Life is too short to remain unnoticed.

— Salvador Dali

Artist’s Careers, Portfolios & Websites

Welcome!

Stress

Planning your life and career can be stressful. Don’t be over-stressed! Let’s hop on Zoom anytime and talk. Stressful stuff talked through is almost always less stressful.

You Are The Player

I’m a coach on the sideline. I hope I can offer advice that helps you feel confident and do your best. I believe that there is an art career for you if you want it. But the ball is in your hands, not mine. I’ll give you all the help I can. But you must move the ball down the field toward your goal.

Realistic Goals

You’ve probably tried many things in the School of Art. Now that it’s time to focus on one thing, you might not have a lot of work in that career area. If you choose an animation career, all the cool jewelry pieces you made in metals class won’t help your portfolio. Or if you decide to be a jewelry artist, all the packaging designs you made in graphic design class won’t help your portfolio. That’s why we’ll be “making new work” for your portfolio in all the odd-numbered weeks.

Set realistic weekly goals for yourself. Don’t over-promise. Then, hold yourself to it.

A dream without a plan is only ever a dream. A dream with a plan becomes reality.

Day Jobs

There’s nothing wrong with a day job. And many artists pursuing gallery careers will have one for some time. Commercial artists (animators, illustrators, graphic designers, photographers, UI/UX designers, and others) should be able to find clients or entry-level jobs if you’re willing to hustle.

I’m sad when I hear a student put down a strong career goal in Week 1 and then in Week 15 say that they plan to work a day job for the foreseeable future and perhaps slowly build a small art career over the years ahead.

This is fine if it’s your true goal. But I think sometimes students have a dream in Week 1, don’t make a lot of progress on career plans or networking during the semester, and then in Week 15 sort of give up and say, “OK, day job then.” Once again, try to set realistic goals. I believe that you can have an art career. Not ten years from now, but now. It will be work. And scary. But possible.

Course Details

Art 490: Capstone Workshop: Artist’s Careers, Portfolios & Websites

• Instructor: Glenn Zucman
• email: glenn.zucman@csulb.edu
• Office Hours: anytime! Let’s talk by email or hop on Zoom if you have questions about the class, art, career, life, or anything else. We have 2 “official” 1-to-1 zoom meetups, but you don’t have to wait for those. If you have questions, let’s talk!
• Semester: Fall 2024
• Section 1: Class #5660 – Online Asynchronous + Zoom Mondays Noon – 12:45 pm
• Section 4: Class #11154 – Online Asynchronous + Zoom Wednesdays Noon – 12:45 pm
• Prerequisite: BA or BFA Senior in the School of Art, or College of the Arts, or MA or MFA Student
• Units: 1
• Work Estimate: 3 hours/week
• Textbook: Why You, Why Me, Why Now, by Rachel Toor, $16, Bookstore or Online.
• Web Hosting & Domain Name: $48-96
• Course: August 26 – December 11, 2024
• Final Section 1: Friday, 13 Dec 2024, 12:30-2:30 pm PT on Zoom.
• Final Section 4: Wednesday, 18 Dec 2024, 12:30 – 2:30 pm PT on Zoom.

Course Format

• Online
• Synchronous (45-minute weekly Zoom meetup) + Asynchronous (work on your own time)
• Plus 1-to-1 Zoom meetups with Glenn

Zoom Links

• Zoom Room: for weekly M or W meetups, go to Canvas > Art490 > Zoom & use the links there
• 1-to-1 Meetups with Glenn: csulb.zoom.us/my/glennz
• Password: soa

Schedule

Weekly Schedule

In Week 1, you’ll launch your portfolio website.

Then, in all the even-numbered weeks, you’ll create portfolio elements like photography and writing. In the odd-numbered weeks, you’ll create new work to fill in the three categories of your career portfolio. And each week, you’ll read and discuss on Canvas a chapter in our book Why You, Why Me, Why Now? by Rachel Toor.

