Concentration Statement

A concentration is a body of related works describing an in-depth exploration of a particular artistic concern. It should reflect a process of investigation of a specific visual idea. It is not a selection of a variety of works produced as solutions to class projects or a collection of works with differing intents. Students should be encouraged to explore a personal, central interest as intensively as possible; they are free to work with any idea in any medium that addresses two-dimensional design issues. The concentration should grow out of the student’s idea and demonstrate growth and discovery through a number of conceptually related works. In this section, the evaluators are interested not only in the work presented but also in visual evidence of the student’s thinking, selected method of working, and development of the work over time.

Your concentration needs to have a beginning, middle and end. Think of a concentration like a graphic novel, only without the talk bubbles. The readers will have only one chance to glance over the works and get the plot of the story. This means that the you need to be very clear and logical about the progression of your idea and have a distinct theme or storyline. The concentration artwork should evolve or revolve around the central idea so that each image further enhances the story or idea you're trying to communicate.

The Concentration Statement

When you turn in your portfolio online, you'll also have two questions to answer. These questions are not graded but you need to take this part seriously. This is your opportunity to explain your work. When the reader grades your portfolio, you won't be there to explain a concentration that is not immediately clear. (First, if your concentration is not immediately clear, maybe you should rethink choosing it.) The questions are:

1. What is the central idea of your concentration?
2. How does the work in your concentration demonstrate the exploration of your idea? You may refer to specific images as examples.

Think of question 1 as the thesis statement for your Concentration. Don't be too wordy answering question 1. The readers rarely read past the first paragraph and if it takes more than that to explain your Concentration, you have need to rethink your approach. I once had a kid turn in 3 pages of typewritten copy for his question 1. It was a worthy effort, but totally unnecessary. One short, well thought-out paragraph will do.

Question 2 allows you to refer to specific artworks. For instance, you will say something like "In C1, the beginning of the life cycle of a teenager is depicted as a moth in a pupa. This work starts out the life cycle of the moth/teenager with a metaphor of how a teenager emerges from childhood into adulthood. In C4, the moth...." Again, you don't have to write a book here. Three or four examples of your BEST work will do. There is no profit to be gained pointing out your weakest works.

In any work you do, your true professionalism will show in the presentation and the details. Sloppy writing, bad grammar, and poor spelling have no place in a portfolio you poured your heart and soul in to for over an entire year. No, this area is not graded, but none-the-less, you have plenty of time and unlike other AP tests you have the questions ahead of time. Think over your answers, have your friends read them so that what you mean to say is clear to a stranger and use spellcheck! Don't use any text-speak, no jokes, no flowery language or BS artspeak. If you keep your comments short, clear and serious they will benefit your portfolio and help display your work in the best possible light.

Picking a Concentration Theme

When you pick a Concentration theme, choose a subject that interests you and that can be sustained over 12 works. Some things you'll find interesting won't last over 12 artworks and when April rolls around and you've done eight and can't think of a single thing more to do, life gets really tense. So how do you come up with a good Concentration? It's not as easy as just saying "I like goldfish" and going on to make twelve pictures of goldfish. Your goal is to show "in-depth exploration of a particular artistic concern". Goldfish might be cute, but as a particular artistic concern, they're a bit shallow.

You are also showing growth and development and increased complexity of an idea. Twelve pictures of essentially the same thing, no matter how well executed, do not show growth and development. You will need to show how something changes (over time, size, location, morphs...) or how your VIEW of that thing has changed. Twelve good works that are of the same subject, but don't show a progression will earn you a 3. Works of the same quality that show growth and development will earn a 4.

For the rest of your life you'll be working to please people who are judging you. Sorry...that's just a fact. You work at pleasing teachers, parents, boy/girlfriends, bosses and now you have an anonymous group of AP Readers who don't know anything about you and are judging a year of your life in a talent you probably are really sensitive about. So how do you get a Reader's attention and make them smile? First, you don't bore them.

There are subjects that kids just love that bore Readers to tears. It might not be fair, but it's reality that your Portfolio is going to be seen the same day as 22,000 other works from all over the world. If you choose a theme that is common, shallow or trite, no matter how good your work is, that reader has probably seen it 100 times earlier that same day. If you choose a theme that is unique or unusual it will perk up their interest and the judges will look at your work a bit longer and judge it a bit kinder.

Concentrations should be based in the real world, more or less. Fairies, dragons, emotions, "thoughts and feelings" are not good concentration subjects. Copying another artist's style is also not a concentration subject, so stay away from anime', cartoon characters, and "painting like Van Gogh" as a concentration. That said, I've seen some good concentrations that have fantasy aspects and all good artwork grabs you emotionally, so it's possible to get a good concentration out of a fantasy subject. For instance, one student I had earned a 5 on his portfolio and his Concentration was "My Life in Games" and he literally put himself IN the various game universes he played in. He started out as a literal characters and his works became more psychological and symbolic as they progressed through the twelve works.

Now, in the opposite direction, here's another bit of life-long advice from Mrs. Taylor. Pick your moments when you want to tick off your audience. This class and this portfolio is not that moment. The AP portfolio is not the venue to disgust the viewer with your Jeffery Dahmer retrospective, advocate for the violent overthrow of the government, promote the Klan or show any bizarre, nasty, perverted image... even if bizarre, nasty, perverted and disgusting is what you're really good at. Controversy is the soul of art, but not here. After all, what's the point of ticking off an anonymous judge who you will never see and who will never see you again? Disgusting the judge will only hurt you and you won't even get publicity points for it. Save those artworks for your college Senior show.

So pick something that's interesting to you, interesting to the judges, edgy (but not TOO edgy) and can be sustained over 12 works. Easy!

On this page you'll find a list of Concentrations to start you thinking. These are culled from various sources, including other AP art teachers, so none of them are truly original. There is also a list of bad concentrations, gathered from the same sources and you might notice that there are some of the same concentrations on both lists! That's because what one teacher will find is disgusting, boring thing is not disgusting or boring to another teacher.

One excercise I've found helpful is for all of my students to write down a list of concentrations they find interesting and then blend two of them. This adds complexity, depth and often a touch of orginality. An example is this:
Student submits shoes, old age as a metaphor, and motorcyles, which are three things that interests him and he can find pictures about.
I would say to him "What about Shoes as a Metaphor for Old Age? You can show how the elderly wear out their usefulness and are discarded the way old shoes are. Or The Life Cycle of a Motorcyle...Creation/Birth through Old Age and Death of a Harley-Davidson?" Try mashing two or more of your interests together to get a third, livelier, theme.

No esoteric statements; be personal, be concise. Write about that you know.

  • Brainstorm ideas in your sketchbooks.
  • Respond to Molly Gordon's Steps to Writing an Artist Statement in your sketchbooks.
  • Write a formal Artist Statement.