Critiquing Art

I touched upon the topic of critiquing art in another post: click here to get to it.

But critiquing art is a lot different than critiquing a poem or a story. They require a different understanding and a slightly different mindset. You will need this post for when you complete your assignment on the Art page. Click here to get to that page.

You will also need a list of art vocabulary: click here to get to it.

When critiquing a piece of art, here are some things you need to consider:

Standard: You will assess the characteristics of works of art

Indicator of Achievement:
You will:

• analyze different ways the visual arts provide unique modes for communicating ideas, actions, and emotions; and evaluate their effective use for communication
• understand and apply visual arts vocabulary when observing, describing, analyzing, interpreting, and evaluating works of art
• determine the intentions of an artist in creating a particular work of art and evaluate the artist’s effectiveness in communicating ideas and emotions
• interpret possible meanings of works of art by analyzing how specific works are created and how they relate to historical and cultural contexts

Description: What do you see? What medium was used?

Analysis: How is the work organized? What kind of shapes stand out? Are there any negative spaces? Why did the artist choose the hues that you see? How does the value affect this painting?

Interpretation: What is happening? What is the artist trying to say?

Judgment: How effective is this work?

Do NOT be concerned if you cannot answer all these questions. I do not expect you to fully understand what all this means (unless you are an art student). Like I said before, this requires a certain mindset.

Is this clear?