• Week 1 Activity – Choose a Web Platform & Custom Domain Name
• Week 1 Reading – Why You, Why Me, Why Now? – Introduction

• Week 2 Activity – Career Goal & Elevator Pitch
• Week 2 Reading – Chapter 1 – Attitude

• Week 3 Activity – Make New Work
• Week 3 Reading – Chapter 2 – The Search

• Week 4 Activity – Key People
• Week 4 Reading – Chapter 3 – The Job Description

• Week 5 Activity – Make New Work
• Week 5 Reading – Chapter 4 – A few words about “Match”

• Week 6 Activity – Photograph Yourself & Your Work
• Week 6 Reading – Chapter 5 – The Cover Letter

• Week 7 Activity – Make New Work
• Week 7 Reading – Chapter 6 – The Resume
• Week 7 – Off-Campus Networking Due

• Week 8 Activity – Write About Yourself & Your Work
• Week 8 Reading – Chapter 7 – The Interview

• Week 9 Activity – Make New Work
• Week 9 Reading – Chapter 8 – References

• Week 10 Activity – 1st Draft of Portfolio Website Due
• Week 10 Reading – Chapter 9 – Following Up

• Week 11 Activity – Make New Work
• Week 11 Reading – Chapter 10 – The Long, Long, Long Haul

• Week 12 Activity – Test Your Portfolio Website
• Week 12 Reading – Little Bag of Writing Tricks

• Week 13 Activity – Make New Work
• Fall Break – Nov 25 – Dec 1
• Week 14 Activity – Critique Classmate Portfolio Websites
• Week 14 – Off-Campus Networking due
• Week 15 Activity – Final Draft of Portfolio Website Due

• Final – Critique of Websites with special guests (Zoom)

1-to-1 Meetups with Glenn

1. Meetup #1 – Weeks 2 & 3
2. Meetup #2 – Weeks 7 & 8

• Visit the Meetup Schedule Page to pick the Day & Time you’d like to meetup on Zoom.
• I’m available for all the meetups you’d like by email or Zoom. These are just our 2 “official” meetups.

Off-Campus Networking

It is essential to start networking this semester. Your portfolio needs people to look at it and help advance your career. This means stepping off the LBSU campus and into the world.

Many art students dread this activity. Yet, it is the single most important career-building thing you can do. Make some time, summon your courage, and go out and meet professionals in the world where you hope to build a career.

• Details: Off-Campus Networking
• Some Options: Conference & Events Calendar

About Art 490

• Online. Synchronous & Asynchronous.

Prerequisites

• BA or BFA Senior in the School of Art, or College of the Arts, or MA or MFA Student

Objectives

This class has three key objectives to help you transition from the School of Art to your Professional Art Career:

1. Pick one clear career goal. Pick three sub-categories within your goal.
2. Make new work to fill in your three portfolio categories.
3. Assemble your work into a compelling portfolio & website.

Learning Outcomes

On completing the class, you will be able to:

1. Give a Confident, Clear, Concise & Compelling (the “4 C’s”) two-sentence “Elevator Pitch” describing your Art Career
2. Make the portfolio pieces you need to advance your career without having an instructor assign them
3. Build a persuasive Portfolio Website
4. Use Portfolio software like Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, and others
5. Easily & Quickly Update the content of your Portfolio
6. Change the aesthetics of your Portfolio
7. Prepare Images & Videos for your Portfolio
8. Create an online CV or Resume
9. Create an online Artist’s Statement
10. Exchange links with other artists

Materials

Textbook

• Why You, Why Me, Why Now, by Rachel Toor, $16, Bookstore or Online.

Required Materials

Your Domain Name (URL) like: glenn.zucman.com, Not glennzucman.wix.com

You can buy your Domain Name and Hosting from a Web Hosting Company. Here are a few choices:

• Squarespace – 50% 1st Year Student Discount – $96/year
• Wix – 50% Student Discount – $96/year
• WordPress.com – $48/year
• More choices: Platforms

Other Tools

1. Computer – laptop or desktop. Or computers in the Horn Center or Spidel Center
2. Camera – Phone, Mirrorless, DSLR, or Film
3. Cloud Storage – Dropbox, Google Drive, iCloud, OneDrive, etc (free version)

Total Course Cost

• $16 + $48-96 = $64-112

Writing

There are many things to write this semester: your elevator pitch, an artist’s statement, descriptions for the category pages of your portfolio, captions for your images, a narrative for a case study, and more.

Your artist’s statement might be short or long. A case study narrative could be extensive. Most of the other writing pieces will be short. This doesn’t make clear and concise writing any less essential.

