Critique of Portraits

Usually when one or two students claim, "I'm done" in art class, I know it's time to take a break, put all of the artwork up on the wall and talk about it. Critiques are a wonderful way to get student artists to take a step back and look at their work from a new perspective, as well as get feedback from classmates about their artwork. They often get ideas from looking at the other pieces as well as from comments made by their peers. The critique involves much more than the relatively simple act of judging--of determining whether one "likes" or "dislikes" a piece or whether it's "good" or "bad". When talking about a piece, students are encouraged to describe, analyze and interpret it... They should make comments about what they see, why it makes an impression, what it might mean or how it makes a viewer feel. Here are some shots of today's 7th grade portrait critique: