Portfolio Review Tips
The portfolio should include pieces from as many of the following categories as appropriate:
- Drawings and paintings done from observation and/or imagination
- Photography, printmaking projects, collage, mixed media, etc.
- Sculpture in any medium or size
- Environmental or site-specific installation (work made for a particular location either indoors or outdoors)
- Computer-generated imagery
- Work that changes with time, such as kinetic sculpture, animation, installation, performance and digital media, including live action video and interactive work or other time-based works
The Carnegie Mellon School of Art faculty are just as interested in an applicant's creative thinking skills as in his/her technical skills. It is important to show pieces that tell a story that only you can tell. The portfolio should be assembled to showcase your engagement with materials, ideas and contexts. Pieces that show your ability to work on a wide range of artistic concerns, or to work in depth and in sequence on a single idea are desirable. The portfolio should include as much work as possible done independently and outside of the classroom.
In preparing your portfolio review, we encourage you to take the following presentation suggestions into account:
- Work should be photographed so that the image fills the frame
- A neutral background is recommended so that it does not conflict with the work
- If several exposures of each piece are taken with different camera settings, the applicant will be able to select the best one for use in the portfolio
- Matting and mounting of works is not necessary
- Applying fixatives to works that smudge is highly recommended