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You’re dead set on going to Art College then? Good on you and I wish you all the luck in the world! I know the importance of good preparation but I also understand how difficult it can be for students like you, to know how best to prepare. As I say in my introduction video on our homepage ‘There’s a lot of confusion about what a portfolio should be, how you create it and what’s really expected of an art college applicant’. So I am going to share with you all the precious experience and knowledge that I’ve gathered over 15 years – here goes! In this eBook we will look at the 4 essential elements of your portfolio, offer some ideas about how you can go about fulfilling these parts of your portfolio and link you to further information from the Portfolio Oomph website in the form of eCourses and other useful links. We show some visual examples of some of the areas that we discuss but this is purely to give you some ideas and possibilities, not as a template to work to or by any means saying ‘ this is what your work should look like’. Your work is YOUR work and will look different. Use this eBook as a framework to embed what you will learn in our eCourses. Ideally, you should use this eBook in conjunction with our eCourses. You will also see that we have quite a few ‘Pinterest’ labels dotted throughout this eBook, you’ll be wondering why. The artists work that we discuss in this book are really important to your learning and you need to see these fantastic visual examples. Artists to look for on Pinterest are highlighed in RED and numbered after each name to correspond the numbers on each image. We’ve made a collection of these images on Pinterest so that you can look at them, share them and distribute them yourselves from our boards rather than being embedded in our eBooks. So wherever you see this icon you should wing your way over to our Pinterest page which is: www.pinterest.com/portfoliooomph/creating-a-sensational-portfolio-ebook You don’t need to create an account to view the images, but you do if you want to share them. Be careful though, you might get addicted if you aren’t already so! The essential elements that we mentioned can be categorised into the 4 areas (overleaf) and the aims of this eBook are to provide you with a formula, that you can follow with just about any project that will take you on a journey to enable you to develop a sensational portfolio. Now I am not saying “follow this formula and you will get into Art College”, please DO NOT think this – if you believe this you might as well stop right now (also please read our terms and conditions of the website if you haven’t yet done so!). Because if we knew exactly what to put in a portfolio we’d all do it and art is not about doing what everyone else does, it’s about YOU and what YOU want to do. This formula can take you on the journey that is the way to explore your ideas in a very personal, individual way which is what the Colleges want to see. How well and far reaching you do this is up to you and will reflect your creative potential and commitment, which in essence is what is being assessed. Okay?

© 2012 Julie Read Portfolio Oomph. All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without prior written permission. www.portfolio-oomph.com

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Designer John Galliano (11,12,13) is heavily influenced by Japanese costume and 17th century Dutch painters. A piece of video work that never fails to move me is Dalziel and Scullion's 'Water Falls Down' where the final 'chapter' shows a cultural event that of a baptism/blessing in the sea. The simplicity of imagery is stunning, the strength of emotion awe inspiring. www.dalzielscullion.com/works_page/film/waterfalls_video.html

LANGUAGE: Not just verbal language, body language, text language and symbols can all communicate the notion of language. Take a look at the work of Nancy Dwyer (17).

Kay Rosen (14,15), Cy Twombly (16) and

LIGHT: Taking notice of light and shadows is in essence what photography is all about. The way we see the world is dependent on light. What do you see as the sun rises and darts between your curtains onto the walls? What about in the dead of night or dusk as the sun disappears, what can you make out – view photographer Iain Stewart’s (18,19) fine art photography.

LINE: Line influences many artists not only in the sense of using it as it means to draw but in sculpture, installation and more, if you think more creatively. A friend and colleague of mine worked on a project for the Brooklyn Art Library on the theme of ‘Along the line’ and you can see her sketchbook project for this on our blog page on line. On quite a different theme of line is the work of Monika Grzymala (20) who uses tape and other materials in the creation of artworks that are more akin to drawing than installation, viewing the works as complex drawings that leave the walls and takes over the surrounding space. What lines do you see on a day to day basis – telephone wires, double yellows, railings, washing line, life lines etc…. Take a look at our blog post on interpretations of line: www.portfolio-oomph.com/research/interpretation-of-line The Boyle Family (21,22) use all kinds of line to inspire their work, road lines, tidal lines on the beach, etc. What lines do you see around you that could be the starting point for some new work?

