(E) Exhibition Portfolio Lesson
Exhibition Portfolio
You Made It!
You’ve made it! This is the final lesson in the Photography I course. Congratulations! Now it’s time to reflect back on all of your hard work and assemble a portfolio to show what you’ve learned.
Preparing Your Portfolio
- Explore: What is a portfolio?
- Challenge: Select artworks to create a strong portfolio
- Application: What do you do with a portfolio?
All The Best
So what exactly is a portfolio?
A portfolio at its most basic is a collection of artworks selected based on common criteria. It’s most important to understand the purpose of the portfolio because this will determine the criteria for selecting artwork. For a college entrance portfolio, you want to show not only your best artwork, but your process for generating and developing ideas, your range of skills, and your progress over time. For an art gallery, it might be more important to show a portfolio that consists of artworks on a singular theme.
When applying for a job you would tailor your portfolio to show your skills particular to that scenario.
The type of portfolio is also dictated partially by the purpose and partially by the artist. Some photographers may choose to create a portfolio book; others may use traditional prints matted in an archival box; almost all maintain some type of digital portfolio as well.
You can choose from multiple types of portfolios including:
- Website
- Webbook
- Printed book
- Prints in Box
- Traditional Portfolio
- Book Portfolio
Take some time to research and see what appeals to you most.
WEBBOOK PORTFOLIO |
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VIDEO PORTFOLIO |
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PARTS IN A BOX PORTFOLIO |
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TRADITIONAL PORTFOLIO |
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BOOK PORTFOLIO |
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WEBSITE PORTFOLIO |
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Let’s pretend that you’re helping a friend select photographs for their portfolio. They want to apply for membership to Magnum Photos. You must help select the strongest images for one of the 3 projects they are submitting.
Drag the 3 photos you think belong into the portfolio below:
Find specific examples of when you would need a portfolio, what the requirements are, and where you send it.
Example
What’s it for: Apply to Savannah College of Art & Design
Portfolio Requirements:
Where do you send it:
There are many times you may need a portfolio:
- Seeking an agent
- Soliciting work from an art director
- Looking for gallery representation
- Selling artwork to a museum
- Selling artwork to an art buyer
- Applying to a college/artist program
- Sending artwork to a juried exhibition
Can you think of other times a portfolio might be needed?
IMAGES CREATED BY GAVS OR OPENSOURCE