One might think that building a portfolio is as simple as putting together a few doodles and artworks your kids have done over the years and submitting them to the schools of your choice. However, taking into consideration of the increasingly high standards of each art school and a growing competition for art schools and DSA programmes, only extremely devoted and passionate students will be admitted to the prestigious art and design schools of their choice!
Firstly, preparing for an art portfolio requires full compliance to a certain set of requirements announced by the respective schools. The Direct School Admission, otherwise known as DSA is a special school admission exercise where students are provided with the opportunity to demonstrate a more diverse range of achievements and talents and seek admission to secondary schools or junior colleges based on their special talents. For example, students may apply for DSA under visual art with a portfolio of artworks that will demonstrate the student’s talent and creativity.
Quoting the MOE website
Primary 5 students can apply for DSA-Sec based on a wide-range of talents, including:
For students who are successful with the DSA exercise, they’ll be reserved a place at the respective school of their choice.
Not only that, it is the only platform and chance you get to impress the admission officers with your own sense of style, good art foundational skills as well as your own set of talents!
Every young artist has their own interests. With that into consideration, our professionally trained instructors will train your kid from the utmost basics of drawing and sketching to producing their own unique style of artworks over a period of time. Our goal is to help your kid build a good foundation and slowly – as time goes by, help them find their niche and cultivate their creativity through this art portfolio preparation course.
We broke down 3 key criteria we have collated from some of the top local and global art schools:
We’ve broken the painstaking journey of building a portfolio into two different parts:
Part 1: Foundational Art Techniques and 2D Works
Part 2: Development of Artworks
In part 1, we would place more focus on developing your kid’s foundational skills. These foundational skills are the key ingredient to making a great portfolio as it it the base of each and every artist’s journey in the professional world. Over the course of 24 Sessions, we would place emphasis on honing these techniques and thereafter, conduct an assessment after every technique has been taught. This enables us to track our student’s progress and ensure that we are able to identify their weaker points and spend more time on those areas.
Most artists are usually skilled with more than one art medium. At Visual Art Centre, we hope to train our students to be well-rounded. This would enable them to be more versatile and to be able to meet the needs of their clients in the future or even for them to achieve the most out of their creativity in their own artworks.
In succession from part 1, Part 2 focuses more on the soft skills and utilising the techniques learnt previously for our students to create their own unique works of art. This second phase emphasises more on creativity and helping our student find their own sense 0f style to make them stand out amongst the other applicants.
We believe that not only does the technical aspects of your portfolio matters, so does the interview and the presentation. So with Visual Arts Centre’s curriculum, we understand what these admission officers are looking out for. Thus, we will cover basic knowledge of the fine arts along the way as well as teach your kid some presentation skills that might even be handy in the future.
Each student would be given a folder with guides, reference materials, feedback and rubrics made in reference from the criteria of the top schools as well as our our instructor’s professional feedback. On top of that we would conduct an assessment after each learning stage. This folder will be a good addition to the preparation to allow our student to track their progress and know where they are at during the preparation process.
Visual Arts Centre is motivated with the mission to get your child into their preferred art school. Over here, we adopt a unique and systematic approach that allows you to train your foundational art skills and develop your own sense of creativity. From foundational skills to how to ace those interviews, Visual Arts Centre has it all covered.
This course is available for registration for just 24 Sessions, that only focuses on Part (1).
Part I: Click here to find out more!
Part II: Click here to find out more!
All of our courses are conducted in our cozy art studio, which will provide you with a conducive environment to learn with us. Built by the Urban Redevelopment Authority of Singapore, Visual Arts Centre is located in the heart of the Dhoby Ghaut Arts & Heritage precinct, a main tourist destination for experiencing the arts and cultural atmosphere of Singapore. Minutes away from several major art institutions, museums and schools. We are also a stone’s throwaway from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and many bus stops, so it is easy for you to navigate to us.
All in all, if you are looking to build a good art portfolio, it would be good if you join our courses. You will be able to create many stellar pieces which will surely impress art schools!
Have any queries? Please feel free to contact us at: 6255 0711 / 6733 2155 or WhatsApp +65 6255 0711
We can also be contacted via email at info@visualartscentre.sg.
Location: 10 Penang Road, #01-02 Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 238469 (Dhoby Ghaut MRT Exit B, 30 meter, left turn)
Registration is now open! (Our Portfolio class will be carried out alongside our regular classes.)
Age Group: Portfolio preparation students, Youths/Adults applying for art schools
Price (All Materials Included):
48 Sessions: $2898 (Part 1 + Part 2)
Validity: 48 Weeks
Click here if you would like to purchase 24 Sessions (Part 1) with us instead!
MacPherson Studio
SAT 10:30am-12:45pm | SUN 10:30am-12:45pm
Dhoby Ghaut Studio
MON 11AM -1.15PM / 5PM-7.15PM / 7:30PM – 9:45PM
TUE 3.30PM – 5.45PM
WED 11AM – 1.15PM / 1:30PM – 3:45PM / 5PM-7.15PM
THU 1PM – 3:15PM / 3.30PM – 5:45PM
FRI 11AM – 1.15PM / 5PM – 7.15PM / 7.30PM – 9.45PM
SAT 10.30AM – 12.45PM / 1PM – 3.15PM / 3.30PM – 5.45PM / 6.30PM – 8.45PM
SUN 1:00PM – 3:15PM / 3.30pm – 5.45pm
Please choose the studio you prefer”