road markings, eletricity pylon, tree stump

© 2012 Julie Read Portfolio Oomph. All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without prior written permission. www.portfolio-oomph.com

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New technologies - New technologies have an important role in play in the development of the world in general and all aspects of the creative industries. What new technologies do you use or know about that could inspire your designs/artwork? Noticing how people move, use their body language, use text/facebook/twitter language etc. could inspire all kinds of projects. A fantastic new product that has recently been developed that was featured on the ‘Home of the future’ is a spray on fabric by a company called Fabrican (56,57). See the website www.homeofthefuture.tv/show/play for more details of just how this ‘fabric’ can be used. Breakthroughs in synthetic fibres also digital printing in the fashion world has changed how garments can be made and designed. Also, industrial manufacturing techniques are now influencing fashion in a big way creating wearable technology using 'smart' fabrics that respond to heat, light etc. A colleague of mine, Joanne Hodge’s (58,59) ‘Shirt Skirt’ intends to make people aware of their8body language, how they move and intimate touch by an outward display of colour change on the fabric. The under skirt appears to be a clear gloss print until exposed to UV light – as this is a part of a garment that does not normally see sunlight; what does this mean in terms of wear-ability and how will this make the wearer and those whom they come into contact with react? It is exciting to see the print glow brilliantly bright and turn a deep purple but for this to occur you have to lift up the skirt revealing more than you might normally feel comfortable with. Issey Miyake (60), Hussein Chalayan (61) and Junya Watanae (62) all embrace the challenges that working with these new generation fabrics offer. Beverley Hood (63) has spent the past fifteen years creating digital arts projects that interrogate the impact of the virtual on the body, relationships and human experience. ‘Glitching’ is a new digital installation and performance project commissioned for the Human Race exhibition, that attempts to re-describe the movement derived from characters in contemporary sports and action computer games. Finally in this section on new technologies, Stelarc (64), a Cypriot-Australian performance artist whose works focuses heavily on extending the capabilities of the human body.

Science - Nesta (National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts) provides a huge amount of funding to enable art and science collaborations and there are many artists working where art and science converge. Christine Borland’s (65) recent work has shows an interest in ethics and the consequences of medical decision making. We mentioned the Boyle Family (66) earlier in this eBook when we were discussing the use of line in seeking out ideas for our research. Take a look at their ‘Skin’ series and how they are working from a number of subjects with similar processes. There's probably lots of other places that you can find this research, the key is being open to finding it and not just looking at things, but really SEEING things.

Compiling your research The first place that I would suggest that you start to compile your research is in your sketchbook. This allows things to be stuck in, sketches made, with notes and annotations alongside that help to show your thinking behind the work, but remember that your sketchbook is NOT A SCRAPBOOK. There should be many pages where you are working straight into your sketchbook, not just sticking things. It’s not expected that your sketchbook has a perfect piece of artwork on each page as it should be seen as a place to explore, experiment, make decisions in and develop your work.

© 2012 Julie Read Portfolio Oomph. All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without prior written permission. www.portfolio-oomph.com

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layering over monoprints of bubble wrap, concealing/revealing and painting in layers

So, whilst I talk about 4 distinct areas of research, development, context and resolution quite separately this doesn’t mean that it has to be presented in clearly separate pages, sheets or sections. If it is helpful for you to put images of artists that have inspired you within your development work and your research then do this as it will be wise to be able to see your inspiration and context alongside your own thoughts, developments – as shown in the examples above and below.

using a paper circle to mask areas (top) taking rubbings from circle textures, Richard Long’s work

photos and monoprints of bubble wrap, watering can rose (top) using a paper circle to mask areas, Olafur Eliasson’s work

© 2012 Julie Read Portfolio Oomph. All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without prior written permission. www.portfolio-oomph.com

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Remember the 4 pronged attack below? With a good dose of drawing for good measure!

Research / visual enquiry

Development work

Contextual awareness

Critical judgement, selection and RESOLVED WORK

FINAL, FINALLY..... If you’ve found this eBook useful, please tell your friends - we’d also love to hear how it’s helped you on our Facebook page. If not, we’d be keen to hear how we could make it better - let us know!

GOOD LUCK!

© 2012 Julie Read Portfolio Oomph. All rights reserved, no part of this publication may be reproduced or redistributed in any form without prior written permission. www.portfolio-oomph.com