Due 3/23

Make a post on the student blog titled “[Your Name] Midterm”. Then, scan this video for the place in the video when your presentation started, and add that time stamp to your post. A recording of Professor Karriem’s in-class explanation of this assignment can be found at the beginning of this video. 

After you’ve made your post, write a one to two paragraph response offering critical feedback, ideas and resources to three of your peers. This can be conceptual, aesthetic, technical or comparative.

Alistair’s assignments: Ameya, Cathy, Cynthia
Ameya’s assignments: Alistair, Cathy, Cynthia
Cathy’s assignments: Alistair, Ameya, Cynthia
Cynthia’s assignments: Alistair, Ameya, Cathy
Isabella’s assignments: Molly, Noelle, Pierre
Molly’s assignments: Isabella, Noelle, Pierre
Noelle’s assignments: Isabella, Molly, Pierre
Pierre’s assignments: Isabella, Molly, Noelle
Stephane’s assignments: Molly, Isabella, Cynthia
Ooha’s assignments: Cathy, Ameya, Alistair
Yoo Bin’s assignments: Zoe, Pierre, Noelle
Zoe’s assignments: Yoo Bin, Molly, Isabella

In preparation for Wednesday’s group critique, you could consider the following ways to talk about your work, and use these as loose guidelines for responding to the work of your peers.

 

Art criticism is about responding to, interpreting, and making critical judgements about works of art as a way to help make sense of the work, and also to help the maker of the work understand how their work is being received and how it might be reworked or expanded upon to more clearly communicate an intended message. 

Keep in mind that critical feedback is supposed to be helpful! The goal is to get you to talk about your work, to understand how others are interpreting it, and to ask questions of your peers so that you can make informed choices about how to develop your work. As you are responding to your peers work, extend beyond using “I like x,” to describing why you like certain aspects, what your interpretation of them is, what message it is that they convey to you. 
When critiquing each others work you could use the following lines of engagement as guidelines: 
  • Description: formal analysis, answers the question of “what do you see? hear?,” describes the aesthetic elements of the work (ie textures, colors, relationship between forms) 
  • Analysis: what do the formal features suggest? why did the artist use them? what ideas do they convey? what seems important in the work? how do the formal elements convey a message, mood, or idea? what is your reaction to certain elements? or the work as a whole? 
  • Interpretation: why did the artist create this work and what is its “meaning”? can you describe what the work is “about” without the artist’s explanation? does your interpretation differ from what the artist described? why? 
  • Judgement: What criteria do you use to judge the work? what is your judgement as to its quality? what aspects are working well? which can be improved? how might they be improved? if it is your work, what would you do differently?