Let's Talk about Critique

Mariah Doren, Elissa Armstrong

Description

This book explores the tradition of critique in art and design education. It examines how critique, as a signature pedagogy in the field, has evolved, how it falls short, and what else it can be. Current practices are contextualized and suggestions are made for ways to have more open, inclusive and dynamic classroom conversations about art and design. Included is a discussion of the history of critique, grounding current practice in the discipline’s history, the field of education, and characteristics of contemporary students.



The book is designed to be useful, with an array of critique methods, written by experienced arts educators. Each one guides the reader through a method, describing “why you might do it this way” and “for what group, purpose, or type of assignment”. The text explores what the art critique is, and what it can be, offering practical, updated approaches for faculty and students seeking more educationally beneficial and nuanced critique

List of Figures

List of Tables

Acknowledgements

Introduction                                                               

 

1. What Is a Critique?                                                     

2. The Critique’s History: How the Contemporary Critique Evolved                

3. The Contemporary Student and the Critique           

4. Critique And Assessment                                          

5. Critique Methods Collection                                        

• I:  Non-verbal critiques                                                  
  
  
  
  • Yun Shin and Emily Stokes
  
  
  • Elissa Armstrong
  
  
  • Nida Abdullah and Denise Gonzales Crisp
  
  
  • Chelsea Coon
  
  
  • Mariah Doren
  
  
  • Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
  
  
  
  


• II:  Play and improvisation critiques
  
  
  
  • Carol Elkovich
  
  
  • Nida Abdullah and Denise Gonzales Crisp
  
  
  • Jonathon Russell 
  
  
  • Laurie Gatlin
  
  
  • Tyrus Clutter
  
  
  • Jonathon Russell 
  
  
  
  


• III: Pre-, mid-, post- and extended critiques 
  
  
  
  • Ane Gonzalez Lara
  
  
  • Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
  
  
  • Leslie Bellavance
  
  
  • Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
  
  
  • Elissa Armstrong
  
  
  • Hannah Barnes
  
  
  
  


• IV: Student-centered critiques
  
  
  
  • Gaia Scagnetti and T. Camille Martin-Thomsen
  
  
  • Denielle J. Emans and Kelly M. Murdoch-Kitt
  
  
  • April Friges
  
  
  • Andrea Marpillero-Colomina
  
  
  • Kristina Bivona
  
  
  • nicole killian
  
  
  • Hande Sever and Alexandre Saden
  
  
  • melissa m button, Matt Nock, and Phil Stoesz
  
  
  
  


• V:  Critique of critiques
  
  
  
  • Mariah Doren
  
  
  • Maya Krinsky
  
  
  • Andy Broadey and Richard Hudson-Miles
  
  
  • Matt King
  
  
  • Morgan Alford, Alia Ali, Naama Attias, Julia Chai, Casey Chan, Jiayun Chen, Yingtong He, Ashley Hunt, Kaidi Jiu, Keunjae Kwon, Michael Mendoza, Oscar Ochoa, Alexeis Reyes, Ruoyi Shi, Estela Ana Silva, Allison Yasukawa, and Hanzhu Zhang                                                    
  
  
  
  

Conclusion                                                               

References

Notes on Contributors                  

Sujets

• Teaching
• EDUCATION
• Art criticism
• Learning styles
• Study
• General officer
• Art
• General

Informations

• Publié par: Intellect Books
• Date de parution: 28 juillet 2023
• Nombre de lectures: 1
• EAN13: 9781789387735
• Langue: English

