Top tips! Prepare a portfolio for BA Fine Art

At the University of Kent, their Fine Art BA (Hons) programme offers a student-centred experience, which promotes working with a range of media and different arts practises. Whilst applications are encouraged from students with a wide range of qualifications, your application should include a portfolio demonstrating a collection your previous work.
Read these tips from the University of Kent on how to build a strong artwork portfolio to best support your application to a Fine Art course.

A portfolio is a folder containing a selection of your artworks; it can be a sturdy physical holdall or a digital version
It will contain roughly 10 – 15 finished pieces, as well as sketchbook material
Your selection should cover a wide range of art-making: drawing, painting, multi-media, sculpture, installation, photography, video, conceptual work, etc. (The list could be much longer. Fine Art places no limits on imagination!)
We look for technical proficiency; can you draw in proportion, do you have a grasp of perspective, or a flair for colour?
More importantly we look for a willingness to experiment, to try-out different media, to explore unusual, thought provoking ideas
We want to see your personal enthusiasms and interests in the presented work
Your sketchbooks should provide evidence of your thinking and making process. We want to understand the story behind your final pieces…
Include both imagery and writing in your sketchbooks
- Notes about a particular medium or process (oil painting, casting in plaster, etc)
- Notes about artists that have inspired you: contemporary practitioners particularly. Exhibitions you have recently seen…
Your art, and sketches (along with notes) should reveal the ability to think critically. We want you to be able to say what went ‘wrong’ with a piece, as much as explain what went right. (You might do this by showing an earlier ‘draft’ version of a final piece, one that you altered for the better)
We want your portfolio to express an opinion about art and culture: tell us – through your work and notes – why you value art. Tell us what you think art can do…
Present the works clearly and consistently; show them in the best light possible.