Process Portfolio: Sustained Experimentation with Media, Techniques and Processes
What the domain tests
This domain tests sustained experimentation. The portfolio should show repeated trials with media, techniques and processes, not a single finished outcome. Examiners look for risk, variables tested, failures recorded, skill development and reflection that links experimentation to artistic intention.
Core rules and concepts
- Show a sequence: initial test, variable changed, result, evaluation, next test.
- Document failed trials as evidence of learning, not as weaknesses.
- Use medium-specific vocabulary: exposure time, viscosity, registration, underglaze, armature, compression, layering.
- Annotate decisions: why this material, tool, scale or process?
- Connect experiments to a developing intention, not to a checklist of techniques.
Worked example
A student investigates cyanotype and embroidery. First tests compare exposure times of 3, 6 and 9 minutes on paper and cotton; the 9-minute print loses detail, while the 6-minute cotton print holds a soft tonal range. The student records that overexposure flattened the silhouette and decides to use masking to preserve a sharp figure. Next, they test stitching over the print: dense thread obscures the image, so they switch to sparse lines that follow the photographic contour. A failed test with wet fabric bleeding into the image is annotated as a loss of control but also as a possible atmospheric effect. The portfolio then links these findings to an intention about memory and repair, showing why the student chose exposure and stitch density rather than simply displaying a final cyanotype.
Traps that cost marks
- Presenting only polished final works with no process evidence.
- Writing a diary of activities without evaluating results.
- Changing many variables at once so no learning can be identified.
- Hiding failures instead of analysing them.
- Using generic praise such as it worked well without criteria.