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!