Extrait

Let s Talk about Critique
Let s Talk about Critique
________________________________________
Reimagining Art and Design Education
Elissa Armstrong and Mariah Doren
First published in the UK in 2023 by
Intellect, The Mill, Parnall Road, Fishponds, Bristol, BS16 3JG, UK
First published in the USA in 2023 by
Intellect, The University of Chicago Press, 1427 E. 60th Street,
Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Copyright 2023 Intellect Ltd
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
Copy editor: MPS Limited
Cover designer: Tanya Montefusco
Cover image: Anna Shvets
Production manager: Sophia Munyengeterwa
Typesetter: MPS Limited
Hardback ISBN 978-1-78938-771-1
Paperback ISBN 978-1-78938-873-2
ePDF ISBN 978-1-78938-772-8
ePUB ISBN 978-1-78938-773-5
To find out about all our publications, please visit our website. There you can subscribe to our e-newsletter, browse or download our current catalogue and buy any titles that are in print.
www.intellectbooks.com
This is a peer-reviewed publication.
Contents
List of Figures
List of Tables
Acknowledgments
Introduction

1. What Is a Critique?
2. The Critique's History: How the Contemporary Critique Evolved
3. The Contemporary Student and the Critique
4. Critique and Assessment
5. Critique Methods Collection
5.1. Non-verbal critiques
Yun Shin and Emily Stokes
Elissa Armstrong
Nida Abdullah and Denise Gonzales Crisp
Chelsea Coon
Mariah Doren
Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
5.2. Play and improvisation critiques
Carol Elkovich
Nida Abdullah and Denise Gonzales Crisp
Jonathon Russell
Laurie Gatlin
Tyrus Clutter
Jonathon Russell
5.3. Pre-, mid-, post-, and extended critiques
Ane Gonzalez Lara
Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
Leslie Bellavance
Susan Jahoda and Caroline Woolard
Elissa Armstrong
Hannah Barnes
5.4. Student-centered critiques
Gaia Scagnetti and T. Camille Martin-Thomsen
Denielle J. Emans and Kelly M. Murdoch-Kitt
April Friges
Andrea Marpillero-Colomina
Kristina Bivona
nicole killian
Hande Sever and Alexandre Saden
melissa m button, Matt Nock, and Phil Stoesz
5.5. Critique of critiques
Mariah Doren
Maya Krinsky
Andy Broadey and Richard Hudson-Miles
Matt King
Morgan Alford, Alia Ali, Naama Attias, Julia Chai, Casey Chan, Jiayun Chen, Yingtong He, Ashley Hunt, Kaidi Jiu, Keunjae Kwon, Michael Mendoza, Oscar Ochoa, Alexeis Reyes, Ruoyi Shi, Estela Ana Silva, Allison Yasukawa, and Hanzhu Zhang

