Just a quick blog about what to expect after submitting your portfolio. We have been getting a lot of questions about the wait process, so thought we would put this out there to hopefully make people more comfortable with the process.
1. After you submit your work to an art school or agency you may hear back in as little as a week or as long as several months. This is not standard and can change from year to year. Some places do not respond at all, which can be very discouraging. You need to understand that they get hundreds of portfolios a day and it can take them some time to go through them all and decide who they want to interview and/or call back for an assignment test. Do not panic if you do not hear back right away, just keep checking your email in case they reached out earlier than you expected.
2. Once you are contacted by someone regarding your work it will most likely be through email with either a request for an interview or an assignment test. The interview request is much more common than the assignment test request, but you should be prepared for both possibilities.
3. An interview is a chance for them to get to know you better and see your personality, so always dress nice and bring copies of your resume, business cards
Have you recently submitted a portfolio to a school of art, design or related field? Are you thinking about submitting one? Are you a teacher in one of these fields and would like to know what students are doing?
If so, this is the blog for you! We’re going to discuss the steps taken by both students and faculty members when reviewing portfolios in art and design schools.
Trying to figure out just what happens after you submit your portfolio can be a little confusing. Some schools will tell you what they’re looking for, some will not. Some people will give you tips on how to try and catch an art professors eye and some won’t. This blog is an attempt to give all of that information in one place.
Portfolio season is upon us again! This means that art school students are gathering up their work, making sure that everything is up to date and in order, and getting ready to submit. But what happens after you submit your portfolio?
Most schools will notify you when they have received your portfolio. You might get a letter or an email with the date of the review, or a list of participating faculty members. (It’s a good idea to write down the names of all the faculty members who will be reviewing your work, as well as their areas of expertise. This will help you plan your presentation.)
The review itself is almost always a blind review—the reviewers know nothing about you or your work other than what they see in front of them in your portfolio. They are looking for evidence that you can do what they do, not whether they like your work or not.
You should have a clear idea of what you want to make when you arrive at the review. If it’s a MFA program, you should know if you’re planning on making sculpture or painting or both; if it’s a BFA program, you should know if you want to focus on painting or sculpture or both; if it’s an undergraduate program you should know which area(s
The art center where I work is a nonprofit organization that provides low-cost space for artists to work, show their work and sell it. I am happy to share my insights and experiences with you, in the hopes that it will help you make your own art center experience a good one!
After you have submitted your portfolio, you can expect the following: 1. You will be asked to present your artwork in person. 2. You may be contacted by a board member to schedule an interview, or if this is not possible for some reason, general questions may be asked on email. 3. The board will vote on whether or not to accept your artwork. 4. If accepted, you may be required to fill out a contract and pay dues.*
Here are some tips and suggestions from my own experiences: 1. Make sure all of your paperwork is in order: application, resume, etc. 2. Do not be offended if someone does not respond to you as soon as you would like; there are many people involved in making these decisions and sometimes it takes awhile for everyone to get back to you with their opinions**
The most important thing to know is that when you are applying to art school, you are not applying to become an artist. You’re applying to be a student of art. The purpose of your portfolio is to show that you can follow directions and work hard. It’s also to show off your talents and interests, but those talents and interests need to be applied in the way that the art school wants them applied.
Designed by students for students, this blog has everything you need to know about how to get into art school, from registering for classes to creating a resume. We’ve got advice on getting good grades, applying for financial aid and everything in between!
Each agency has its own internal process for reviewing portfolios. However, there are a few common steps that many agencies follow. First, once your portfolio is received, it will be reviewed by an assistant or associate curator. This individual will determine whether or not your work is a good match for the agency’s collection and exhibitions. If it is, your portfolio will be passed on to a more senior curator for review. The senior curator may request additional information and images from you, after which he or she will make a final decision regarding your work.
When your work is accepted into the collection, it will either be placed in storage or hung in the gallery. Most agencies require that you sign a contract when you submit your work. If you sign an exclusive contract with the agency, this means that you cannot show with any other galleries during the term of that contract. Exclusivity can run anywhere from six months to three years depending on the agreement between yourself and the agency (or sometimes based on the length of time it takes to process a given piece).
If you choose not to sign an exclusive agreement with one of these fine art marketplaces, but rather submit your work on a non-exclusive basis, then they may still purchase some of your pieces but they may also choose not