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Making the artists of the future, one learning experience at a time. 

Why Critique?

12/21/2014

1 Comment

 
I've been thinking critically lately and I can't find much I like about the way critique works in my classroom. It's one of those things I do because that's what art teachers do but it never really makes a great lesson. My students are compliant and do what I ask of them but it's often obvious that they're counting the minutes until it's over. 

So I asked them why.
Picture

"We don't like to talk about our work. It's embarrassing."

"People judge us."

"It's just so awkward."

"Everyone already knows what sucks"

I remember feeling the same way about many, many critiques. The fist one at art school when I ran to the bathroom and cried afterward to the ones where I felt smug because my work was okay and I knew others would get slammed. I remember a lot about the way I felt but nothing about what I learned. 

Why do I make my students do this? It's important, right?

Well........

The reason I do whole class critique of student work, or used to, is because I want them to analyze work, develop opinions and use art vocabulary.  I also want the work to be seen and admired. 

I'll start with analyzing work. Why criticize art work when it's finished? It's kind of besides the point because the work is done. What really needs to be done to teach this skill is working with students to analyze work in progress. This happens through conversation, first just between the student and the teacher, then in small groups. This builds trust and a positive relationship.

"What do you like about how your work is going?"
"What challenges are you experiencing?"
"What is your vision?"
Picture
Developing opinions is also important, as is using art vocabulary. I want my kids to do this, but not at the risk of the climate of trust and confidence that I want to instill in my classroom. Instead, I focus on having them develop opinions through analyzing the work of professional artists and by interpreting open-ended themes in their personal work. Through conversation and writing they will have many opportunities to apply art vocab in settings where I can give them personal feedback. 

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Basically this.
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Not this.
Thinking about critique has made me realize that I don't just want work to be viewed passively, I want students to interpret it actively. 

Like games.

I tried one this week. I divided my art two class into groups of three or four. I had them start by sharing their work, which was a response to a piece they selected from our local museum's collection. They shared the work they were inspired by and talked about how they interpreted the theme. 

Next came the game. I gave them thirty minutes to create an one artwork, as a group, that included themes from each group member's work. It was great. They actively discussed themes and analyzed how they fit together, then interpreted the information to create something new. The artwork was imperfect and rushed but the conversations were dynamic and the group's descriptions of what they made showed that they really though about the work. 

And they had fun. 
1 Comment
Colleen Rose link
12/21/2014 04:44:47 am

Melissa, I always appreciate the way you make me think. The timing of this post is perfect, especially because my students will be using analysis to react to & learn about art for their culminating task in January. I know I will be busy formulating a plan over the holidays to make the most of the experience.

To help prepare them for upcoming art critiques, we watched Gabriel Orozco's "Mirror Crit", and discussed our reactions to the exercise. Students tried to understand the legitimacy of these "face value" critiques, since the professor had no context through which he viewed each piece. It helped us to understand the importance of clear communication when planning our work, especially if we have a message to share in our art. We paid closer attention when the professor and the artist both emphasized the necessity to notice what was missed; what the viewer doesn't mention. Is our art successful if our message isn't conveyed?

Our hope is to create artworks with the knowledge that they will have to speak for themselves. If viewers can "read" our art without the aide of an artist's statement or explanation by the artist, wouldn't it be that much more effective?

The challenge is now in the making of this task... How do we make art that can be critiqued, to help us learn about the way we communicate visually, but without shredding our self esteem? How do we use analysis to provide a helpful perspective, one that we hadn't considered before?

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    Mrs. Purtee

    I'm interested in creating a student student centered space  for my high school students through choice and abundant opportunity for self expression. I'm also a writer for SchoolArts co-author of  The Open Art Room.

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