The 4 C’s

From your elevator pitch to your full portfolio, The Four C’s (Confident, Clear, Concise & Compelling) are always essential:

• The 4 C’s

Authenticity

More personal and direct writing is more authentic. And more authentic writing is the best way to connect with the curators, HR directors, art directors, art buyers, clients, and others who can help advance your career. Here are some writing tips:

• First Person POV vs. third person
• Second Person Object vs. third person
• Gerunds vs. plural nouns for portfolio categories

Writing Help

There are many resources available to you. Use them all!

University Writing Center

The University Writing Center offers F2F and Zoom appointments. They can help with your Artist’s Statement, but don’t be afraid to ask them for help with shorter pieces like your Elevator Pitch, too!

Glenn

I’m always happy to help with Elevator Pitches, Artist Statements, and anything else.

Hemingway

Hemingway is a free web app that will help you write more clearly and directly. Cut out the modifying words. Short sentences. Clarity. Conciseness.

Artificial Intelligence

We may be more aware of the scary aspects of AI than of the beneficial ones. For 30 years now, AI X-ray diagnosing algorithms have been better than human radiologists. Recently, college students have used AI to read scrolls buried in lava when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in the year 79. LA-based feminist artist Micol Hebron has been using AI to create an extensive new body of work.

Saving lives, uncovering ancient culture, and creating new art. Maybe AI isn’t so creepy after all.

It’s also true that AI often uses stolen ideas for its predictions. It can replicate the racism and sexism of its source material. Machine learning models can warp our worldviews and harm society.

You may use AI writing tools to help with your Art 490 writing.

Note that AI might not be permitted in other courses you take at LBSU. Be sure you know the AI policies for each course you take before using AI tools.

Technology

Technical Competence Required

• use phone & laptop
• view websites & navigate to different locations
• download & install software

Minimum Hardware Requirements

Any smartphone and laptop made in the last few years. Or computers in the Spidell Center or the Horn Center.

Minimum Software Requirements

1. Any modern web browser
2. Support software like Adobe Creative Cloud

Safety

Close Focusing

• Close focus when reading books, phones, and tablets can cause myopia, a condition in which close vision is sharp but distance vision is not.
• Stop for 20 seconds of distance viewing every 20 minutes of close focusing.
• Here’s an article by Guillaume Delacroix in LeMonde about Screen Use and Myopia.

Sitting is The New Smoking

• A January 2023 study in The Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine recommends five minutes of walking for every 30 minutes of sitting as providing the healthiest outcome.
• Here’s an article by Pascale Santi in LeMonde about walking for health and longer life.
• Or get a treadmill desk.

Stress, Alcohol & Women

• Life is filled with stress. Conditions in America like the lack of universal health care add to stress. And trying to start an art career, or any career, adds even more stress.
• Here’s an article by Olga Khazan in The Atlantic about Women, Stress, Alcohol, and Drugs.

Points & Grades

New Work

“New Work” must fit one of your three career categories. For example: if your career goal is Animation and your three categories are Storyboards, Backgrounds & Character Design, you may not submit jewelry you made in your metals class. “New Work” must be work for Your Portfolio to make it possible to start your career.

Points

• Projects Weeks 1, 2, 4, 6, 8, 12, 14 x 1 point = 7 points
• New Work Weeks 3, 5, 7, 9, 11, 13 x 1 point = 6 points
• 1-to-1 Meetups (Zoom) with Glenn 2 x 0 points = 0 points
• Off-Campus Networking due by Wk 7 & 14, 2 x 1 point = 2 points
• 1st draft of Portfolio Website w Custom URL = 1 point
• Final draft of revised Portfolio Website = 1 point
• Final Critique on Zoom = 1 point
• Textbook chapter discussions on Canvas: 12 x 1 point = 12 points
• Total Course Points Possible: 30

Grades

• 27 points = 90% = A
• 24 points = 80% = B
• 21 points = 70% = C
• 18 points = 60% = C
• 17 points & below = 59% = C

No Late Work

I wouldn’t want to work here the day that happened.

Digital Domain manager responding to an LBSU student who asked “What happens when you’re late?”

Be Professional – there is no late work.

• If you’re late for an interview, you won’t get hired.
• If you’re late delivering work, you won’t get rehired (and may get sued)
• Take this course and your career seriously.
• Meet your deadlines.

Each week, your work is due on Canvas:

• Due Date is Thursday @ 11:59 pm PT
• Deadline is Sunday @ 11:59 pm PT

If you plan to have your work completed and submitted by the weekly “Due Date” of Thursday, then you give yourself a cushion for anything that might come up: technical issues, personal things, and so on.

