High School College Art Portfolio Prep
12 Weeks / 2 Hours per week on Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 pm
Course Dates: March 19th – June 18th (no class April 2nd)
Instructor: Teresa DeBerry
Pricing:Â
- 12 weeks – $600
- 4 sessions – $220 –Â
- Single session – $60Â
Course Overview:
Observational Foundations & Personal Voice: Artistic Portfolio Prep Course
This 12-week drop-in portfolio studio is designed for high school students preparing fine art portfolios for competitive art colleges and BFA programs. Students will develop strong observational drawing and painting skills while creating portfolio-ready works in graphite, charcoal, acrylic, oil pastel, and mixed media. Emphasis is placed on technical fluency, material exploration, composition, and conceptual depth.
The course focuses on building foundational portfolio categories such as figure, still life, self-portrait, and spatial studies, while pushing students beyond academic exercises into work that reflects personal voice and risk-taking. Each student works at their own pace and receives individualized critique and guidance tailored to their portfolio goals and intended major.
Projects are structured around rotating thematic investigations every 2 to 3 weeks, allowing students to revisit subject matter with increasing complexity and conceptual intention. Group demos and critiques are paired with one-on-one portfolio advising.
Course Syllabus
Weeks 1 & 2:Â Objects That Hold Meaning (Observational Still Life)
Focus: Value, proportion, light logic, composition, spatial relationships
Mediums: Graphite, charcoal, limited color study
Students create still-life drawings from direct observation, but objects must feel psychologically charged (worn shoes, stacked books, tools, inherited items, wrapped packages, etc.) Emphasis on strong value range and believable space.
Portfolio Goal: Academic still life that demonstrates technical control and mature composition.
Weeks 3 & 4: Fragments of the Body (Figure study that cropped & intimate)
Focus: Anatomy, foreshortening, cropping, gesture vs. structure
Mediums: Graphite, charcoal, toned paper
Instead of full figure studies only, students explore hands, shoulders, backs, feet, necks that represent unusual crops and create narrative and tension. Include timed gesture warmups each week.
Portfolio Goal: Strong observational drawing showing understanding of form and structure.
Weeks 5 & 6: Interior Worlds (Self-Portrait & Psychological Space)
Focus: Self-portrait beyond likeness, symbolism, spatial storytelling
Mediums: Graphite + mixed media or painting
Students create a self-portrait that moves beyond realism. Background, objects, color, and composition should communicate internal identity, conflict, culture, memory, or aspiration.
Portfolio Goal: Personal voice & technical ability.
Weeks 7 & 8: Constructed Space (Landscape / Architectural / Invented Space)
Focus: Perspective (1, 2, 3 point), atmospheric depth, environment
Mediums: Ink & watercolor or acrylic
Students work from observation (urban, domestic, or natural spaces) and then push into altered or reimagined space. Consider scale shifts, distortion, or subtle surreal elements.
Portfolio Goal: Spatial understanding & compositional sophistication.
Weeks 9 & 10: Material Transformation(Mixed Media Investigation)
Focus: Surface, layering, integration of drawing and painting
Mediums: Collage, acrylic, pastel, textured grounds
Students reinterpret a previous observational work into mixed media, altering meaning through material. Emphasis on intentional material choices .
Portfolio Goal: Risk-taking and material explorationÂ
Weeks 11 & 12: Sustained Investigation (Independent Portfolio Piece)
Students design a self-directed project building on a theme they’ve explored such as:
- A multi-panel narrative
- Large-scale figure drawing
- Conceptual still life
- Hybrid drawing/painting piece