Critique

A critical review or discussion, in particular, for our purposes, one dealing with works of art. A critique is often a meeting involving a group of art students with one or more instructors, and sometimes one or more guests, in a discussion resulting in the assessment of those students' artwork, to review or discuss those works critically in order to sustain and nourish critical reflection. Participants in a critique should focus on describing, analyzing, interpreting, and judging works to an understanding of them which is as deep and broad as time will allow. The works considered in a critique might constitute a portion of a project to be completed within the current semester, up to a large body of recent works. A critique should advance the students' work, and convey a structure which will sustain them as artists long after their graduation.Unfortunately, to many people, the word "criticize" has a negative, and therefore off-putting connotation. Art educators, however, employ "criticism" and "critique" as means to convey the feedback art students need: a concentrated effort to give constructive analysis and advice. All participants should affirm that a critique is most helpful when it is simultaneously profoundly insightful and motivating ? entirely truthful, and free from ridicule.(pr. krə-TEEK)Quotes: "Art is there to be seen, not talked about, except perhaps in its presence." Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German writer and scientist, who did important work on the nature of color, and spent 50 years on his two-part dramatic poem Faust. "Artists should be judged by results, not by intentions." Pablo Picasso (1881-1973), Spanish artist. Even in art, "concepts become more manageable when we can name them." A.G. Woolcott and B. Gough-Dijulio, "Just looking or talking back? A postmodern approach to art education." In J.W. Hutchens and M.S. Suggs (Eds.), Art Education: content and practise in a postmodern era, 1997, NAEA, pp. 147. Also see art critic, art criticism, bias, charette, interesting, and praise.