How to Critique | The Art Assignment | PBS Digital Studios

"Interesting" is what my grandmother says when she didn't enjoy the dinner. XD

I have a love/hate relationship with critiques. I'm a final year woven textile design student so i've had my fair share of good, and bad, critiques. For me, the critiques I hate the most are not the ones that make me cry or feel sub-par, they are the ones that provide no constructive critisism. I recently had a change of tutor and they are very unhelpful. I present my work, she asks obvious questions (for example, she hold a blue piece of cloth and asks if it is blue) and then ends the critique. I've asked for feedback but she says I need to become more indepenant and critique my own work. I fully understand the importance of self critique however I am paying £9000 a year for her to waste my time.

The world need, nay deserves, a Crash Course Art History with Sarah  running it.

This video was interesting because it: A. addressed a social issue applicable across many mediums. B. Was relevant to the medium in which it was published C. Was commentated extremely well And then you suppressed us with D. Showing us your own work which itself deserves a critique... but seeing as I just critiqued this video I'm gonna hold off.  Thanks for another insightful video!

These are the best damn videos about art on YouTube.

Compositionally, since eyes naturally always form very strong focal points, especially when staring out, the dual sets of eyes creates a lot of tension as they both try to be the focal point. Perhaps the tension was intentional, since there's only one subject and that single subject creates tension within itself, perhaps it's expressing an internal tension or struggle of the artist herself- the left represents how she shows herself, but the right represents how she views herself - much different than how people see her. Also intriguing that there's no consistent light source hence the inconsistent shadows. I think it would have been a more interesting aesthetic study if there had been a single light source. But perhaps if a light source is viewed symbolically, then if light represents direction, then perhaps tieing back into the tension idea earlier, the tension could be caused by an uncertain direction in life. The left shows a direction the artist should take, but the opposing right speaks of a suppressed direction the artist wants to take.

Thank you. My child is in year 9 and was asked the above question - to talk about a piece of artwork. thanks for your good ideas.

I loved the part on the aspect of wonder. As an art student in art school I think my favorite critiques of my own or of others is when the critique really runs with what one person or everyone finds as wonderful.

"Wow it's a beautiful Rothko" "That's a bath mat" "And...."

"There's a lot you can say about something without declaring it good or bad." So incredibly true! I find that people get so caught up in their own opinion about a work that they don't engage with it very deeply. Saying something like "Your painting looks like a kid did it" doesn't interact with the various elements of it. This kind of critique doesn't help the artist or yourself. Ask yourself what is being said and comment on that. Ask if your impression is similar to what the artist aimed for. You don't even have to have the same interpretation to find your own personal meaning within it.

Your channel and videos have become so helpful during this quarantine. Thank you! As an Art Professor, you have filled in so many gaps, created curiosities, and made my job less stressful teaching studio and lecture courses online. I love the broad range of topics and open-minded approaches to heavy subject matter. This is helpful for both students and experts. I have even started to think about some things in a new way. The book is wonderful too! I cannot wait to dive deeper into the projects this summer. Keep up the excellent and much needed high-quality content!

I miss videos from this channel a lot. I keep watching, rewatching and recommending them to my friends. This channel is one of the things that taught me to love contemporary art. Thank you so much, Sarah!

You make me feel like everyone should spend a semester in Art school. I love your videos so much damn it!

NGL, I kinda love that bathmat.  Maybe it's not art, but maybe the shot of it before it's revealed to be a bathmat is.

I will take your advice Sarah and ask some questions. When doing this painting, did you primarily focus on the technique aspect - as in trying to develop good under painting skills? Or did you focus on the content and narrative of your self portrait? And are the dual representations of yourself meant to show different aspects of who you are, or is there a higher meaning?

Thank you, Sarah, for keeping it real, honest, constructive, and fun! And most of all for creating an intellectual and creative platform for us to engage and grow. 

When I was in art school, what I found most valuable in a critique is when I was told what worked, what didn’t work and why.

Fantastic advice! It's very applicable to a variety of circumstances. I personally love getting critiques...even from people who hate my work. I guess I just truly enjoy hearing any perspective on something I've made because it means someone took the time to see it and think about it.

One of my art teachers posted this as a suggested video before our semester begins. Clear and quick summary of good critiquing. Thank you

You mentioned Ed Paschke. Recently, a friend of mine was cleaning out a house and found hundreds of pieces of art from an artist who died a decade or so ago, the art is currently in my studio and it's really amazing. I'm going to attempt to host a retrospective next year. The artist was Rick Ulman, an artist from St. Louis who showed mostly in Europe. He graduated from the SAIC in 1969 with Ed Paschke and Roger Brown. Within the hundreds of pieces from Ulman was a portfolio containing 1 piece from each student in the graduating class of 1969, Ed Paschke included. Unfortunately, there was one missing piece, and it was Roger Brown's. But overall, this was an amazing find and I think it would make a great show.