Tim Lefens Lecture

 This past Wednesday I attended a lecture given by Tim Lefens. This is the man who came up with A.R.T. ( Artistic Realization Technologies) which is a program that I first learned about in my Art for the Exceptional Child class. His program was created for students who are quadriplegic, or severely limited when it comes to mobility. They use a laser and a trained volunteer (known as trackers) as their tools to paint on a canvas this in turn gives them a sense of freedom. When I went his lecture I was expecting to see images of the students paintings that he works with, but instead he lectured about his theories about art.

 His first theory was called the Death Bed Theory, which posed the question What painting would you want to view hanging across from your death bed? I thought that this was an intriguing question, what would I want to be the last image I saw before I died? That's pretty deep! To be honest I really don't know what I would want to see, I think it is because I like too many different things.
  The second theory was the Truncated Pyramid Theory. Lefens says that over the years we have diminished the idea of what "high art" is.  High art was originally at the peak of the pyramid and over time we have cut off the top of the pyramid and the only thing left is the "joke art". When he said this my jaw literally hit the floor! I thought to myself what a bold statement because there are so many contemporary artists in the world that consider inspirational, and high art in their own right and not "joke art".
   The third theory was the Double Funnel Theory in which Lefens explains that one needs to knock themselves down to nothing so they can expand and let go larger than they ever have before. He says one needs to surprise themselves to create great art, and the only way to this is to let go completely and surrender to yourself.
   Lefens theories are very thought provoking and valid in there own way, but over all I think Lefens is a bold figure in the reformation of the arts. He definatly has a firm belief in creating art for the beauty of it. If you want to learn more about Tim Lefens you can visit his website http://www.artrealization.org/ 

Talking about Student Art

Studio critique means the common activity of artists talking about their work with other artists – Barrett

            As a college art student I have sat and participated in many a critique but when I was in middle school and high school it was not that really common of an occurrence. I have witnessed great and engaging critiques in some of my classes, and I have seen some bad almost too painful to bare critiques (and I am sure that if you are reading this, you may have had similar experiences). In Barrett’s article Studio Critiques: As They Are and As They Could Be, he analysis the good and bad aspects of student critiques. Lets start with what they should not be, for example being an opinionated and judgmental teacher does not help your students in the end. As teachers our ideals should not be pressured on to our students. Everyone sees things differently and has different opinions; a student’s artwork should never be changed to please someone else. Another point that Barrett makes is to not talk too much; the best way for students to learn about art is to engage in speaking about it not listening to their teacher lecture them for an hour. Like Barrett previously defined a studio critique is an activity involving artists talking about their work with other artists, not a teacher lecturing about an artwork to their class.

            So how do we take these examples of a bad critique and make them into a good critique? Well, like I stated before the students should articulate most of the talking, but it is more important that they state their interpretations of the work rather then evaluating it. Barrett says interpretation is "the critical activity of deciphering what a work might be about... Interpretations are a synthesis of descriptive facts and observations, and also include syntheses of how form and media affect subject matter-what some call analysis” (page 4).  This is good way to get away from students determining whether the artwork is “good” or “bad”.  Finally he says that art criticism should be worked in some how. Barrett says, "Criticism is informed discourse about art for the purpose of increasing understanding and appreciation of art (page 5)." If you keep all of these tips in mind then you may have an exceptional experience in you next classroom critique!

Presentation Summary

After looking at the video of my partner and I, I felt that we could have discussed the term “abject” further opening up the discussion to help discover what the class thought abject meant. We also could have structured our questions to help scaffold the discussion more building from interpretation to a deeper meaning and understanding of the work we were showing and the principle we were using. 

            From the feedback our peers gave, they felt that we should have paid more attention to bringing back the theme after discussing the work, and talked more about what facing the abject was. In regards to the presentation of two works on one slide the group felt a little divided. Some felt showing Kiki Smiths work next to Justin Novak’s was helpful in exploring the comparison and contrast between the two artists. However some felt that we should have first showed one sculpture and then shown the other. Only after discussing both images would it been helpful to show both side by side. In response to your question of why we showed both images side by side, we felt that it would be helpful showing them this way to discuss the theme facing the abject as a whole, and also due to the time constraint we felt showing both would expose the group to both artists pushing along our discussion. Other comments made by our peers were directed toward our presence at the front of the room. Some stated that we looked nervous or that we should have moved around more. Upon reviewing the video we agree with these comments. Another comment was that we should have discussed the theme it’s self more in order to build an understanding before we looked at the artist work, also asking what was abject in regard to the work shown and built a discussion around that a little more.

Over all our peers felt that the artists we choose suited the theme as well as each other and that the discussion was helpful in beginning to think about the theme facing the abject.