Constructed Criticism

I have been having really bad headaches lately. I've always had them but in more recent years I've learned to manage them better by drinking water and eating properly. But these headaches are all from I don't know what. I've also been feeling sick and stuff which is unpleasant too. I thought maybe my sickness today was due to presenting a work at art school today but I still feel like a bag of arse now, so I guess that wasn't it.

The artwork I presented went really well I think despite making a last minute change. It was a simple change but it had a massive effect on the nature of the work and I'm pretty sure I made the right choice although it's hard to know how they would've responded to the original incarnation. One of my lecturers said it was probably the best work of mine he's seen so far. He was fairly quiet during the "group criticism" (feedback en mass from lecturers and peers) making only a few comments so I'm not sure whether this means he was quietly appreciative or he just doesn't think much of my previous works.

Regardless, I was pleased with how it turned out but as usual it’s thrown my backlog of ideas into doubt and I will have to reassess my position.

Group Crit's are a valuable and potentially very enjoyable experience. Basically the 2nd and 3rd year sculpture students (there is about thirty of us) along with our two lecturers will view a presented artwork and then discuss it. Ideally the discussion is geared towards offering the student constructive criticism but this isn't always the case. In some cases people can be too harsh with their criticism but more often people aren't harsh enough. While it's nice to have someone point out an element of your work they really responded to the whole point (for me at least) is to find out what didn't work so that you don't do it again.

On the whole as a group the 3rd years are great to have crit's with. We provide helpful but tactful advice and criticism and we know what is relevant to talk about and what is not. This year’s 2nd years are not great. We have only had a few crit's with them so far, but they have proven themselves more than capable of completely missing the point. They discuss (at length) pointless or irrelevant aspects of a work. In one of the crit's today (not mine) every second person said the same thing. The point they were making was relevant (for once) but it had been said and belabouring the point only served to make the poor student feel worse about her choices. It was especially painful because it was her first ever crit with us (she had come from another institution) and she got drilled. Hopefully they'll mature a little under our positive influence but I'm not hopeful.