The College Board has eliminated Range of Approaches (Breadth) from the AP Art and Design portfolio rubric, allowing students to focus further on depth and inquiry within the Sustained Investigation and Selected Works sections. 

“The structure is more focused on process rather than product,” AP art teacher Pernie Fallon said. “So the student’s thinking, research, exploration, even revision of artwork is really important to the portfolio now. I hope that they learn to find a medium that they love working with, and I hope they find their voice that gives them their own personal style in their art.”

Fallon believes that by honing in on an overall topic, students will be able to successfully express their ideas. 

“Having a central focus in your portfolio is important so that they can develop an idea and develop a body of work through research and exploration,” Fallon said. “Trying to get what you have in your mind to come out through your hands is extremely difficult and hopefully they will learn how to translate that.” 

AP Drawing student, junior Emma Varela looks forward to her central focus bringing a variety of people together. 

“My sustained investigation is ‘The Diversity of Female Friends,” and what it means for me is that it’s a bunch of people that mean a lot to me and that I trust,” Varela said. “Painting them makes me memorizes them better and get closer to them. I want to do a photoshoot with about five of my friends, paint them separately, and have one big photo of them all together to show how different they all are and how unique they are.” 

Subject matter is not all that’s diverse, as fellow AP Drawing classmate, junior Nayel Nasifa came up with a different topic that brings nature into the mix. 

“This year my sustained investigation is going to be really focused around nature and the many aspects of nature; not only flowers, but also gems and other things we find and use in everyday life,” Nasifa said. “It’s meaningful to me because I love the outdoors and seeing how we all connect in the world. I’m really excited to see it as a whole, because I think it’s so amazing that you get to see so many different ideas come together under one, overarching umbrella.”