Workshop presented by Artkapture: Professional Practice-Portfolios

This is a workshop I presented 2 weeks ago in Pretoria, South Africa. The aim of the series of workshops is to help artists entering the art world to navigate the difficulties and hopefully make it a little easier. The information is taken from my own experience as gallery owner.

                                                                       Professional Practice Workshop
                                                                                         Portfolios

What goes into a portfolio?
There are 5 basic requirements to be considered when putting together a portfolio, not all are always necessary. It depends on the type or purpose of the of the portfolio. Some of the types of portfolios will be covered later, for now lets look at the requirements.
5 Basic requirements:
• Resume
• CV
• Biography
• Artist Statement
• Images
• References
Can you tell me difference between a Resume, CV and Biography?

1. Biography: Personal Data
   Date of birth and gender
   Personal traits
   Interests

2. C.V. : Detailed list of education
   Level of qualification and where you obtained it
   Work experience
   List every exhibition and competition
   Chronological order
   Showcase general talent

3. Resume: Summary of your education
   Summary of skills
   Summary of employment history
   (Resume only lists things relevant to that specific application)

4. Images: Choose the best work, not the most personally emotionally charged
   Your personal favourite may not be your best
   Ask other artists, academics to help with selection
   Consider the gallery, dealer or buyers style or genre preference
   Take good quality images
   Take the image before you place behind glass framing
   Take image straight on, no perspective, crop background out

5. Artist Statement: Not a description of works, it’s the thought process leading to a body
   of work or individual work
   Describe how the artist works
   The medium if relevant to the concept
   What the work means, conveying the message of your work

Tips to write a statement:
• Mind Maps:
Do mind mapping before, during and after you’ve created the works
Brainstorm your idea, write anything that comes to mind about your work
Look at the mind map, see how things connect
what repeats
what collides
what’s most unique
• Pose questions to yourself:
Who is your audience
Who or what influenced you
Explain your work to a child
How do you create your art
How do your materials inform your concept
Is your work unique and if so how
• Avoid using art/intellectual jargon:
Unless for academic purposes, keep it simple
You want the public to understand and not feel spoken down to
Try and write as if explaining to someone standing in front of you
• Write in active voice:
Write in the same tense continuously throughout
Active voice feels more current and viewer feels part of the process
Makes message feel more important and adds a sense of urgency

You’ve completed writing your statement:
Leave it for a couple of hours, then get a friend to read it back to you out loud.
This creates distance from your writing and allows you to be more objective.
Make any nescasary changes.
• Proofreaders:
Someone who knows and understands you and your work
 We sometimes find it difficult to express our thoughts and having someone that knows you they are able to help you express your thoughts.
 Someone who knows you can also have insights or make connections that you haven’t thought of.
• Someone who is good at grammar and spelling, remember if even your computer does a spellcheck, it’s very often
American spelling, so make sure to get an expert on UK spelling.
• Someone who knows nothing about your work. We understand what we mean so we think we are writing clearly, an
outsider with no prior knowledge will pick up quickly if something doesn’t make sense or isn’t clear.
• Create different versions, depending on its specific application.
 University or museum would be more academic
 Gallery or dealer would be conversational and simple

Now that you have completed the last draft of your statement, you now need to consider the format of your portfolio.
a. Biography
b. CV
c. Resume
d. Artist Statement
e. Images
f. Copies of media coverage, interviews etc
g. References

The last consideration in formatting is choice of font and font size:
Graphic designers will slam certain fonts and type faces and can give you an hour long lecture on the choice of font. To me though, as long as its legible, easy to read and looks professional. Avoid fancy, frilly fonts and use a font size that makes it easy for people to scan read (size 12 is good).
You can now add your images with a title, medium and size below or next to each one.
There you have it, you’ve created a portfolio. What Now?
Which galleries to approach and how to approach them
Here you need to be utterly and brutally honest with yourself.

Some questions to pose yourself:
a. What style or genre does your work fall into (commercial, decorative, traditional, contemporary, conceptual)
b. Where does your work stand in terms of quality (compare landscape with landscape and medium with medium)
c. Ask someone that you know can be brutally honest to help you with these comparisons

Now that you have a better idea of where your work sits in the market, you can now begin researching galleries to see where your work is most suitable to be shown.
The Research
a. Find out where all the galleries are, starting in your area, then surrounding area then beyond.
b. Go visit the galleries so you know what kind of art they represent.
c. Get your email address onto their data base.
d. Go to as many exhibitions as you can.
e. Get to know the staff, managers and curators.
f. Research which artists have exhibited at the gallery and ask those artists about the galleries approach to art and
artists, likes and dislikes.
Always while doing this research remind yourself about your style and if your work fits the gallery that you’re researching.

How to approach the gallery
You’ve done your research and targeted the galleries that you are most suited to.
DO NOT: at an opening or random visit to the gallery whip out your phone and start showing the gallerist endless pics on your phone
 It looks unprofessional
 The gallerest needs to attend to potential buyers
 You put the gallery in a difficult position

If you have managed to get to know the curator or manager, ask if you can send them a portfolio or if it’s possible to set up a meeting to view or critique your work.
If you’ve managed to get to know some of the previous exhibitors, ask them to critique your work and if they think the gallery would be interested.
Make it clear to all during these communications that you are open and prepared for critique and advice.
Always consider the time and place that you start these discussions, be mindful of other peoples time and space. (don’t bombard or push people into these discussions). Be mindful and respectful.
Be prepared for rejections (95% or more will turn you down), you only need one to say yes to start you on this journey. DO NOT TAKE REJECTION PERSONALLY.
If and when you are ready to e-mail your portfolio, do not mail to more than one gallery within one e-mail(in other words, no BCC). Address it by name to the curator or manager, if you’ve done your research you should know their names. I know this takes longer, but it tells the gallery you are interested in them specifically.

