One might think that building a DSA portfolio is as simple as putting together a few doodles and artworks your kids have done over the years, to submit them to the schools of your choice. However, taking into consideration the increasingly high standards and growing competition of art schools and DSA programmes, only extremely devoted and passionate students will be admitted to the prestigious art and design schools of their choice!
Preparing an art portfolio requires full compliance to particular sets of requirements announced by the respective schools. Direct School Admission, otherwise known as DSA is a special school admission exercise where students are given the opportunity to demonstrate a diverse range of achievements and talents to seek admission to secondary schools or junior colleges. For example, students may apply for DSA under visual arts with a portfolio of artworks that 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:
The DSA exercise is the only platform and chance for students to impress the admission officers with their good foundational art skills, own sense of style, as well as the rest of their talents. Not only that, successful DSA applicants will have a place reserved for them in their school of choice!
At Visual Arts Centre, our goal is to help students build a strong foundation in visual arts. And as time goes by, help them find their artistic voice and cultivate their creativity through this Art Portfolio Preparation Course for DSA.
Our professionally trained instructors will enhance your kid’s artistic skills, ranging from the utmost basics of drawing and sketching to producing their own unique style of artworks over a period of time. These include:
We’ve collated admission information from some of the top local and global art schools and broken them down into 3 key criterias:
The building of a portfolio is broken into 2 parts:
Part 1: Training & Development of Professional Art Techniques and Observational Works
Part 2: Development of Artworks
Part 1 of the Art Portfolio Preparation Course for DSA will focus on training and developing the student’s art foundation and techniques. These foundational skills are essential to creating a good portfolio as they serve as the base of every artist’s journey in the professional world. Specifically, students will be trained in:
Over the course of 24 sessions, we will emphasize on honing these techniques and thereafter, conduct an assessment after every technique has been taught. This enables us to track our students’ progress and ensure that we are able to identify their weaker areas and spend more time on improving them.
At Visual Arts Centre, we strive to train our students to be well-rounded. This helps them to be more versatile and able to meet the needs of their clients in the future. Or even for themselves, to achieve the most out of their creativity in their own artworks.
Part 2 of the Art Portfolio Preparation Course for DSA focuses more on the development of our students’ artworks. This second phase emphasizes creativity and helping our students find their artistic voice and sense of style, to enable them to stand out amongst other applicants.
Our professional instructors will help students to utilize the techniques learnt to create their own unique works of art. Our students will be encouraged to find out their various inspirations, and discover their areas of interest. They will also be aided in developing their thought processes behind making works, to help their works evolve to be more aligned with their own style and voice.
In addition to the development of their artworks, students will also be coached in how to deal with interviews, and improve their presentation skills. Not only are these important for the DSA application process, they can also come in handy for students in other situations in the future.
Each student will be given a folder with guides, reference materials, rubrics made in reference to the criteria of top schools as well as our instructor’s professional feedback. On top of that, we will conduct an assessment after each learning stage. In between, there will also be regular consultations with our professional instructors to provide feedback on how to improve our students’ works. The given folder will be a good addition to the preparation to allow our students 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).
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: $3268 (Part 1 + Part 2)
Validity: 48 Weeks
Click here if you would like to purchase 24 Sessions (Part 1) with us instead!
You will be redirected to the workshop registration page to fill in your enrollment details after you make payment. By clicking “Buy This Package”, you agree with our terms and conditions. Do note that there is no refund for signups.
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. We are also minutes away from several major art institutions, museums and schools. We are a stone’s throwaway from Dhoby Ghaut MRT station and many bus stops, so it is easy for you to navigate to us.
Location: 10 Penang Road, #01-02 Dhoby Ghaut Green, Singapore 238469 (Dhoby Ghaut MRT Exit B, 30 meter, left turn)
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.
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