How do you evaluate your artwork or project? Critiquing Work How do you evaluate your artwork or project?

Objectives Students will describe the steps to critiqueing artwork? Students will critique their typography project. Students will revise their typography project based on the feedback from their critique. Students will use proficient communication and design skills to conceive, develop, produce, edit critique and revise multimedia projects that inform, educate or entertain while meeting accuracy, project and deadline requirements. Go over objectives with students. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: What are you going to be able to describe today? What are you going to critique? What are you going to revise?

Steps to critiquing work

Steps to critiquing work The thought of an impending art critique can be intimidating, especially if they are not experienced speaking in front of an audience. In this lesson students will learn about the format for presenting and critiquing artwork. Students will be taught how to Describe, Analyze, Interpret and Judge artwork. In order “properly” to critique any given artwork, you need only remember the acronym “DAIJ.” It stands for “Description, Analysis, Interpretation, Judgment,” or if you need an acronym you could say, “Do Artists Inspire Judgment.” Introduce students to the steps to critiquing work. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: What is the format for critiquing work? What does the acronym DAIJ stand for?

Step 1 - description This step is just as it says – Description – you are going to describe the facts: What is the name of the artwork? Who is the artist? What medium did they use? What does the art look like? What is it made of? Describe the elements of art in the piece (line, color, shape, texture, value, space). These are all straight forward facts, with no opinions added yet. Go over the first step – DESCRIPTION with students. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: In your own words tell me what step 1 of critiquing artwork is? What are some questions you might answer in this step? What are some of the things you would describe?

Step 1 – description example This artwork was created by tbwachiat. The artwork was created to promote the Grammies. The name of the artwork is “Rhianna”. The artwork was created digitally. In this painting, I see Rhianna’s face. The face is created out of large and small words. The colors are very intense, especially the blues and reds. There is a strong contrast between the larger words at the top and smaller words at the bottom. The lines of the face are defined by the words.

STEP 2 - ANALYSIS In the analysis step, all the answers from the description you made are related to each other, compliment one another, or create harmony or distress. This step can often be the most confusing, because it is very similar to the first and can easily overlap. A good suggestion is to think about some of the “principles” of art: movement (or rhythm), variety, proportion, emphasis, balance, contrast. Describe the principles of design in the piece (contrast, emphasis, unity, balance, repetition, movement, rhythm). How does the artist create unity? Is anything emphasized in the artwork? Is the artwork balanced? Does the artwork have movement? Go over the second step – ANALYSIS with students. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: In your own words tell me what step 2 of critiquing artwork is? What are some questions you might answer in this step? What are some of the things you would analyze?

Step 2 – analysis example As I view this piece, my eyes are led to the larger words in her hair, “Say My Name”. These stand out because they are the largest shapes and they overlap other shapes in the artwork so the appear closer to me. From there my eyes keep going to her eyes. The blue cool color in her eyes contrasts with the warmer colors in her hair. The blues in her face also make it feel like it is father away from me than the words. My eyes are also led by where her eyes are viewing. Because her eyes are looking up that leads me to the words, “Vision of Love”. Overall, because of the large shapes in her head the artwork feels somewhat unbalanced with too much weight at the top. The artwork does have unity through use of repeated words and shapes. However, because the art goes from cool colors at the bottom to warm colors at the top, it detracts some from the unity of the piece.

STEP 3 - interpretation This step is all about how the artwork makes you feel. There is no right or wrong answer for this step. This is a fun step because you get to tell us your opinion of the artwork. How does it make you feel? What does it make you think of? What do you think the artist is trying to communicate to you as a viewer? Go over the third step – INTEPRETATION with students. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: In your own words tell me what step 3 of critiquing artwork is? What are some questions you might answer in this step? What are some of the things you would interpret?

Step 3 – interpretation example Overall, I really like this piece. I love how the face is made completely out of words and that the words give meaning about who the person is. I like how some of the words stand out and the choice of fonts. I think the complexity of this piece is striking. It must have taken along time to create this piece out of words, while ensuring it looks like Rhianna and represents her. This piece was created to advertise the Grammies. Although it doesn’t say anything about the Grammies, it does tell us a lot about who Rhianna is.

STEP 4 – judgement In this step you make a final judgment on the artwork. You NOW get to say whether you think the artwork is a success or a failure in your opinion. Is this artwork a success or failure? Why? Do you feel like this is original or not an original? Why? Would you hang it on your wall at home? Go over the fourth step – ANALYSIS with students. Ask the following Check for Understanding (CFU) questions: In your own words tell me what step 4 of critiquing artwork is? What are some questions you might answer in this step? What are some of the things you would judge?

Step 4 – judgement example I think this piece is a success. It was one of the first typography portraits and I believe it inspired many artists to create their own typography portraits. If I could change anything about the artwork it might be the colors. I feel like the colors should have been repeated throughout the artwork. I would hang this piece of artwork in my house. I love the look the artist captured in Rhianna’s eyes. I also like the message sent by the words used to describe Rhianna.

GUIDED PRACTICE – Your Turn It’s your turn now: This is a piece of artwork by “Banksy”. Work with a partner to: DESCRIBE ANALYZE INTERPRET and JUDGE the artwork. Break students into pairs again and have them go through the steps of a critique on this piece of artwork. Give them the handout in the lesson to take notes on. When complete call on students to share their responses to each step of the critique.