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 (read about them here), 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.

Good luck making your portfolio, we hope these tips help!

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