CRITIQUE

The following Study Questions may be used for "self-critique," for small or large group discussion, or as a quiz. After consulting with your instructor, look at the list of questions below and do one of the following:

a) a "self critique" (use the relevant questions to take a hard look at your own work!)

b) break into small groups to investigate a work of art by another student or an artwork found outside of class.

c) Use the questions to generate a group discussion with the whole class about a work everyone has seen.

d) answer the following "on-line questions". Type the number of the question and your answer into the field beneath each question. When you have finished, hit the "submit button." Your answers will automatically be sent to the instructor as an e-mail message.

What basic information can you learn about the artwork itself or about the artist?

1. Who made it?

2. Where was it made?

3. When was it made?

4. What's its title (if applicable)?

5. Does it depict anything? If so, what? (make a detailed inventory)

6. What visual elements are important in this artwork?

7. How do the elements work together?

8. What information can you find to help you begin to develop your own interpretation of the artwork?

9. Does it have an obvious or not-so-obvious function?

10. Does it use symbols to reinforce a message? (List)

11. Do other artworks by the same artist (if available) give you a better sense of the meaning of the artwork? (list the works and cite specifics...)

12. What viewer(s) do you think the artist intended the artwork for? What evidence within the work (or outside) supports that idea?

13. Do you think contemporary viewers seeing the artwork understand it in the same way as did the viewers for whom the artwork was originally made? Why or why not?

14. What can you find out to help you assess the effectiveness of the artist's choice of medium?

15. What tools, materials, and processes did the artist use?

16. Why do you think the artist chose this particular medium? (Imagine how it might look if executed in another medium.)

17. How was the meaning of the artwork affected by (reinforced/enhanced) by the artist's choice of medium?

TYPE YOUR NAME, CLASS, and INSTRUCTOR

Many thanks to Professor Mary Erickson, School of Art, Arizona State University for sharing these study questions.