Building your portfolio

Your portfolio is how organizations see your work when they review your applications, and it's the centerpiece of your public profile.

You can add up to 30 projects. Once you have one, the Portfolio tab shows a running count, so you always know where you stand.

Where to build it

Your portfolio lives on the Portfolio tab of your profile. Every person has one. A work can be an artwork, an exhibition, a project, a publication, or anything else you made or worked on. See Artists and arts professionals.

Select the dashed Add work tile in the grid to start. On smaller screens, an Add work button also sits in the action bar.

Each project tile carries a ··· menu in its top corner, holding Edit, Label, Hide from profile or Show on profile, and Delete. The menu is on your own public page too, so you can change a project wherever you are looking at it. Opening a project gives you the same menu, beside Edit and Share.

The two steps

Adding a project takes you through two steps, marked Media and Details at the top of the window.

Media comes first because it decides how the project is presented. Drop files into the zone, paste a link, or write a piece. One zone takes everything, and Artsume sorts each file by what it is.

Details is where you name it. Only Title and Year are required. Everything else is optional and appears when it makes sense.

What you can add

Upload files

Uploaded and linked media share the same limit. A YouTube link and an uploaded MP4 both count as your one video.

Write a piece

Select Write or paste text to type directly into Artsume. Choose what kind of piece it is (poem, short story, chapter, essay, or other), give it a title, and write. Your words save as you type, and Save piece closes it. A project can hold up to 10 pieces, so a collection can carry all of them, and they read inline on your profile.

Paste a link

Paste a public URL and Artsume works out what it is:

• YouTube, Vimeo, Dailymotion, Bilibili, Twitch, Kick: becomes your project video
• SoundCloud, Spotify, Apple Music, Bandcamp: added as tracks
• Instagram, X, TikTok, Threads, Bluesky, Facebook, LinkedIn, Behance, Dribbble, ArtStation, Pinterest, Tumblr: added as posts

Anything else becomes a plain link card, so a Substack essay or a museum page works too. Up to 5 links per project.

Covers and order

The first image is the cover. Drag an image to the front to change that, or press the star on any other image to promote it. The cover tile is marked so you can see which one it is at a glance.

Press Replace on an image to swap the picture without losing its place. The new image takes the old one's position, its caption and its cover mark. Video carries the same control.

A project with no images gets a typographic cover built from its title and first lines. Add an image later and Artsume uses that instead.

Artsume makes thumbnails for your images automatically, and pulls a preview for linked videos and posts. An uploaded video shows a muted panel with a play mark rather than a still frame, so lead with an image if the first impression matters.

Audio tracks play as a set, in the order you put them in. Drag to reorder both images and tracks.

Fill in the details

Beyond Title and Year, the Details step offers:

• Description: what it is, and what you were after. Your statement about the work goes here.
• Tags: type a tag and press Enter, and select the × to remove one. Tags help organizations find you, and there's no limit.

Below those, Add detail offers six optional groups. Add only the ones the project needs:

Leave an empty box empty. A blank measurement means "not measured", not zero.

Visibility and drafts

Two controls sit at the bottom of the Details step.

Who can see this project has three answers:

On your profile is where a project starts. Anyone with the link takes the project off your public profile and off your project count. Its own page stays open, so you send one project to one curator without publishing it. Only you closes both. The tile then carries a Link only or a Hidden badge, so you read the state without opening the project.

Feature on profile puts a project in the Featured work section of your About tab. It does not reorder your portfolio, which keeps its own order.

Your work saves as you go. A chip near the footer reads Draft saved when it lands, and Save as draft closes the editor without publishing. Drafts carry a Draft badge and stay off your public page until you select Publish project. Editing something already live, the button reads Save changes instead.

Reorder, export, and delete

Reorder sits above the grid at all times, and turns on once you have at least two projects. Drag a row, or use the arrows, then select Done. Reset to default puts them back in year order, newest first.

Export works in your profile header's ··· menu (or Export in the action bar on mobile) downloads up to 30 projects as a ZIP with a printable manifest. Files too large to include are linked in the manifest instead. For per-project exhibition labels and other ways to share, see Sharing your profile.

Delete a project from its ··· menu, or open it and use Delete project in the editor's Details step. Artsume asks you to confirm, and deletion removes the files with it.

Link projects to your CV

You can connect a project to the CV lines that give it context, such as the exhibition where it was shown or the award it received. The linking control lives on the CV side. See Creating your CV.

Best practices

• Quality over quantity. A tight set of strong pieces reads better than a full 30 that dilute your voice.
• Lead with your best. Order matters, so put your most representative project first.
• Be specific in the details. Precise mediums, dimensions, and descriptions help reviewers place your work.
• Let a project be a whole project. Process shots, the finished piece, the field recording behind it, and the post it lived on can all sit together.
• Keep it current. Add new work as your practice evolves, and revisit older descriptions when your thinking changes.

Next steps

• Creating your CV: document exhibitions, awards, and publications, and link them to your projects
• Sharing your profile: export options, artwork labels, and ways to share
• Applying to programs: put your portfolio to work in applications
• Best practices: presentation tips across your whole profile