Today we worked more on creating our art critiques for our Harlem Renaisance wiki pages. After orally critiquing a famous work of art as a class, students were more comfortable with their critiquing skills and phrases. We also discussed the 5 categories of Aesthetic Judgement that can be applied to a critique, noting that Formalism and Emotionalism is what we usually focus on in a school setting. The class spent several minutes answering the questions about the masterwork that our Approaching Works of Art wiki page prompts us to ask in order to lead us through a critique. Students were reminded that art critiques are not biographical reports about artists, but instead looking closely at that's artist's chosen work of art. Because of this fact, anyone can critique a work of art, whether they know anything about the artist or not!
Students spent the remainder of the block working with their partners on writing the critique and organizing their thoughts. We noted that students within a group can certainly have different judgements or interpretations of the artwork, and that those discrepancies could be noted in the critique. We reminded ourselves that even though we may not like something, that does not mean the thing is "no good" or unsuccessful. Students were told that they will have one more computer lab day before presenting their wikis to the class this Friday for a test grade. Students were also reminded they have open access to the wiki at home to work if they are behind or need more time! I can't wait to see the outstanding work our students have created!
Today was the last day to turn in a signed progress report for extra credit and sketchbook HW#5 was due today!
