Portfolio requirements

Please supply your portfolio in an A4 clearfile folder. This should contain:

  • 12 – 24 pages of work. These must be high quality reproductions (not originals) of your own recent art or design work, including photographs of any three-dimensional work.

  • Examples of digital/video work can be supplied
    on a USB stick. Movies must be in QuickTime format.

  • We do not accept CDs, DVDs or links to websites.

  • Make sure the folder is clearly labelled with your name and contact details.

Talk with your teacher about what examples of your work from NCEA best demonstrate your skills, strengths and talents. You can also include images from self-directed projects. 

Portfolio examples

We are looking for:

  • Work that shows your creative potential: how you generate, explore and develop ideas, experiment with different media, materials, techniques and technologies, and use these to transform ideas into finished work.
  • Work that demonstrates how you can think in innovative and contrasting ways, and shows originality, inventiveness and commitment to being creative.

Please include:

  • Recent work such as drawings, design ideas, paintings, photographs, and documentation of fashion projects, prototypes, performance, sculptural or installation works.
  • Developmental work, such as copies of workbook pages, developmental drawings or working sketches, journals, digital or conventional photographic contact sheets, and screen captures in the case of digital work.
  • It’s good to provide notes about the ideas behind your work and how these ideas were translated into their final form.
  • Please do not include items such as art history assignments or testimonials in your application. 

If you have meet the requirement of NCEA level 2 with Excellence overall and an excellence endorsement in an approved art, design or technology subject, you will not need to upload your portfolio.

  • Application process summary

    1. Enrol online.

    2. Check whether you are eligible for automatic entry.

    3. If you are not eligible for automatic entry, submit your portfolio anytime from 1 July. Due date for design, fine arts and Māori visual arts is 1 October. Late applications are being accepted subject to available spaces.

    4. Portfolios will be acknowledged on receipt. While the College has a well-established tracking process for all portfolios received, it does not accept liability for loss of, or damage to, portfolios. Portfolios and their contents must be clearly labeled – please be sure to label every separate piece with your name.

    5. Application results will be emailed by mid-December.

    6. Fine art applicants will be asked to attend an interview, either by Skype or in person.

    7. For those awaiting Year 13 NCEA results, provisional acceptance is subject to gaining admission to the University and cannot be confirmed until results are known. Applicants who are not successful in obtaining admission to university will be contacted in January about alternative programmes.

  • Contact details

    Design and fine arts
    Campus Information Services
    Massey University Wellington Campus
    Entrance A
    Wallace Street
    Wellington

    Māori visual arts
    Toioho ki Apiti
    Te Putahi a Toi
    Massey University
    Private Bag 11 222
    Palmerston North 5301

    Enrolment enquiries
    Phone: 0800 MASSEY
    Text: 5222
    Email: creative@massey.ac.nz