Micaela and I attended National Portfolio Review Day in Boston. We arrived early and waited to get in with all the other folks who arrived early. Speaking with one of the organizers during the event, she told me 600 students had pre-registered and about 400 showed up to register that morning. It was packed!
Most of the day was spent in lines. Waiting to get in, waiting for portfolio reviews. The organizers did a pretty good job at keeping things moving.
Micaela’s first review did not go well. The second and third reviews were great and the reviewers really liked her portfolio and made good suggestions for her. I am so thankful the second reviewer was really excited about her work and asked really good questions. It really turned the first review around and helped her to see that reviews are subjective. It made me think of something that was said at the NHIA open house – some schools want students who produce work in the school’s style. That everyone coming out of that program produces similar looking work. And I think that is the case for this particular school. It was one that we had a great visit at, but after today it might not be on her list.
It was a lot of standing and waiting and after review #2 we left to get lunch. Micaela found a cute sandwich shop – Wich!t – where we had a VERY filling lunch and headed back. We wandered a bit and had a third review at a school she really wasn’t looking at, but had a reasonably short line to get feedback on her portfolio.
Bonus for the day was Micaela had a chance to meet and hang out with one of her online friends and we took a walk over to Blick for some art supplies. We both were exhausted by the time we walked to the van.
Quick note on parking – Parking Panda was bought out by Spot Hero and I was able to reserve valet parking at one of the local hotels for 6 hours for only $21. Score! It was especially nice to walk in, hand them my parking ticket and printout and have someone bring the van to us instead of walking through the garage. Totally worth it after a long day!