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National Portfolio Day Reflection

Due: 11/28/11

When I had heard about National Portfolio Day a couple of months back, it seemed to be so far away, although it ended up coming so quickly. I was very excited about National Portfolio Day and took it very seriously, even though I knew that my portfolio was weak in certain areas, specifically drawing. In the week approaching I took pictures of my pieces and selected my favorite 15 to 20 of those for my portfolio review. Unfortunately I only had one drawing which I included in my portfolio so I knew going in I still had a great deal of work ahead of me.

Once I arrived at the Convention Center, it was a lot larger and more hectic than I ever could have imagined. I was facinated by the huge number of eager hopefull art students like myself, anxious and ready to explain their point of views. The first table I walked by as I first arrived was Alfred Univ. I decided I would come back to that one if/when the line was a little shorter, there was a boy my age showing his portfolio and I glanced down seeing that his portfolio was mainly comopiled of ceramics as well, and it was good! As the page he was on had a beautiful slab built teapot and a shoe.  Already uneasy about my portfolio, this most certainly did not help my case, although I continued on trying to remain positive. I stopped at KCAI first, it had the shortest line and I know that they have a strong ceramics department. I got pretty positive feed back in regards to my forms. Kate recommended that I try to push the envelope a little bit with my ideas, such as doing something like putting a tiny sculpture as the knob ontop of a teapot, or using bolder colors. She also said that I needed to include more drawings, which I knew going into the day, all in all she said that I was very good at ceramics, she would just like to see me go outside of my comfort zone a little.

The next table I went to was Tyler, where Mr. Williams had strongly recommended that I speak with Nick Kripal, so that’s exactly what I did. While wainting in line, feeling more confident, but still very nervous, to my dismay, the boy I had seen at the Alfred table when I had first arrived was talking with Nick right before it was my turn. All I kept thinking was “Oh great, he’s going to be comparing me to him the whole time”. After waiting what seemed like forever, even though it was only about 20 or 30 minutes, it was my turn. To my surprise, he loved my work! Then he started talking about the kid that just went and I just thought “here it comes”, but then he said the nicest thing ever, that the kid ahead of me and myself had the two strongest ceramics portfolios he had seen…ever! I was exstatic! Nick, as did everyone else also needed more drawings and he recommended that I draw my pottery which I thought was an awesome idea.

Feeling a lot more confident after that review I ended my day going to Alfred and Arcadia. Both of the representatives from those two schools said basically the same thing as the others, my ceramics is strong I just need to take some time to focus on more drawing. All in all I had a great time at National Portfolio Day and found it very helpful and benefitial!

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