Fine Art Edinburgh College of Art

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Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art

Mum Keren
Molly was quite frustrated and upset last year when she didn’t get her place at art school that she was hoping for. And I could see that she completely lost her mojo. And I think for the first time ever I felt like I couldn’t fix it for her because, you know, when kids are wee, you can often fix things.

And I didn’t have the answer. I came across Portfolio Oomph and I just thought “this just ticks all the boxes here”. I think I’ve got somebody in Julie that can actually give Molly the guidance and support to actually get that portfolio in place and try and get her mojo back.

Molly, student
I felt that all my frustrations came from going through school and not really having like the support there for taking art further, but also going through Covid and having limitations in what we were able to do at school and out of school.

Mum Keren
Portfolio oomph has allowed you to enjoy that whole journey and it hasn’t, it doesn’t need to be perfect. I think that it really freed you up, didn’t it? But to realise at 18 that you don’t have to be perfect is just – “yay!”

Molly, student
It was really good working together. Like I felt that there was a mix of support but also having to, like set your own structure and get on with it kind of yourself as well. So it gave you like independence as well as having the backing to like, to show that you’re going in the right direction.

Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art

Mum Keren
And it was really interesting seeing all the creative stuff develop because I sometimes didn’t appreciate how much work Molly was actually doing. I found it quite hard to stand back and think and allow the process to happen because I guess it’s that control freak mum thing. But I could see it was happening and I think, you know, I’ve seen Molly change so much through actually taking the reins herself and just having that guidance instead of somebody spoon feeding her.

Yeah. I would say that probably every bit of work that I saw prior to doing Julie’s course was so precise and perfect and suddenly I saw it not being perfect but actually being amazing.

Molly, student
You had fun as well. You were out in the garden doing….

Mum Keren
I got to do some mark making which was really fun. We had a lovely day. It was a beautiful sunny day and myself and Molly and my mum just took over the whole garden with all these materials and we all did mark making. We just had a lovely day together, which was great.

So we all got involved in that first, that first part of the assignment. Yeah, and it was amazing. Just experimenting, you know.

Molly, student
Chucking things about.

Mum Keren
Yeah, it was very free flowing, wasn’t it? Spontaneous. I think that’s the word, isn’t it? It’s really spontaneous rather than it being really precise. There’s lots of spontaneity. And I think through that that’s where the creativity comes. That’s where the ideas come in.

Molly, student
I found that a lot of like the ‘aha’ moments almost came from like reflecting on what I was doing rather than while I was creating it. Yeah, it was looking back on things. I was like, wow, this is such a change to what I would have done or how I maybe would have taken this.

My process I think is much more developed and I just felt a lot more comfortable exploring a lot of different things. But yeah, it mainly came from looking back on previous work as well and kind of just seeing the difference. And also how I felt while creating because in school it was already kind of a stressful experience anyway with, you know, exams going on. I noticed that I could almost see that I was happier in creating more recently than I was back then.

The thing that I found the most helpful was guided support. And also what I actually found more interesting that’s kind of lasted the longest is actually all the artists that were recommended in the course. Like, I really enjoyed that. I was quite shocked at how much I enjoyed looking into other pieces of work.

Molly studied for success on my PLAN CREATE SUCCEED portfolio preparation course.

Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art

Mum Keren
What I noticed with Portfolio Oomph was that you really like the structure, to say Molly is very good. She never looked ahead. Molly would stay right on track and complete one bit. And she said, I trust the process that I’m going through here. Which was amazing. Yeah.

Molly, student
And I, I knew, well, I knew that if I looked forward to see what some of the briefs were, then I’d already start thinking about it and my head wouldn’t be in the right place for what we were doing at that exact moment.

Mum Keren

So it was really structured. And you really like that? Yeah, just this is what I’m doing now and I’ll look at the next bit when I’ve completed this part of the course. And I think you found that really helpful and it made it less overwhelming, I think.

