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The Artist’s Way:
Regional Portfolio Day on November 13
by Mala Hoffman; photos by Roy Gumpel

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Todd Poteet, core teacher and director of the Mill Street Loft’s Art Institute, wants to dispel the myth of the starving artist. And to do it, he’s organized a Regional Portfolio Day, where representatives from more than 23 colleges and art schools will have a chance to present their programs and share their critical eyes with potential students. “The arts are a very viable career,” says Poteet. “If parents come and see what’s being offered, and hear about the successes, they might change their view. Some of these colleges can claim 80 or 90 percent placement in jobs upon graduation. My first year out of college, I made $72,000. This isn’t a starving field. For every manmade object in the world…at least one artist was involved. What other profession can boast that?”

Not only that, but the art field is also one of the few in which merit scholarships can still be obtained. Last year alone, Poteet was able to assist the Art Institute’s 12 graduating seniors in garnering a total of $672,000 in scholarship money “that the colleges just gave them. These are not need-based, but merit-based scholarships,” he adds.

The Mill Street Loft, based in Poughkeepsie, has had a teen enrichment program for 17 years. Six years ago, director Carole Wolf hired Poteet to run the program’s summer component. “We realized that there was a lack of advanced programs in the Hudson Valley for teens, and that there were no programs that instructed teens on how to get scholarships to go to college for art,” Poteet recalls. “Five years ago, we created the year-round program, which includes a fall semester, a winter semester, and the summer intensive.”

Ideally, a student entering the Art Institute is in the eighth or ninth grade and is serious about a career in the arts. Poteet adds that any student who has attended the program for at least a year before graduating has obtained a scholarship, ranging from $20,000 to $138,000. “All of our teachers are required to make a living as an artist,” Poteet notes. “We approach it from a mentoring stance—we teach them how to be artists, how to get through the rigamarole of being an artist.”

The classes include a portfolio foundation course, taught by a professional illustrator, photography, portraiture, sculpture, two levels of figure drawing, and a portfolio development course, which is primarily offered to juniors and seniors. Each course is open to 10-12 students, though Poteet adds that some can accommodate up to 26. “We recommend that all of our students continue taking courses at high school,” he emphasizes. “We do not want students to think we are a replacement for high school.”

Though most of the students are from the immediate area, they have come from Westchester, Rockland, and Orange counties, Woodstock, and New Jersey. The summer program has hosted students from China, Colorado, and Florida, Poteet adds.

For Poteet, who worked for a college admissions department before getting his master’s degree in art education, one of the key benefits of the program is to fill in the gaps, both in terms of the art itself and in terms of portfolio development. “I found that the kids had all of the hand skills and all of the brain power, but they didn’t know how to be an artist,” he says. “They needed to learn how artists go through the process of making art. If art is a reflection of you, then you need to know who you are. I wanted to take that into the realm of art education and into scholarship application.”

As part of that process, Poteet encourages the students to do research. “They need to find out what the colleges are looking for, and fill in the holes in their own applications,” he notes.

In the past, Poteet has accompanied students to national portfolio days, which can draw up to 50 or 60 colleges and 6,000 participants, to help them whittle down choices, but “they found it daunting.” So this year, Poteet decided to bring the schools to the students. “One of our goals is that we want colleges, parents, teachers, and guidance counselors to realize that the Hudson Valley is a center for the arts,” he adds. “We want colleges to think, if you want art students, we’re the place to come.”
Among the colleges expected to attend are Pratt Institute, Maryland Institute College of Art, School of Visual Arts, Rhode Island School of Design, School of the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, Hartford College of Art, and Virginia Commonwealth University. The event is free and open to the public, and students are encouraged to bring 15 to 20 samples of original, recent artwork.

“Students interested in the arts, even freshman, should come,” Poteet emphasizes. “[Schools] may not look at their work, but they can see what’s going on, and can start figuring out what they want. Art schools are not the last dumping ground. Most art schools are starting to require SATs over 1100 and 1200. The perception that bad grades are okay and you can still go to art school is so wrong.”

The Regional Portfolio Day sponsored by the Mill Street Loft and the Art Institute will be held on Wednesday, November 13 from 4-8pm at the Locust Grove Samuel Morse Historic Site, Route 9, Poughkeepsie. For more information, please call the Mill Street Loft at 471-7477 or go to the Web site at www.millstreetloft.org.