Success: a gallery agrees to a viewing
Prepare for your appointment. Remember that every gallery does things differently and they assume you know the process. So check with them.
 Do they want to see a physical portfolio as well as a PDF version.
 How many works should you bring.
 Take only your best work
 Only take works relevant to that galleries likes
 Make sure the works are well presented, neat, clean, complete and dry.
 Know enough about the gallery to pose relevant questions
 Be able to speak comfortably about your work
 Show interest in art in general and show interest in the gallery and what they represent
 Be open to critique. DO NOT TAKE OFFENCE
 Arrive a little early to allow time to set up and calm your nerves.
Most galleries understand that you are nervous, remember they want you to be successful. Go into a meeting knowing that you may need to make some compromises for example on pricing, so know what you are prepared to compromise on.

Different types of portfolios:
I have considered 7 different types of portfolios. Each portfolio has a different application and different formatting.

1. Portfolio to present to a gallery
   This is for exhibition or consignment consideration
   Save and send it in PDF format
   It will contain: Image of yourself
   Biography
   CV
   Artist Statement
   Images
   Each image should have the title, medium, size next to or below

2. Personal Portfolio
   This is your most important portfolio. It is used for you to keep track of your work. It keeps everything you may need to access quickly in one place.
   It will contain: Biography
   CV
   Stock photos of yourself (formal, working in studio, press images etc)
   Academic Artist Statement
   Informal Artist Statement
   Artist Statement per work (short paragraph or just a few lines)
   Artist Statement on a series or body of works
   Images of all your work
   Under each work will be title, medium, size and artist price excl
   commission and incl commission
   If a work is currently at a gallery, where
   If a work is sold, list where it sold and how much it sold for and when
   Keep this portfolio constantly up to date in a Windows Word file. Also keep an excel file which will show cost of production, gallery commission and profit (for works sold).

3. Portfolio to present to an art dealer
   This will be sent in Windows Word format, this enables the dealer to extract information (copy and paste) from your portfolio to compile a portfolio of various artists work to present to their clients.
   This portfolio will contain: Biography
   CV
   Artist Statement
   Images
   Details of each work (title, medium, size, price excl comm)

4. Physical Portfolio
   This could be to present to a gallery for exhibition consideration, a dealer who may want to present your work to a client or directly to a potential buyer.
   This will include: A number of your best works
   A pre-selected work or works
   Printed copy of your bio, CV and artist statement
   Photocopy of images in the physical portfolio
   If the gallery, dealer or potential buyer wishes to keep the works for a short time, be sure to make out a consignment sheet, with a set time they can hold the works and both parties sign.

5. On-line portfolio
   This would be for a web-site or any social media sites.
   Face Book: Separate your personal page from your art page
   Post at least 3 or 4 times a week
   Post images of your work (quality images)
   Each image should have Title, medium, size, price incl comm
   If a work is on exhibition tag or mention the gallery
   Each work can have a short artist statement
   If you don’t have enough work to post that often, post process images
   Post blogs on your inspirations
   Post art related articles that inspire or make you think
   Post exhibitions that you’ve attended
   Avoid on-line arguments
   Instagram: Post your work
   Works in progress
   Inspirations
   Pinterest: Same as above
   Linkedin: Same as FB and above
   Web-site: Bio
   CV
   Image of the artist
   Place work in category files
   Artist statement
   Each image with title, medium, size, price
   Include any articles you may be mentioned in
   Include any interviews
   Include links to all other social media sites
   Include contact details
   The thing to remember with social media is to update constantly, be creative with your posts. (look at Leanne Olivier FB page).
   Research new social media sites constantly to find ones that work for you as well as keep you interested. Google top 100 social media sites. Google new media sites.
   Steemit is one that I’m really enjoying, it can get complicated, but look into it.
   Vero is another new one.
   Always use good quality images.
   Consider blogging, consider videos.

6. Project portfolio or submissions
   This is very specific. If you are looking for funding for an art project, public artwork or have been invited to submit for one of the above or a commission. You would need to submit a portfolio specific for that application.
   It would include: Biography
   CV
   Resume
   Artist Statement specific to required brief
   Image of proposed work (sketches of the idea)
   Cost of production
   Materials needed
   Site considerations
   Installation requirements
   Previous projects of this type

7. Competition Portfolio
   Every competition is different. So read the rules carefully.
   Most will want: Artist statement
   Quality image (check the format, eg. jpeg)
   Copy of ID
   Banking details
   Details of the work title, size, medium, price
   Double check if price should incl or excl commission
   Double check the criteria for the competition, there may be an age limit, size limitation and even a medium limitation (PPC).
   They may require works to be experimental or traditional.
   Make sure you understand the brief or theme.
   If you can participate in competitions do so, if you get rejected, so what, but if you do make the finals it can raise your visibility in art circles.
   Best known competitions are: Sasol, ABSA, PPC, SANLAM Portraits, but there are others.
   Join VANSA or check their web-site, they list upcoming competitions as does art.co.za.

Samantha Allen Muller (Artkapture)
[email protected]
+27 073 298 5829

Please note that certain references, like the competition names, are relevant to South Africa only and that this workshop is catered to the South African artists needs.
I welcome any critique or your experiences.