Art Critique in the Classroom

        Art evaluation and critiquing within elementary classrooms is an important part and aspect of art education. This process of having children assess each other’s work allows them to develop even more skills that will be useful in late life. By having to critique work, they will learn methods to giving constructive criticism which is a skill that not many people possess. Students will also be able to understand each other better and learn from one another’s works, when given the perspective of other students. As is mentioned in Emphasis Art, “If you can bring children to notice something they have never noticed before, to see with their inner eye, you will have started them on a rewarding journey toward a thousand discoveries” (Clements p52).

Children will begin to look at objects, not just art with a different perspective. Throughout other classes and subjects, like history or English, they will be able to better assess their own works within assignments... When conducting an art critique, the instructor must remember to be considerate of several factors. One of the biggest being that, the point of a critique is to help students grow and learn from themselves and others. It is necessary to make sure the children are using not only art related terms but are identifying details and what they are feeling. In Emphasis Art, this consideration is mentioned, students, “…saying that Jose’s work is sad…is not enough. Students need to be able to identify specific visual details, qualities of art that support emotional response” (Clements p 52). Other considerations include making sure to call on quiet students and allow them the chance to give their opinions. Instructors must always remember to encourage positive comments and remind the students that negative comments are not appropriate, until they learn to phrase things in a neutral or positive way (Bartel).

There are numerous exercise and methods that can be used with students to help them grow when it comes to having to critique a piece of art. One great exercise to have older students, who are comfortable writing, do, is to draw names out of a hat of two other students. Afterwards give them a few minutes to study the artwork and then write out first what they want to say. The instructor can give them some open ended, soft questions to answer like, “What do you see? What is the most creative thing you see?”(Bartel). Then remind the students they cannot give any negative comments. As the students are critiquing, make sure they know that suggestions are not allowed but instead use open ended questions to help bring in other ideas (Bartel). Afterward, the artist can have a moment to explain their work. In this process, no child’s feelings will be hurt, and students can learn to look deeper and see the views of their other classmates (Bartel).

While the above method allows the students more freedom, another great exercise when they critique each others artworks is one with more structure. This follows the exercise we used in class. First have the students either pair of or hang up their pieces on a wall. Then begin first with description. Ask students to tell you who the artist is and tell you what was used to make it, as well as where and when it was created (Payne). They can also describe the lines, or light they see. Then move on to analyzing the art piece. Ask the students how it as planned, and the points of emphasis (Payne). Help them identify the points of emphasis, such as a figure or a specific scene (Payne). The student can then begin to interpret the work, ask them to describe how it makes them feel, if it reminds them of other things they have experienced or how it relates to other events or times of the world (Payne). Finally, in the judgment step, the instructor must be careful that the students use art language and not any negative language. Ask them to present their opinions, or compare it with other similar works and a great point is to ask them how original the work is/isn’t, and what makes it that way (Payne). Through these and many other exercise, the students in class will begin to critique even better and use the tools they learn in the lessons, outside of just the art classroom.

Bartel, Marvin. "Critique to Foster Artistic Creativity." Art Education. "Leave No MIND Behind", 2008. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://www.bartelart.com/arted/critique08.html>.

Clements, Robert D., and Frank Wachowiak. Emphais Art: A Qualitative Art Program for Elementary and Middle Schools. 9th ed. San Francisco: Allyn & Bacon, 2010. 52-56. Print.

Payne, Joyce. "Teaching Students to Critique." ArtsEdge. The Kennedy Center, n.d. Web. 17 Sept. 2010. <http://artsedge.kennedy-center.org/content/3338/>.