Work submitted by the Sunday Deadline receives full credit. Work submitted after the deadline receives no credit.

Turning Work In

Your activities each week will be “turned in” on Canvas.

In Week 1, you’ll start a portfolio website using Squarespace, Wix, WordPress, or any other platform you like:

• List of Platforms

On Canvas, each week, there will be a URL entry box for you to enter the address of the relevant page.

Week 1

• For Week 1, it will be the main address of your portfolio, like:
• https://glenn.zucman.com

Week 2 & Beyond

• After that, you’ll submit the URL for the page on your portfolio site that has that week’s content, like:
• https://glenn.zucman.com/corpus/collaboration/
• https://glenn.zucman.com/about/
• and so on

Every week, you turn in on Canvas. But it’s only a URL for where the content is on your website. Ask Glenn if this is confusing! 😀

Other Details

Incompletes

The School of Art grants “incompletes” rarely and only for the most extreme conditions.

Withdrawal Deadlines

• CSULB Enrollment Services: Key Dates & Deadlines
• CSULB Dropping & Withdrawing Policies

Accommodation

LBSU will make reasonable accommodations for any student who has different needs. Sometimes your needs might be apparent to me. Often, they might not be apparent. It’s up to you to LMK of any accommodations or other help you might need. Don’t be embarrassed to ask. The only purpose of this course is to build your art career. LMK how I can help!

Accessibility

This syllabus and all other Art 490 materials have been designed to be accessible to all students. The type should be legible, have good contrast, and be friendly for screen readers. The only things underlined are web links. Underline means link. If you find elements of this syllabus or the class that are difficult to use or could be better, please let me know so I can make our content accessible for all students. The LBSU Accessibility Statement is here.

Eliminating Anti-Blackness

Faculty at LBSU strive to create an environment that supports meaningful dialogue grounded in research, academic inquiry, and mutually respectful relations. We also strive to remain conscious of and attentive to the damage that anti-Blackness does to the lives of our students, faculty, staff, administrators, and their related communities.

Freedom of Expression 

The College of the Arts embraces freedom of expression in the arts and encourages students’ creation of work that thoughtfully engages with all facets of the human experience. COTA recognizes that respect, openness, inclusiveness, and access are essential to creating a productive and constructive environment. LBSU supports creative, thoughtful, and respectful discourses in which conflicting perspectives are vigorously debated and thoroughly discussed. LBSU is dedicated to affording all members of the community freedom of speech, expression, right to assemble, religion, and press, and protections for all identities under the U.S. and California constitutions, as well as under all applicable federal and state laws, in accordance with the University’s purpose and function except insofar as limitations on those freedoms are necessary to LBSU’s functioning. 

For more information about the First Amendment, freedom of expression, and hate speech, see:

• LBSU Free Speech FAQ
• Faculty Professional Responsibility Policy  
• College of the Arts – Mission & Vision
• California State University “Time, Place & Manner” policy
• LBSU “Time, Place & Manner” policy

Not Alone at The Beach

Title IX prohibits gender discrimination, including sexual harassment and sexual misconduct. If you have experienced sexual harassment, sexual assault, rape, dating/domestic violence, or stalking, the Campus Confidential Advocate is available to help.

Jaqueline Urtez and Rocio Telumbre, email: advocate@csulb.edu, phone: 562-985-2668, can provide free and confidential support, accommodations, and referrals for victims without having to report the assault to campus authorities. While students are welcome to discuss assaults with faculty or disclose such experiences in class discussions or assignments, both faculty and teaching assistants are responsible employees who are required to report all known incidents of sexual harassment/misconduct to the Office of Equity & Diversity/Title IX Office for follow-up. Reporting this information will result in the student being contacted by the Office of Equity & Diversity/Title IX Office with information on accommodations and reporting options for possible investigation. Students do not need to respond to the Office of Equity & Diversity/Title IX Office, but students who do wish to report the assault for possible investigation are encouraged to contact the Campus Confidential Advocate, who can help them through the reporting process, or they can report the assault directly to the Office of Equity & Diversity/Title IX Office by completing an online reporting form at LBSU Equity Compliance or contacting the Office of Equity & Diversity at OED@csulb.edu.

For more information about confidential advocacy services and violence prevention education contact Not Alone at The Beach.