Critique Guidelines
It's a good time of year for an IB Art class critique. Schedule a day and ask students select a few pieces of resolved or almost resolved work each to discuss with the rest of the class. I recommend creating a minimum of display, or at least a clear table, floor or wall space for uncluttered viewing.
Moderating a critique
Timing and participation
Keeping track of time is very important in a classroom situation. Decide on the amount of time allowed for each students work to be discussed and stick to the clock! 10 minutes per student is usually sufficient. Try to make sure that no one is left out and everyone gets fair representation. Encourage the quieter students to have their say, you can use guiding questions below to prompt a discussion and help the shyer students. You could also ask each student to suggest the next student for critique.
Peer Discussion
It can work better if the other students talk about the work before the student artist explains his intentions. This way the artist learns how viewers respond to the work, regardless of his intentions, and how the work is communicating on its own. Allow an open discussion first, then ask the student artist to discuss their own work in response to the points that have been made. See Sticky Note Critiques
Positive Re-framing
Begin the discussion on a positive note, expressing appreciation for all the hard work your students are doing, and how valuable it is to come together to discuss this important work. This way, the critique takes on an atmosphere of mutual esteem. Negative comments are not helpful and create bad feelings and low self esteem. A better approach is to ask open questions or use positive or neutral words. If you sense the discussion going towards negativity try to steer it back to neutral ground.
Instead of pointing out that this piece doesn't fit, try framing it as a question: how do you feel about this piece in relation to your other works?
Let the student arrive at the solution
Suggestions for what to do to the work are not always helpful. Odd though this may sound, it is much better for the student artist to arrive at her own solutions. The teacher or fellow student can ask questions or make points that stimulate problem solving by the artist herself.
Instead of saying, why don't you make it much bigger, you could say, Have you considered how scale might affect the work?
Address both Strengths and Weaknesses
Try to ensure both strong and weak points are considered, encouraging an awareness of the different directions that could be taken but being careful not to over direct. Address weak points tactfully but openly and stress strong points as areas to recognize and make the most of.
Other points to discuss
Imaginative solutions
Imagination is the ability to come up with more than one solution to a problem. Has the student been able to do this in a new and interesting way or is the piece simply repeating earlier work or copying some other artist? How can the work evolve?
Presentation
With presentation and curatorial skills now part of the assessed criteria, you can use the critique as an opportunity to think about how work is presented, and how methods of display influence the viewers experience, even in the less formal setting of a critique. Discuss how the presentation is effective or perhaps doesn't show the work to it's full potential. When appropriate, discuss how the artwork could be displayed, mounted, hung, etc.
Teacher as Mediator
The goal is to get students discussing the work together and you are the mediator of the critique rather than the sole commentator, but you will still need to guide the conversation, modeling art vocabulary and setting the sort of questions that lead to productive discussion.
Using Art terminology in a critique
A critique is an opportunity to use language to express ideas about art. Students should be encouraged to use subject specific art terminology to discuss the formal elements of art, cite influences and discuss techniques and materials. You can model this during a critique and your students will lean quickly from your example.
- I see you are emphasizing the negative space around things
- Is this an intentional use of flattened perspective?
- Do you prefer the transparency of watercolor or the opacity of gouache?
- Is there a social context for this piece?
- Why have you chosen a palette of neutral tones?
Questions to ask in a critique
There are many questions and points for discussion and this will vary according to the students, the work and the teacher. A critique is not an exam, it is a conversation that aims to shed new light on the work and to be helpful to the student's growth. Keep your questions open ended and flexible like these.
- What do you feel is working well?
- What are you experiencing difficulty with?
- What sort of challenges are you setting for yourself?
- What have you discovered about working with these materials?
- How did that happen?
- Where did you get that idea?
- What does this mean to you?
- Where do you think this is going next?
- What ideas are you thinking about?
- What artists are you looking at?
- What interests you in this work?
- What aspect of this work do you want to emphasize?
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Critique Questions
Self Reflections
A self reflection, also called a self critique, is an evaluation of one's own artwork and an important part of the IB Art student's development. Self reflections help students to understand their own strengths and identify areas for improvement. Self reflections are a part of Reviewing, Reflecting, Refining criterion of the PP and useful when writing the Curatorial Rationale.
Related pages
Sticky Note Critiques
Sticky Note critiques are an accessible option for students to give feedback to their peers. This strategy can be used for students to give one another feedback mid-process or through a more formal critique...
Question Stems
Asking questions is one of the highest-order thinking skills, demonstrating one's ability to synthesize different concepts. This skill can support the development of critical thinking across all three...