16 March 2021
A Level art continues to grow from strength to strength at Abingdon. Students are applying and moving onto some brilliant courses including Architecture, Fine Art, Art History and Animation. The applicants have to undergo a series of tasks and interviews set by the universities. All candidates continue to have much success getting into their favoured choice. We wanted to share with you some of their portfolio work that clearly demonstrates the high calibre of art produced on our current course. The portfolios presented are by Sam Penrose and Alfie Marshall. We hope that by viewing this work it inspires more students to see how they can move forward into a successful career within the Arts.
Speaking about his university applications Alfie Marshall said,
‘The universities each had different requirements, but I had to create a digital portfolio using Powerpoint or another website, and then send it to them. For the universities that required interviews, we talked through the portfolio during the interview, discussing what choices I made and why. Generally the requirements were the same between universities – observational drawing, animation, character designs, illustration etc. – they are quite free on what you do.’
Sam Penrose said,
‘I had to send all of my architecture university choices my portfolio digitally, with each asking for something slightly different. They all specified that it wasn’t to show architectural skills but rather my all-round creativity and drawing proficiency, as well as illustrating iterative processes in design. Sheffield, Cardiff and Newcastle all requested powerpoint slides, Manchester in a blog format. For UCL I had to complete a video task around the theme ‘a journey you take in everyday life’ first before progressing to the interview stage to show my digital portfolio. For this task I chose to show how the typical journey through my town, Henley-on-Thames, had been made atypical by lockdown, using sound and intermeshed drawings to create an eerie feeling.’
