Apply to the
Cooper Union

School of Art Portfolio

A portfolio is required for submission with your Hometest, along with your sketchbook. Please review the below when putting together your portfolio. 

  • Your portfolio should consist of 15 to 20 of your strongest, most recent works
  • It is important to include drawings from direct observation, not from photos or imagination, examples include but are not limited to:
    • Still life (everyday objects, arranged creatively)
    • Figure drawing (people, gestures, portraits)
    • Interiors/exteriors (rooms, buildings, landscapes)
    • Unique perspectives (low angle, extreme close-up, reflections)
    • Experiments with light and shadow
  • Digital drawing is discouraged
  • We also encourage you to show work done in a range of media, graphite, charcoal, ink, watercolor, acrylic, oil, collage, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, photography, etc.
  • Consider work that shows variety, and experimentation
  • While showing classroom work is fine, you should also include work that is made independently to show your creative thought process and independent thinking
    • Don’t be afraid to show your voice: how you respond to your environment, identity, social/political issues, or personal narrative
  • Only share finished work
  • Successful documentation of your portfolio work is essential
    • Consider photographing your work on a neutral background, using good/natural light to avoid glares or shadows
  • Think about sequencing – start strong and finish strong
  • If you have a large sculpture or installation, consider having multiple images to show detail and scale
  • Keep time-based media under 5 minutes and reference any edited work as part of a larger work, e.g., "excerpt from 15-minute installation"

We strongly recommend visiting us (in-person or virtually) at a National Portfolio Day (NPDA) event and/or at an Open House event, and sign up for a portfolio review with one of our representatives. Portfolio reviews provide helpful feedback. If you have any questions about our admissions process, please email us at admissions@cooper.edu. 

 

  • Founded by inventor, industrialist and philanthropist Peter Cooper in 1859, The Cooper Union for the Advancement of Science and Art offers education in art, architecture and engineering, as well as courses in the humanities and social sciences.

  • “My feelings, my desires, my hopes, embrace humanity throughout the world,” Peter Cooper proclaimed in a speech in 1853. He looked forward to a time when, “knowledge shall cover the earth as waters cover the great deep.”

  • From its beginnings, Cooper Union was a unique institution, dedicated to founder Peter Cooper's proposition that education is the key not only to personal prosperity but to civic virtue and harmony.

  • Peter Cooper wanted his graduates to acquire the technical mastery and entrepreneurial skills, enrich their intellects and spark their creativity, and develop a sense of social justice that would translate into action.