Kids CAN Critique Artwork

Disclaimer: This post was an assignment for a course. I have not, yet, taught this lessonto any students. This was a fictional exercise and the post is aimed at hypothetical parents of my students. 

When people think of art critiques, images of snooty critics passing unfair judgments on works are often what comes to mind. And when parents think of students learning the skill of critiquing, they imagine kids criticizing each other's art, passing judgment and hurting feelings. In this post, I hope to illustrate the problems with that kind of thinking, and the positive benefits that students gain when they learn to evaluate and study (or critique) artwork. Your students are learning this skill right now. And to set some of your fears to rest, no, they aren't critiquing each other. They are starting by critiquing masterpieces and will grow to critique their own work. 

For students, the purpose of this exercise is to teach them to be mindful, to look at art in a careful considered way, to think about the details, story, and emotion of the piece and to incorporate this knowledge into their own work. The skill of seeing with purpose, of interpreting meaning, is one that will help them in many aspects of their life beyond just this arts classroom. 

But isn't this skill too hard for young students? No. Even the youngest students can learn to analyze details and describe what they see. I'm going to share with you an example lesson where I am teaching students how to apply these thinking and seeing skills to critique an art masterpiece.

This is Salvador Dali's work "The Persistence of Memory" created in 1931. 

When I introduced this painting to students, I asked them to first give their initial immediate reaction, to give the first word that popped into their head when they looked at the piece. Words that came up were, "weird", "melting", "clocks", "hot", "desert", and "sad", amongst others. 

I then taken the students into the painting in more depth, posing questions to them to help them move through the painting and become familiar with the level of seeing that forms the basis of a critique. 

We start by looking at the movement. I ask students where their eye is drawn first, helping them to identify what they think is the focal point of the piece. We then consider how their eye travels and discuss together how the composition, or way that the piece is arranged, invites this movement. For example, when I look at this piece, my eye is drawn to the pair of clocks in the bottom left corner, drawn up to the tree, down to the figure, then up to the cliffs and sky. We then look at the balance of the composition and whether this movement encompasses the whole picture. 

I ask them to consider and note down the different elements of art that they can see. We then discuss these elements as a class, and I bring their attention to the specific areas of value, texture, line, and space. This piece uses negative space well, to give the impression of a desolate desert landscape, mostly devoid of life. The use of value, contrast, texture, and shadow enhances this impression.

This segues well into a discussion of the mood of the piece, and students are asked to consider how the piece makes them feel. For me, this piece seems very sad and lonely. The piece uses shadow and contrast to highlight the few lone elements we see in the desert. Much of the piece is empty and the landscape seems hostile and uninviting. The reds and melting clocks give an impression of intense heat. There is one lone figure, and that is stated loosely, as the shape is nebulous and could be interpreted in many different ways. 

From mood we move to meaning. Students consider what they think is happening in the piece. At this point, they are given the title and are asked to consider how the title might relate to the image and what the title might tell them of the artist's intent. With younger students, this discussion is usually rather literal and we look at the surface of what is happening in the painting. Older students, however, are able to consider abstraction and symbolism very well. In this piece, I interpret the clocks to symbolize time, and taking the title into consideration, I consider the piece to be commenting on how memories shift and change, or are lost, over time. I would emphasize here, however, that everyone could have a different interpretation and that there is no right or wrong answer. 

I would then use this piece as a jumping off point to several different activities. I would have students create a collaborative memory storyboard to consider the way that others can change our stories or memories. I would have students create their own surreal piece, putting together items that shouldn't coexist, challenging them to be thoughtful and meaningful in their choices. I would have students experiment with values and contrast toward developing their own landscapes. 

How about you? What ideas do you have to engage with your children after viewing this painting? I want to challenge you to look with them at the landscapes around you, to notice the shadow, space, and movement all around us.