READING DIARY: SEPTEMBER 2021- TT ORIENTATION: CRITIQUING THE CRITIQUE WITH JEAN MARIE CASBARIAN- Readings 1-3
SEP21 ORI-READING 1: The Room of Silence (students from Rhode Island School of Design)
As I watched The Room of Silence, I first thought of my students. (I teach painting, drawing and color theory at City University of New York’s Lehman College. The campus is 68-74% female, the majority are Hispanic immigrant or 1st generation American. At CUNY, economic standing, race and/or minority ethnic populations, are by NY State law, protected against discrimination.) As I continued watching, I kept thinking that surely in at least some of their critiques, hopefully not in my classroom, my students have had similar or identical experiences to these RISD students.
And, full disclosure, my own CUNY ethnic status is a listed “protected class”… I am a 2nd generation Italian American. Two of my maternal great-grandparents and one maternal grandfather were late 19th C.- early 20th C. Italian immigrants. And two of my paternal great-grandparents were early 20th C. Sicilian immigrants.
So watching, listening to, and hearing The Room of Silence students of color and mixed ethnicities speak on their classroom and life experiences not only gave me empathy for my own students, but it also caused me to re-visit my own ethnic heritage. Some of what has been brewing in me at some level all of my life, but of late on a more conscious level surfaced while listening to one specific student’s comment re: people referring to her as “exotic”. Her recounting sent off in my mind a repeating memory "bell". Like the student who recounted it, I also did not experienced it as a complement…but nor have I exactly heard is as an intended slight. It simply stuns me.
SEP21 ORI-READING 2: Observations on forms and patterns of critique, Judith Leehman 2004
Leehman discusses a couple of older, harsh if not cruel methods of critiquing artwork, as well as a couple of revised, much more productive models. I especially appreciated the encouragement to speak up and change the direction if a critique is not going well… if you feel it is something you will need to recover from. LOL. As an MFA student, I had a couple of those kinds of critiques. I try to host zero that go that direction for my own students. Also very helpful is her mention writing about a critique participant locating their physical response as the critique was happening. From that, the participant was able to change a negative, or destructive situation into a more productive one. (Our bodies and our senses know.)
SEP21 ORI-READING 3: Feldman’s Model of Art Criticism- From the work of Edmund Burke Feldman
This is an early form of what I learned is a “critique card”. I was introduced to a version of it in the 2000’s by two young art department colleagues who came by it and employed it as an ASSESSMENT tool. C. 2010 I adopted and use it in my own studio classroom critiques. I have made my own customized versions, a handful for intro painting, a handful for intro drawing and one for color theory. The critique card as I use it allows students to gather, in-class, informal written ideas, so they feel and are prepared to speak informally on a fellow student’s work. Note, my version recommends the one doing the critiquing point out what they view the most successful aspect of a piece to be, and to also state something, in their view that the student artist can improve upon.