Molly, student
Yeah. And it flowed really well is. And there wasn’t, there wasn’t an overwhelming amount like per section. Like it was structured in terms of, you know, you wouldn’t have about 10 tasks to do on kind of one area. You would just move forward and you’d feel almost a sense of achievement because you’ve taken that little step forward.

And I really like, yeah, I really liked the percentage in the top corner being like, this is how much you’ve done. Like, it just kind of pushed you forward as well to complete it because it just felt like kind of a little achievement.

Mum Keren
Trust that, you know, Julie knows what she’s doing. I’m trusting this process and yeah, it’s worked out brilliantly for you.

Molly, student
Well, I officially got an offer from Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art, and yeah, couldn’t be happier. If I kind of went and told my younger self, “Oh, by the way, you got an offer from this place”, I would have been like, “No, you didn’t. No, you didn’t.”

Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art

Mum Keren
But your portfolio this year and your portfolio last year were just.

Molly, student
Just so different.

Mum Keren
So different, so far apart.

Molly, student
I really enjoyed it. Like, I was quite shocked at how much I enjoyed it.

Mum Keren
It was about being adaptable, adaptability. And I think probably before you did Portfolio Oomph, that adaptability wasn’t there.

Mum Keren
But also. But, you know, it’s almost like, you know, if something doesn’t work, being able to change it so it does work. Yeah. Whereas I think you couldn’t.

Molly, student
I would have panicked.

Mum Keren
You would have panicked and just beating yourself up. She’s not beating herself up anymore!

Molly, student
I feel after the course, I just feel so much more relaxed and I feel almost that I’m, like, capable to create stuff that isn’t perfect. And also I feel like I can, as you said in one of the other ones, take my own reins a wee bit, now that I’ve had that sort of support, I think that I could support myself now.

Mum Keren
I think, having gone through the course, Molly is now ready to go to art school [Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art].

Molly, student
Yeah.

Mum Keren
Last year, I. And I think the reason you didn’t get in last year was because you weren’t ready for it. But I think, I think you’re just much more happier in your own skin as well.

Molly, student
But the course was the driving force for how I’m feeling afterwards.

Mum Keren
You’re not in your box anymore. She’s out her box.

Molly, student
I would say do it.

Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art

Mum Keren
I would. I would encourage anyone to do it. And I think it is. That thing about you were really stuck last year.

Molly, student
And I felt like nobody could really kind of fix it or do anything for it. Yeah.

Mum Keren
And. And actually having Julie there to support you. Julie really understood what you were going through. I couldn’t understand what you were going through. You know, I’m not, you know, I was, haven’t, haven’t walked in your shoes or applied to art school before or, you know, really. Actually, I didn’t really appreciate how tough it is to get into art school. It is.

And hadn’t had no appreciation of what you needed for a portfolio either. I helped Molly put her portfolio together the year before and we tried, you know, we did as best as we, we could with it. And I think watching you going through the course, your understanding of what you needed to produce, what it would take to get a really good portfolio together was so different.

So, yeah, I would encourage anyone to do it. For me, having had Molly in probably one of the lowest points I’ve ever seen you in your life and seeing you now sort of enjoying, enjoying your, the work that you’re doing, you’re feeling really inspired, you’re looking forward to heading off to art school [Edinburgh College of Art Fine Art].

It’s a complete 180. And I put a little bit down to what she’s done with yourself. I think you’ve become much more confident, Molly. And it’s about what’s happened with Portfolio Oomph. You know, I could see that she changed so much, you know, and I, I think a lot of that was coming from….

Molly, student
Well, I felt. I felt slightly ahead, whereas before I always felt slightly behind.

Mum Keren
What I would say is that you’ve developed your own point of view. She’s developed her own point of view, her own perspective, yeah.

Much more confident, yeah.

This article was written by Julie Read, a leading educator in the Creative Industries, as featured in The Guardian newspaper, on a mission to create a legacy to ‘unlock your creative genius’.

My passion and mission is your art portfolio, to help to get you that place at college or university.

CLARITY, in particular around the creative process, sketchbooks, and what the Colleges actually want to see are the founding principles.