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faq >
A portfolio of artwork is required for admission to the BFA and BA programs. The purpose of the portfolio is to help the Committee on Admissions evaluate an applicant’s artistic skills and creative potential. Portfolios should show the applicant’s current level of ability in the medium or mediums in which they feel most competent. Additionally, a portfolio should demonstrate creative imagination, the potential for artistic growth, and the applicant’s areas of artistic interest.
Portfolios can be tailored for entry into specific program areas—Fine Art, Photography, or Design—or they can demonstrate artistic talent in more than one area. Recommended contents for each type of submission are listed below under “Specific Requirements.” Applicants with questions about requirements should contact the Admissions staff for counseling on portfolio preparation.
If at all possible, applicants should present original, hard copy versions of their portfolios for their in-person review, unless their work is digital by nature. Students who live less than 200 miles from Washington are required to attend a portfolio review in person. Be ready to discuss your works and processes at an interview. Applicants who live more than 200 miles from Washington have the option of mailing in a portfolio digitally or in 35 mm slide format, as discussed below.
DIGITAL PORTFOLIO
In addition to, or in lieu of, having their original portfolios viewed, students may submit a digital portfolio on a CD or DVD. Digital portfolios should not be submitted as an e-mail attachment or as a PowerPoint or digital slide show.
Still image files should be formatted as TIFs or JPEGs, with pixel dimensions of 800 x 600 or smaller. Video clips may be in QuickTime format or on a DVD. Each CD or DVD must be printed with the applicant’s name and address. Do not submit your only copy. Please check your disk to see that the files are readable before submitting.
Mailed digital portfolios must be accompanied by a written inventory list detailing the names of the disk’s files and the title, medium(s), size, and date of the depicted works. The entries should also describe the file type (i.e., .jpg, .html, etc.) and indicate if the files were generated using a Mac or PC.
Example: JohnSmith.jpg, Mac, Self Portrait, mixed media, 24" x 36", May 2008.
35 mm SLIDE PORTFOLIO
Please be aware that 35 mm slides will be converted into digital images before they are viewed by the Admissions Committee. We strongly recommend that students submit a digital portfolio.
If you do submit slides, label the front of each slide with your name and the artwork’s title, and number each slide to correspond with an inventory list included with your portfolio. In the right-hand corner of the slide, indicate the top of the piece with a small arrow. Write directly on the slide—do not use labels. Assemble the slides in order, according to the numbers assigned to each, and place in a clear slide-protector sheet. Clearly label the slide-protector sheet with your name and address.
SPECIFIC REQUIREMENTS BY AREA
If you are interested in applying directly to Fine Art, Photography, or Design, you must indicate your preference in your application form or letter, and with your portfolio and required written statement. This allows you to be evaluated based on what you anticipate the direction of your studies to be, and to begin taking major-specific courses during your first year. Each area’s preferred portfolio content list are discussed below. Students who wish to be admitted without a specific area of interest should submit artwork that they feel represents their best accomplishments, using the suggestions below as guidelines.
Candidates for direct admission to Fine Art
First-year candidates in Fine Art (painting, sculpture, printmaking, drawing, ceramics, installation, multi-media, or art education) must submit portfolios of 12–20 finished pieces of artwork. A variety of mediums is preferred. Drawing mediums can include pencil, ink, charcoal, or pastel. Painting media can include watercolor, acrylic, or oils. Ceramics, photography, mixed media, collage, and digital output are other possibilities. Sketchbooks may be included to help demonstrate a student’s working process and technique, but do not count towards the 12-piece minimum.
Approximately 6–10 pieces of the portfolio should consist of representational work done from personal observation, not from photographs, other artworks, or imagination. Examples of real-life observation subjects can include still life, portraits and self-portraits, figure studies, landscapes, and interior studies. If possible, these should be full-page compositions that measure at least 18" x 24". Some of the work should be in color and include a variety of objects or figures portrayed in relation to each other. Not all the representational works should be single objects centered on a page. The balance of the portfolio may be works of the student’s choice, including other media such as sculpture, digital art, photography, design pieces, abstract representations, or creative imaginary works.
The portfolio should be accompanied by:
Candidates for direct admission to Photography
First-year photography candidates seeking entry to the Fine Art Photography or Photojournalism majors are asked to submit a portfolio of 15–20 prints in black and white, color, or both. These prints can be silver-based, traditionally processed, or digital, and should be produced by the applicant. Students residing within 200 miles of the Corcoran are required to present their portfolio of prints in person for review. In addition, all students should submit a copy of their portfolio on a CD, DVD, or in 35 mm slide format to the Office of Admissions.
The print portfolio should be accompanied by:
Successful portfolios will demonstrate a commitment to the photographic medium and creativity in depicting one’s subjects. This encompasses a basic mastery of camera controls and composition, evidence of imagination, and a concerted exploration of a particular photographic theme.
Candidates for direct admission to Design
First-year design candidates pursuing Digital Media Design, Graphic Design, and Interior Design majors should submit a portfolio of 15–20 projects. Projects can include graphic design, digital media design, interior design, or artwork from a variety of media.
Graphic and digital-media design portfolio contents can include posters, magazines, brochures, book covers, logos and symbols, environmental graphics, packaging, advertising, business cards, T-shirts, calligraphy, skateboard graphics, CD covers, digital illustrations, web-site designs, digital video, animations, photography, drawings (including still life and self-portraits), painting, mixed media collage, and photo-collage.
Interior Design portfolios can include free-hand perspective drawings, free-hand sketch drawings of plans, sections, and elevations or details from journals depicting buildings, sculpture, and interiors (these drawings can be in a medium of the student's choice), drawings completed in Photoshop, Illustrator, or AutoCAD, and work executed in InDesign.
The portfolio should be accompanied by:
Conceptual thinking, creativity, craft, and the use of form and image will be considered during portfolio evaluation.
ADDITIONAL BACHELOR OF ARTS IN ART STUDIES APPLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Portfolio requirements for applicants to the Bachelor of Arts in Art Studies program are the same as for the BFA program. BA program applicants should submit artwork that they feel represents their best artistic accomplishments, using the suggestions above as guidelines.
In addition to a portfolio, BA applicants must submit a writing sample that addresses one of three topics created by Art Studies faculty, and provided by the Office of Admissions. This essay will replace the one-page portfolio statement required for BFA applicants. Essay topics change annually. Writing skills and academic accomplishment are strongly emphasized in admissions decisions for the BA in Art Studies program.