Practical / Portfolio Work and Documentation
The practical component is marked on evidence: process, finish and the ability to describe your own work accurately. A strong piece with no documentation loses marks to a modest piece with a complete record.
What a portfolio must contain
- A sketchbook showing dated thumbnails, trials and corrections.
- Process sheets with stage photographs - base preparation, layout, mid-stage, finished.
- Final works with correct labels: title, medium and materials, dimensions, date, technique, time taken.
- A short artist's statement: source of the motif, why the technique suits it, what you would change.
- A catalogue sheet numbering every work consistently with its label.
Documenting and conserving
Photograph in daylight, no flash, square-on with a scale; record the true dimensions. Roll Pattachitra cloth on a tube, never fold it; store palm-leaf pothi flat between boards with neem or camphor for pest control; keep works out of direct sun and stable humidity; frame under UV-filter glazing. Credit the source tradition and community in the statement - copying a motif is acceptable craft practice; claiming it as invented is not.
Worked example
A 30 × 40 cm Pattachitra on cloth, 22 hours. Label: “Krishna Leela (Pattachitra), natural pigments on tamarind-sized cloth, 30 × 40 cm, 2025, 22 hours.” Statement in three sentences: motif from Bhagavata through the Raghurajpur repertoire; hingula and haritala chosen for the traditional palette; border weight would be adjusted next time. That is a complete, verifiable entry.
Traps
Labels written after submission instead of as you work; flash photography flattening texture; folding a painted cloth; no dated process evidence; missing dimensions; no attribution to the source tradition.