As you might have seen awhile ago I went to University of Michigan (Ann Arbor) for National Portfolio Day yesterday morning. So here's a little review.

I was actually scared out of my wits for no good reason. I was wearing my bright pink trench coat and my portfolio was an 8" x 10" scrapbook-turned-gallery; all of the Urban Outfitters-clad high schoolers with their giant portfolios and the representatives all sitting at their tables in a long line was simply intimidating. I also got there about 40 minutes early (10:20) because I had been hoping to get to the informational meeting about UofM's art program (10:00), but as usual I was late. After I signed my name in the register I was given a packet containing all the college names and where they were in the Art and Architecture building. So when everyone finally got released at 11:00 I went looking for the Minneapolis College of Art and Design, with my original intention being to look at that and Kendall.

I found room 2100, and ended up being the first in line to see the Minneapolis rep. She was really friendly and we had similar hair (silly, yes, but comforting to see that she was a human being with crazy blonde/brown curls and not a slick robot). I filled out an informational postcard while she looked at my portfolio, and then we started discussing what stood out about it and what could use work.

She liked how I put my Self Portrait in the first page, with some of the reason being that it was an observational drawing and some that it was a clever introduction to my work. She asked how I felt about drawing myself in a mirror along with some other conceptual stuff, then we moved on to my photography. I told her I worked in digital and on Photoshop CS4 and about why I love to do portraiture more than anything, and she gave me a few critiques on how I could make certain photos stand out more by putting only one photo on each page (otherwise unrelated photos are read together) and compliments on strong photos. The rep also said I should work on conveying a concept or story from my photos. She was really nice about everything, I thought I would get really freaked out and defensive and have a meltdown (ha, paranoia) about all of it but it was really just nice to hear what she had to say and I felt really good about everything.

I was satisfied with Minneapolis and Kendall is really not somewhere I'd actually want to go, so I decided not to see them. I got done at 11:30 and after a bit of wandering around and looking at other people being reviewed (just passing glances at the line of tables in the main hall, my review was in a private room with just one other college like six feet away) went off to my Halloween festivities with Nick

Hope that was a little helpful for anyone who's thinking about going to a National Portfolio Day. Basically all I have to say is don't stress about it and know your portfolio well, it's really interesting to see other peoples' work once they're out of those giant scary folders. Good luck on your quest to an art career, everyone!

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