I have seen big mistakes happening time and time again when mounting work and it s just not necessary.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "I have seen big mistakes happening time and time again when mounting work and it s just not necessary."

Griselda Adele Lester
5 years ago
Views:

1 16 So, you re off to interview and you need to get your portfolio looking amazing because you re going to get a place at the College of your dreams yes! Good. Positive thinking we like.

2 1 16 So, you re off to interview and you need to get your portfolio looking amazing because you re going to get a place at the College of your dreams yes! Good. Positive thinking we like. Now, what great pieces of advice do I have for you to show your work off in all its glory? Well, some of it is actually common sense, but much of it is following a few simple rules and you will be flying! I have seen big mistakes happening time and time again when mounting work and it s just not necessary. It might help you understand the reason that the Colleges want your work to be presented well; it is to see it in a clean, ordered place so that they can make good judgement on the work. It also makes a statement about you, how you ve cared for your work and that you ve chosen particular pieces to mount says Hey look, this is the work I want to showcase to you and that I am proud of. What do you think a portfolio of work that is un-mounted and scrappy looking says about you? I think it says that you don t really care about your work and can t be bothered this might not be true, but it s the impression that you are giving. I ll tell you a story I once had a portfolio of work submitted to me that upon opening it, it absolutely wreaked of smoke, stale cigarette smoke and it was horrendous. To be honest with you it made me want to close it right up there and then and not look at it at all. But, I suppose this wouldn t really have been me doing my job well, so I did eventually pluck up the courage to open it, mask and gloves at the ready dreading what else I might find in there (!) The work was OK, it was mounted but not looked after, so the mounts were all dog eared and torn, very mediocre I would say. It sure was memorable, but absolutely for the wrong reasons. However, had it been mounted well, smelling of nothing but charcoal, oil bar/paints etc then it would probably have been memorable for a few more of the right reasons. Moral of the story, if you can t give up smoking that would be good for you and save lots of dosh ;-) then look after your work, perhaps store it at College and start to take a pride in what you produce. Take notice of the suggestions below to mounting and presenting your work well.

3 2 16 So, you want your work to look its best to show you off in your best light. Let s break this down into a few different areas: Taking good care of your work we re talking ongoing housekeeping to keep your work looking great. Mounting and presenting 2D work - here we will discuss the practical elements of mounting your work, what kind of materials you might need and what is best for individual pieces. Mounting and presenting irregular shaped work Mounting and presenting textile or relief (thick) work Presenting 3D or installation works Presenting digital works Taking good care of your work When you do your work, each day, take it off the drawing board and ensure that you remove the masking tape from the corners. I see many students each week, putting their work in a wee pile with masking tape still stuck to the corners. Come assessment time, they have trouble getting the tape off and end up tearing the corners of the work, or worse, tearing the whole piece. This is not good as you can imagine. So, a bit of general housekeeping, take the tape off as you go so that your work stays in a good condition. More housekeeping, sorry. If you have used anything like charcoal or pastel, conté crayon or pencil, please, please fix this before you store it. If you don t fix the work immediately then you run the risk of the charcoal or whatever you have used being rubbed off, your drawing will disappear and look muddy and might well dirty other pieces. You don t have to buy proper expensive fixative from art stores; you can buy a can of cheap hairspray and use this. Do however use it in a well ventilated area so not to gas yourself and everyone else in the room - not funny! Final nagging housekeeping issue, don t roll your work. If you ve rolled your work up for 6 months potentially whilst your on course, when you come to mount the work, it ll be hard to get it flat again without creases and smudging the materials etc. Find a portfolio to store it in, or under a board under your bed, heck - anywhere flat! If you really, really have to roll it to transport it home, unroll it immediately to let it flatten out. It is good to get in the habit or writing the date on your work on the back so that you can see when it was produced and hopefully you ll see some improvement over the weeks and months. With life drawing it s also beneficial to write how long the pose was for eg. 30 minutes, hour and a half etc.

4 7 16 bottom border larger than top bottom border larger than top

16 16 Hopefully the College will be able to provide a laptop to play your work on but usually resources are limited so don t just assume that they will.

5 16 16 Hopefully the College will be able to provide a laptop to play your work on but usually resources are limited so don t just assume that they will. If you have made a movie or a animation in something such as Adobe Flash or Premiere, Final Cut Pro then be sure to export your movie/animation to a regular file format that doesn t need to have these programmes installed on it, else you won t be able to open it. So, for a movie, a quicktime file (.mov) would be good. Or if you ve made an animation in Flash, then export it as a Flash movie (.swf) Last resort, or maybe first resort if you ve got your own laptop, then take that and you can be sure that it will work. Let the College know that you re bringing it if you need access to a power socket. Finally: Remember that anything you show in your portfolio is really a reflection of you, your commitment to the course and ambition for your creative career. Take it seriously, spend some time making your portfolio shine and the rest should all fall into place. If you ve not already read our ebook on How to blow them away at interview then we suggest that this is a good accompaniment to this ebook. FINAL, FINALLY... If you ve found this ebook useful, please tell your friends - we d also love to hear how it s helped you on our Facebook page. If not, we d be keen to hear how we could make it better - let us know! GOOD LUCK!

Common Phrases (2) Generic Responses Phrases

Common Phrases (2) Generic Responses Phrases Common Phrases (2) Generic Requests Phrases Accept my decision Are you coming? Are you excited? As careful as you can Be very very careful Can I do this? Can I get a new one Can I try one? Can I use it?