Artiste 360 is an art school based in Mumbai, India that provides art and design education for all. As the co-founder, one of my roles is to mentor students in the process of creating art portfolios for creative institutions globally. With a cohort of around 10 students over the last 2 years, we have developed works rooted in design thinking, experimentation, and exploration for concepts and materials. Here are some examples of the work students have developed.
Students are provided with thinking frameworks at the start of their process to help them break information down, find inspiration, and create a pallet of technical and conceptual resources.
Students also work with a team of professional artists and designers to gain technical guidance for their works. After the portfolio pieces are complete, I work with them to curate their works into one holistic portfolio.
This is a framework I developed to help them write about their works to express meanings to a viewer:
Process: What materials did you choose? What steps did you take to make the work? Any unconventional practices used? Why were the decisions made?
Obstacles: Challenges faced on the way of making it? What you would do differently?
Emotions: Feeling evoked by the piece?
Narrative: What’s the story behind the piece? How is the narrative being conveyed to the viewer?
Inspiration: What inspired you to make the piece?
Context: Social/Historic/Political/Cultural happenings that influenced or informed your piece? What's hidden and what's revealed?
Reaction: What do you hope the viewer feels when they see the piece? Is there an interactive element? Is there a predicable outcome?
We think about the best way to represent their creative journey and reflect their identity through their portfolio.