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3 Ways to Get the Most From Your Critiques

Oct 4, 2009 Art General

This is in response to Rob’s question on my post How to Survive an Art Critique. He explained that he didn’t get very much feedback during his critiques and wanted to know if that meant his work was horrifically bad or speechlessly good. I don’t think it necessarily means either; some work can just be difficult to comment on. Also, there are things an artist can do try and elicit the kinds of feedback he or she is looking for.

As with anything in life, it’s up to you to get what you want out of your critiques. Some people may be able to stand back and let the feedback roll in, but if your work doesn’t get that kind of response, you need to take matters into your own hands and demand what you need from  your critics.

Don’t Get Defensive

Nothing will shut down honest people who are trying to help you faster than a defensive attitude. I’ve seen this several times on the Wetcanvas forums. People will post their artwork, others will give honest criticism, and the artist will defend, defend, defend. All that attitude does is tell your audience that you’re not interested in what they have to say. It says, “I already have an opinion about this piece, I don’t care about yours and there’s nothing I am willing to change.”

Instead, try to be gracious and accepting of criticism. That doesn’t mean you have to take it all to heart, it just shows your audience that you are listening and considering what they have to say. Especially in a group setting in a school, the rest of your classmates are going to be nervous about giving you negative feedback. Show them that you’re not taking it personally and that you appreciate opinions.

Explain Yourself

You may want to do this before the critique begins, or you might want to get people’s first impressions and then explain your work. Either way, provide lots of information about your piece: why you did it, what influenced it or inspired it, what you are trying to say with it, etc. Information like this provides people with a place to start providing feedback. Some work can be difficult to respond to right off the bat. A little background information goes a long way towards narrowing a person’s focus so that they know what areas to comment on.

Ask Questions

This is the most direct approach to a critique. If you’re not getting the response you feel you need, start asking questions. Specifically ask your audience what is and isn’t working in the piece, ask them where their eye is drawn to first, ask about the initial feeling they get from the work. Whatever you want to know, ask! Don’t worry about it turning into an interview, after a few questions people will start responding on their own. Often, they just need a little help getting started!

Critiques in school can be really difficult. When you expect praise, you get criticism. When you expect criticism, you get praise. You never know what is coming, but perhaps the worst response is no response at all. Don’t be discouraged, but next time use these tips to get the most out of your critiques.

PS…

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Tags: art school, critiques

How to Survive an Art Critique

Sep 24, 2009 Art General

In art school, the most stressful part of any class was always the critique. This was when you put the results of your hard work up in front of everyone, explained what you had done, and waited for the criticisms – ahem, feedback – to come rolling in. This was when you put it all on the line and found out whether anyone else thought what you were doing was valid or not.

You may not be in art school, but life is full of times when you need to put yourself out there for other people’s judgements. Whether it’s an informal critique through a gallery, an artist talk or exhibition, an open studio, or just your friends coming to your house, chances are you’ve been in a position where other people have seen your work and have had something to say about it.

Even if you are perfectly happy with what you’re doing and don’t really care what others think of it, it can be hurtful to hear negative comments. If you’re already unsure or a little insecure, it can be downright damaging. Heck, even the positive comments can be baffling , leaving you to wonder, “is that really how people see my work?”

As an artist, you’ll constantly be the recipient of comments, criticisms and general feedback about your art. You need to learn how to deal with these without letting it effect you too much. Here are some strategies to help you survive a critique.

Remember Where They’re Coming From

 No matter how objective a person tries to be, their own beliefs, likes and dislikes, and experiences will colour any comments they make about your art. Other artists especially can tend to give advice that encourages you to work like they do. This isn’t something they do on purpose, it’s just that they are coming from a place that’s familiar to them. I am more likely to critique the formal qualities of an artwork because that is what I work with myself.

Take it With a Grain (or a Shakerful) of Salt

 People can only give their opinion. There is no right or wrong. Even if the one giving advice is a respected artist, your professor, or a gallery curator, that doesn’t mean that they are the definitive voice on the subject. Their opinion may be slightly more educated than others’, but it’s still an opinion at the end of the day. Don’t take any critique as gospel. You need to weigh the advice and use what you can.

Ask Yourself, “Is it Relevant”

 You need to examine any advice you’re given and determine whether or not it relates to your art practice. If you’re getting critiques that seem to focus on completely different issues than what you’re interested in, it may mean that your “message” is somehow being diluted by something that you’ve overlooked.

I experienced this when I was at school and started painting tools on doors. I painted tools because of their relationship to construction, but I really only thought of them as shapes in a composition. In my critiques, I got all kinds of feedback about the connotations of the tools and what that might mean. If you think the feedback you get has nothing to do with your work, you need to figure out what to do to get more focused. I ended up doing away with the tools altogether and just painting rectangles!

Remember it for Later

Another strategy is to file away criticism for later. Often, it’s difficult to take it all in at once. It’s easier to mull it over when you get the chance and sift through to find what you can use. Often, the feedback you get isn’t relevant now, but it might be relevant later in your career. I still go over my critiques in my head, several years after the fact, to see if there’s anything new that I can take from them. Ideas that seemed completely off the wall at the time might suddenly be very intriguing!

Don’t Take it Personally

If you have a particularly bad critique, or lots of negative feedback, try not to take it personally. Most often, people are only trying to help you, in their own way (which isn’t always helpful, of course, but it’s the thought that counts!). Sometimes, it seems like people go out of their way to be mean and nasty. In those cases, you still need to remember that it’s not about you! It’s about those people and their insecurity and their issues. You’ll need to develop a hard shell, but just remember, it’s something that we all have to deal with!

I hate to say it, but this goes for positive feedback too! Enjoy it because you deserve it, but try not to let it go to your head! At the end of the day, it’s still just one person’s opinion, and it could make the negativity that much harder to take. I wish someone had told me this in high school! All throughout high school I got awesome grades in art; I was one of the top students. I went on to university and suddenly I was surrounded by all the other people who were top students in their schools. It was a hard adjustment, as was my first C+!

Is it True?

This is where you really need to be honest with yourself. Don’t brush off every negative comment and think that everyone else is just too blind to see your true talent. Take a good hard look at yourself and ask yourself, “is it true?” And if it is, suck it up! Don’t wallow in it! Figure out what you need to do to fix it and do it! It won’t be easy, but it’s necessary. If you continuously disregard criticism, you will never grow and reach your full potential!

As for the strange comments…

I’ve gotten a lot of strange comments on my work. Not bad ones, but ones that made me think “what the heck?” People also seem to like giving really weird suggestions. I can’t tell you how many times people have told me that my abstract paintings should spin. To me, the idea is absolutely absurd; I couldn’t think of anything I’d want to do less than that! But that’s what they see, and at the end of the day I’m just grateful that something about my work moved them enough to think beyond what was in front of their eyes. My advice: laugh it off and don’t worry about it!

There you have it, my guide to surviving a critique! What strategies do you use?

Tags: art school, critiques