Guidelines for VIS201 Critiques:

In the VIS201 class critiques you will be critiquing the work of two other people in the class. In the following list, you'll critique the work of the two people after your name. If you're at the bottom of the list go to back to the top.

Michelle Davers
Chris Havron
Greg Hittler
Heather Padgett
Bob Smith
Brett Smith
Jordan Trendelman
Ryan Weaver

You will first answer the following questions by posting comments to the critique discussion board. Each person in the class has a post started for Project 1. Find the person who's work you're critiquing and post a comment under their name. Please include your name so that I know how to allot your participation points.

Be critical.Certainly note the positive things about the piece, but being overly nice will only hurt those who want their work to be the best it can be. Be respectful, but be honest.

Your critique should address form and content, and should consider the work of art in and of itself. Imagine if you saw the work in a gallery outside of our class. Terry Barrett, in his book Criticizing Photographs, defines criticism as "...informed discourse about art to increase understanding and appreciation..." As such, criticism involves much more than the relatively simple act of judging--of determining whether one "likes" or "dislikes" a piece. Rather, it is a means toward the end of understanding a work of art. Critical consideration usually consists of at least three main activities:

1. Describing the work (what does it look like?): Assume the audience has not and will not view the piece and that you are the sole mediator for their understanding of it's formal qualities.
   
   
2. Interpreting the work (what does it mean?): Here you are asked to synthesize any contextual or biographical information you have with your own subjective interpretation of the work's significance.
   
   
3. Evaluating the work (is it interesting? does it "work"? is it technically sound?): This is, perhaps, the most difficult critical task, yet it is usually the one which most people skip when criticizing a work of art. To thoughtfully evaluate a work of art, you must determine what your criteria are for judging its relative worth or effectiveness. Only you can provide this information. Do not assume the reader (or your fellow student) shares your point of view. Explain why you feel the way you do. "Thumbs up" or "thumbs down" will not cut it.

In the comments you post regarding your classmate's work, please address the three tasks above. After you have critiqued your classmates' work, read over the comments made about your work. If you have questions or want more feedback, feel free to ask the people who reviewed your work. Take as much time as necessary to do this. This time can be very beneficial for you to get valuable advice and hear how people interpret the work that you've done. The more effort you put forth in seeking out the opinions of people who are familiar with your work the better off you will be. Often you will get valuable suggestions and possible future ideas from these types of critiques. Certainly one opinion (usually a teacher) is not enough to aquire all of the suggestions and possiblities available to you. Please take advantage of this!