Design Portfolio Reviews

Design Department Admission Portfolio Guidelines

Applicants seeking admission to the Design Department must present a portfolio for review. You are strongly encouraged to present your portfolio in person, either on campus during a scheduled review, or to the Cornish representative at any of the National Portfolio Days that Cornish attends. Students not able to meet in person should arrange with the Office of Admission to send a digital portfolio by mail or internet links.

Your portfolio should contain from 10–20 works, all completed within the last 2 years.

1. Present 5 to 7 drawings from observation. These works should be made from looking directly at the world, NOT from your imagination or copied from other artwork or photographs. Examples of this type of drawing include:

   • Figurative works
   • Portraiture
   • Still-lifes or drawings of objects
   • Cityscapes or Landscapes

   
   

2. Present 5 to 7 pieces of art that are related to one another and form a cohesive body of work. You may use any 2-D, 3-D, or time based media. Ways in which the pieces might relate to one another include: subject matter, media/materials, or concept/idea. If you do time-based or interactive media, you may present work on a DVD or via a URL to your website. Viewing time should not exceed 10 minutes. Printed images of your digital portfolio are helpful.

3. Optional: you may include additional work that will reflect another view of your art work. Sketchbooks are highly recommended as well as work that shows risk, personal inquiry or unique process. Examples might include:
   

   • Documentation of an installation
   • Performance or fabricated object
   • Wild cards such as images/objects that are imperfect
   • Unfinished or Unresolved


Work that shows additional exploration of ideas or materials outside the classroom can also be included.

Transfer Students:

Studio credits completed at other colleges will be consid­ered for transfer dependent upon review by the Design Department. If your course work has covered visual arts concepts, materials or techniques which may not otherwise be apparent, include them with explanations and course descriptions for those classes. For advanced standing (sophomore or higher), your full portfolio should still not be more than 20 images, including examples of 2-D, 3-D, time-based, or digital work and should include work in your area of concentration, (interior design, motion design, and visual communications).

Following your in-person review, Transfer students are required to leave a digital portfolio at Cornish. All portfolios must be accompanied by a numbered list of the work: On a separate sheet headed by your name and address, and in the same order as they appear on the disc and
include:


• Title (if any)
• Date of completion
• Medium (or materials)
• Dimensions
• Running time for time-based work
• Any brief notes you’d like to add about your intent

Thumbnail images are helpful.

Review in person

If you are presenting your portfolio in person, original works are preferable. If your work is too large or fragile to transport, you may substitute reproductions of these pieces in a format of your choice.

During your review, we may ask you to discuss the work you present, your experience in the arts, and your artistic goals, but we’re just as interested in who you are and why you think Cornish would be a good fit for you.

Review via Digital Images or Online:

We strongly encourage you to make every effort to present your portfolio in person. However, if distance prevents an in-person review, you may submit it via CD, DVD or online. Suggestions for digitally photo­graphing your work are on our website. Do not mail original works.

Your images must not exceed 1024 x 768 pixels, 72 dpi or 1MB each, and be in JPEG (preferred) or GIF format. Title each image file with Lastname.number (number should correspond to inventory list, eg: Smith.1.jpg ). Time-based files should be in QuickTime (.mov) or Windows Media Video (.wmv) and should not exceed 20MB.

CD or DVD:

Your disk must be dual-formatted (Macintosh and Windows). Include a printed list of work; thumbnails are helpful. You may also include a brief artist’s state­ment about your “body of work” grouping, and concise notes about any of your other images.Admissions Office

Make sure your full name is clearly and indelibly written on both the disk (do not use a label) and the case.

Send your digital portfolio to admission@cornish.edu or mail to:

Office of Admission
Cornish College of the Arts
1000 Lenora Street
Seattle, WA 98121

All portfolios will be kept at the end of the admission cycle.

Online:

Once you have finished your paper application, you may email your Admission Counselor your inventory list as a Word or PDF attachment), along with JPEGs of your portfolio as attachments, or you may also send images of additional work via a URL to either your own website or to a FREE image-hosting site that does not require viewer membership (i.e.: Flickr, Photobucket, etc.). If you do the latter, clearly label the portfolio on your site that you want us to look at “Cornish Portfolio.”

Review Dates

On-Campus

Monday - Friday, by appointment
Call 800.726.ARTS to schedule

Off-Campus

National Portfolio Days