Thinking critically and giving feedback about art can be daunting, especially if the work is abstract or strange, which art often is! Here are some tips for organizing your thoughts and feelings about a work of art, based on the Feldman Method of critiquing art.

Initial Response•  Take time to clear your head of all other thoughts and really spend a

good few minutes experiencing the art.•  Describe what you see. Make a list of elements that you observe,

including medium used, color, textures, etc.•  Note your first emotional or visceral reactions. How does the art make 

you feel?

Analyze•  How do the elements of the art work together? Is there a rhythm or

balance to the work? Examine the art’s proportions, colors, textures, variety, lines, marks and repetition.

• How does the choice of materials lend itself to the mission of the work?•  Consider the literal qualities, design qualities and expressive qualities of

the piece.

Interpret•  How do the themes, mood, content and medium interact in the art, and

how is meaning or mood conveyed by the elements used? • Refer to your notes from the first two steps and think creatively!

Evaluation• Is the work original? Beautiful? Exploring a truth or a political issue?•  Reflect on your thoughts and feelings, and notes from the previous steps 

to determine if the work is successful or has merit.•  Always start with something positive and successful about the work,

and also close your critique with something positive or successful.•  Try to keep your criticism constructive. Avoid saying “I like/don’t like it”

without explaining why you feel that way.•  Consider what you have learned from this work that you might apply to

your own art and before saying anything, ask yourself, “Will my critique help this artist improve?”

Hints:•  Written critiques are excellent for becoming a more thoughtful art

observer, and can help students organize their thoughts into more concise feedback.

•  Be honest, but also be kind; there is nothing gained from being mean. Remember, it will be your work in the same position at some point!

•  Trust your thoughts and reactions, and don’t be afraid to speak up or ask questions. While there is no need to be mean or brutal, an honest reaction can be valuable information to the artist.

• Be specific about why you think a work of art is successful or unsuccessful.

Constructive Conversations About Art:Learning To See

Photograph submitted by: Lizzie S., Age 17, Fairview High School, Boulder, Colorado

Sample critique of the image above

Initial Response

I like the placing of the figure in-between two other elements. The blurry camera in the foreground creates a mysterious story, and I like the light from the passageway behind the figure. I feel excited by the power of the center figure.

I  see  a  truncated  figure  doing  a  dance  or  gymnastics move,  a mittened  hand holding a camera, a passageway and a building in the background. I see a variety of textures.

Analysis

The contrast of the black and white is strong, but there is still a nice range of tones. My eye is drawn in a line from the foregrounded object to the center of the

figure to the building in the back and I get the feeling that the figure is trapped between these two elements. The figure is centered, but offset by other interactive elements, so that doesn’t bother me.

There are some really nice lines in the figure, especially with the horizontal lines of the clothes running opposite to the vertical lines of the torso. The background lines of the bricks and the building also keep my eye moving around the plane of the image. There are a lot of cold, hard lines in this piece; it really offsets the figure in the middle, as it is very organic.

Something that kind of bothers me is that the figure’s foot on the left hand side is a little cut off. I would be curious to see this image a little wider, so we could see that whole foot. I do enjoy the right leg being cropped where it is; the cropping draws an interesting line that serves to really hold the figure in place, and it makes me feel like the figure is immobile, or trapped there, doing this trick.

Interpretation

There  is  a  sense  that  this  figure  is  almost  trapped  between  these man-made elements, performing a trick that is taxing the body’s limits of physical expression. Because there is no title, I would consider this to be a statement about how our modern world is forcing us away from a more natural way of living, and how we live in a culture fixated on certain kinds of celebrities that are performing real-time roles in unsustainable lifestyles of rampant consumerism for the cameras of the paparazzi.

Evaluation

I think this is a very nice image. I chose to look at it as exploring a socio-political issue, and find that it is successful in that way. I would be curious to see this artist try some work in color, to work with titles to direct the viewer’s interpreations and to explore using a wide-angle  lens to avoid cutting off elements of the  image. Great tonal range in black and white, and excellent exposure, especially in the light color of the shirt! I look forward to seeing work from this artist again.