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SMART-SOFT Critique Healthy critiques can more than double the amount of art learning because it nurtures the art studio culture for actually learning to think and express feelings as artists. It makes every result into a launching pad for the next great work. In addition to facilitating art learning, the healthy critique culture helps students develop basic empathy and relationship intelligence. They become better people who understand how to make the world a better place. Once the studio has a culture of cooperative helpfulness and friendly competition, every student becomes part of the teaching/learning network. Critiques are an important topic because bad critiques are worse than none. Bad critiques produce bad vibes. They discourage and kill creativity. They teach destructive behavior and drive away good students. CRITIQUE GUIDELINES
I like to begin the discussion on a positive appreciative note that acknowledges all the work represented. This is not a time to be negative about anything. Avoid using this time to rant or threaten. If somebody is out of line, I use humor to remind them that we all have our bad days, but now it not the time or the place. The critique is the time to be nice in spite of ourselves. QUESTIONS: What do you see? What else do you see? What is the most original or creative thing you see? What do you think is means? How does it make you feel? What open question does the work suggest to you? (state it in positive or neutral terms - no negatives) Yes, the teacher is the decider, but the creative studio art teacher is confident enough to decide to facilitate learning how to think by NOT making suggestions, but by phrasing open questions that focus thinking and allow each student to learn to be their own decider. The creative teacher coaches students to experiment and find out for themselves what works. Learning to experiment and learning to think by learning to self-critique is the essence of an artist's job. Without questioning skills, it would be hard to be a creative artist. Of course art also comes from the subconscious intuitive. We just do it without thinking, but we can still learn from it using SMART-SOFT critique. If you like this page, try clicking on Lots-a-Links
about Art Education by Marvin Bartel
The previous 2002 version of this critique page is still posted as: Successful Art Class Critique at http://www.goshen.edu/art/ed/critique1.html Percy
Principles of Art and Composition
You are invited to link this page from your web site.
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