Sunday, November 17, 2013

NATIONAL PORTFOLIO DAY

     You are sworn to secrecy, okay?  Because, while my husband and I were permitted to accompany (i.e., drive) our daughter to National Portfolio Day in New York today, and were (amazingly) even granted clearance to see what was in her portfolio, I am obviously forbidden from sharing any of it with outsiders.  But I'm going to anyway, so DO NOT betray my trust!
     So. National Portfolio Day, for anyone who does not have artistic offspring, is a day when representatives from 40 or 50 art schools show up at a mammoth convention center to review the portfolios of the senior-level prospective art students who bring them to be critiqued.  There must have been a thousand kids at the Javits Center today, maybe more, and an equal number of accompanying parents, most of them standing in line at one school's booth, holding a place for their kids, while the kids stood on line for another school.  This is how I learned that behind every accomplished young artist stands at least one awesomely supportive parent, swallowing his  fears about how the hell his kid is going to support herself, and doing everything possible to just help her achieve her dreams.  Here is my lovely daughter, turning her back on me when she saw me trying to take a picture of her:



     Okay, now here comes the really Top Secret part.  You remember that you're sworn to secrecy, right?  Well then, here are a few of my favorite items from her portfolio.  A still life:

 
A sketch entitled "Scream:"
 
 
And the aptly titled "Me Picking My Nose:"
 
 
 
     Uh-oh.  She just walked into the kitchen.  Gotta go!  But if you tell anyone about this, you're gonna swim with the fishes.

2 comments:

  1. My favorite is "Me Picking My Nose." That made me smile. Looks fantastic and realistic, and the nose-picking part makes it quirky and silly. Did the art school representatives like it? I assume they did? My teachers/professors always loved when students did something unexpected and off-beat. :]

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    1. Well, we weren't with her when she talked to the reps (because each of us was off holding a place for her on a different line), and she definitely didn't tell us much afterwards, but she did "pass" her portfolio reviews with the schools she presented to (evidently it's possible to "fail"), so overall it was a good result. That picture happens to be my personal favorite too!

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