Conclusion: The Future of the Critique
References
Contributors
Figures 4.1 Types of assessment over duration of project. 4.2 Bloom s Taxonomy. 5.1 Framework for Critical Analysis. 5.2 Visual representation of the jury, small clusters, and gallery style formats. 5.3 Proposal Feedback Form. 5.4 Abundance roadmap.
Tables 4.1 Sample 1: Course rubric. 4.2 Sample 2: Course rubric. 5.1 Scagnetti Martin-Thomsen Vocabulary Table.
Acknowledgments
Elissa and Mariah especially want to thank each other, collaborating on this book has taken the better part of two years; we have learned a lot and laughed along the way. We thank Kelly Quinn, our tireless editor, who has been nothing less than thoughtful, thorough, and encouraging at every step. We also want to thank the long list of method contributors in Chapter 5 for sharing their enormous teaching expertise. An extra special thank you to contributor Jonathon Russell who generously offered his graphic design skills to develop the symbol system used in that chapter. We thank our respective institutions, Rhode Island School of Design and Virginia Commonwealth University, School of the Arts (The Art Foundation Program and Craft/Material Studies), for their generous support of the book.
Additionally, Mariah would like to thank her family, Elana Doren, Lucina Doren, and especially Ben Doren for their love, support, patience, and guidance. Thank you to John Baldacchino for helping me become the educator I am.
Elissa would like to thank all those who supported her throughout this project, especially her father Gerald Armstrong; thank you for always being a steadfast supporter and invaluable advice giver in all things-including this book.
Introduction
Critique is the cornerstone of western-based arts education. It is the signature pedagogy of art and design. At its best, the critique process helps build a strong sense of community in the classroom by creating space for a shared dialogue about artworks. It offers guidance and feedback to help students make their work stronger. Critique is a tool that art and design educators use to help students understand how their work is received from the perspective of peers, faculty, and guests. During the critique, suggestions ideally are offered in an open and supportive environment. However, students and faculty sometimes find the experience of the critique unfulfilling, misaligned with desired learning outcomes, and, at times, a traumatic experience of bias or misuse of authority. Because of these problematic components of the critique, there is a clear need for educators to re-envision what the critique is and can be. When art and design educators explore new and varied approaches to critiques, there is the possibility of realizing the critique's full potential without becoming stuck in narrowly defined perspectives of value, quality, and craftsmanship.
Much of the existing literature that examines the critique focuses on preparing students for how to operate within the traditional critique experience (Buster and Crawford 2010). In this book, we take a different tack, one which offers alternative approaches that leverage the useful aspects of the traditional critique and address some of its problematic elements. However, the approaches we offer cannot be undertaken without developing an understanding of the multiple facets of the traditional form of critique predominant in art and design education today.
In this book, we initially examine, from multiple angles, exactly what the critique is within current art and design education. We provide the reader with a history of the critique, beginning with the apprenticeship and atelier model, working through the Bauhaus School iteration of it, and then look at the artistic practice model. Next, we present information about the current generation of art and design students and their unique characteristics and foci, and how these challenge traditional forms of the critique. Then we examine where the critique is similar and where it diverges from other types of academic assessment. Understanding the critique's structural components and its historical evolution helps to rethink the existing model.
We subsequently examine the multitude of factors that influence the critique process, questioning some existing techniques and offering new ways of thinking about the critique. As a corollary to this critical analysis, the book includes a compendium of 31 innovative methods that will improve the critique experience. Contributors to this Critique Methods Collection present techniques that reimagine the status quo of the critique and ask critical questions that get to the heart of what makes for an effective critique. These questions include: How can we shift our thinking about what might be possible in this space? How can we create critiques that are more varied and inclusive, and benefit a wider range of learners and learning situations? Can critiques celebrate more imaginative responses and diverse perspectives?
The goal of this book
The goal of this book is to provide readers with a resource that supports faculty as they re-envision how they develop and execute their critiques in the classroom so that the process may better benefit students and their development. This book expands the contemporary academic and pedagogical dialogue around critique. It unpacks historical expectations of the critique, pointing out successes and challenges inherent in the model, as well as some of the associated unintended and unforeseen consequences of a typical critique. In pulling the components of the critique apart, we identify areas for improvement, share resources, and offer the reader a reimagined and expanded understanding of the critique process.
This book is designed to serve both new and experienced faculty who wish to experiment with different ways of organizing and conducting a critique. Our collection of 31 critique methods provides art and design educators with useful insights and critique techniques that can augment their critique toolboxes and enrich their students critique experiences.
A good critique includes meaningful conversation about artwork and concepts important to contemporary students. Art and design students have become increasingly vocal about their educational needs-including how the critique needs to engage contemporary issues like equity, inclusion, and student well-being (Unkefer et al. 2021). This book is a timely publication that offers multiple and widely differing critique approaches and encourages faculty experimentation so they can introduce more adaptive ways of meeting student needs. In doing so, they can craft dynamic and responsive critique experiences.
The critique process
Ideally, the critique process fosters dialogue that is simultaneously an intellectual experience and a social bonding activity for classmates as well as faculty. During the critique, participants learn about, and reflect upon, each other's work while simultaneously offering one another support and insights. In doing so, the group generates new ideas that serve to benefit students artistic growth and development. As a part of this process, students practice, develop, and sharpen their critical analysis and communication skills while receiv