guides aspiring designers to present their ideas in ways that reflect both creative process and intentional design thinking.

Abigail earned her BFA in Interior Architecture from The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design at The George Washington University, where her capstone received the Juror’s Choice Award. She went on to complete her Master of Architecture with Honors at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). While at RISD, she worked in the Arts and Language Center helping students refine portfolios through layout design, visual hierarchy, and written project descriptions—experience that now shapes her coaching approach with college applicants.

Her graduate research explored how architecture influences emotional response to place. Through her thesis, “Emotional Contamination: Five Sites of Trauma in Berlin,” Abigail studied how spaces marked by history can be redesigned to acknowledge memory while inviting renewal. The project earned her the Fred and Maria Devinki Memorial Digital Humanities Fellowship from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

Abigail’s design experience spans concept development, digital storytelling, and site-based analysis. She brings that same balance of rigor and empathy to her coaching—helping students connect their ideas to a broader design narrative and present work that feels authentic and complete.

Based in New York City, Abigail works as a freelance architectural designer and continues to explore how design, emotion, and storytelling shape the spaces we create and the portfolios that represent them.