Running Head: ART CRITICISM
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Art Criticism in the Classroom
Jennifer Margrave
University of Central Florida
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The broad purpose of this paper is to determine what learning is gained by students in the art
classroom who are taught a method of art criticism. There are three smaller goals within that. The first is
to measure how studying art criticism improves students’ ability to describe, interpret, and judge. The
second is to study how studying art criticism effects students studio work. The third is to determine which
method of art criticism is most beneficial.
Four important questions naturally come out of these goals. The questions that this study is
interested in answering are as follows: Does studying art criticism improve students’ observational skills?
Does studying art criticism improve students’ abilities to interpret and judge art? How does studying art
criticism impact students’ studio work? Which method of art criticism is most beneficial for students? I
have formed two hypotheses in response to these questions. The first is that students who study art
criticism will improve their abilities to describe, analyze, interpret, and judge other’s work. The second is
that students who study art criticism will create studio work that is more carefully planned and executed. I
have not formed a hypothesis about which art criticism model will be most beneficial as I have no
preconceived notions on that subject.
Review of Literature
Karen Heid, in Aesthetic development: A Cognitive Experience, makes the case that studying
aesthetics and criticism improves cognition. She begins with the explanation that something aesthetically
pleasing heightens out senses. When we see things that heighten our senses we are interested, and are able
to attend to them more closely. Heid believes that learning to attend to art helps us see and as well as the
world in general in a deeper, more meaningful way. Heid then points out that art does not simply engage
our emotions and senses, but also our minds. This is where learning about art criticism begins. As
students learn to put their emotional reactions about art into words they are engaging in a cognitive
process.
Feldman, in Practical Art Criticism, describes a method of art criticism that involves four steps.
These four steps are describe, analyze, interpret, and judge. This method allows for students with no prior
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knowledge to judge works. They first look at the work and simply describe exactly what they see. The
talk about colors, shapes, lines, etc. Then, in the analyze phase, they get more in depth with the
description. They then talk about dominant colors, patterns, the composition of the work, materials used,
etc. In the interpret stage the students must take a leap and use the information they gathered to try to
understand the meaning of the work. Then in the judgment phase students must determine whether the
work was, or was not, successful based on one or more grounds of judgment.
Louis Lankford, in A Phenomenological Methodology for Art Criticism, takes a very different
approach to art criticism. He details a method that includes five steps: receptiveness, orienting,
bracketing, interpretive analysis, and synthesis. In the receptiveness stage the viewer should try to dispel
any preconceptions they have about the work and avoid prejudices. The viewer then needs to orient
themselves toward the work. This means paying attention to the surroundings, determine the perimeters of
the work, and adjust your physical position to best view the work. You then need to bracket your critical
comments. This means that you must stick to information that is relevant to the work. It is then time for
interpretive analysis. In this stage the work is described, the meaning of the work it discussed, and the
feeling it creates is noted. Last is synthesis, which is similar to the judgment phase of Feldman. At this
time the viewer takes all the information gathered and determines what the overall significance of the
work is.
Michael Prater, in Art Criticism: Modifying the Formalist Approach, critiques Feldman’s model
and provides reader with a modified version. Prater’s main critique is that the Feldman method fails to
take into account external information about the work. When determining meaning in a work, in the
Feldman method, what the piece physically looks like is the only information you use. This fails to take
into account the context of the piece, the culture it was produced in, as well as the time period. For this
reason Prater believes that the Feldman method doesn’t relate well to all types of art pieces. Art that is
created for a ceremonial purpose is an example of a piece that the Feldman method would not interpret
correctly.
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Prater proposes a six step method for critique. The steps include prepare to critique, examine
literal qualities, examine functional qualities, examine the formal qualities, examine the expressive
qualities, and determine relevant theories. When preparing to critique the critic would note the title of the
piece, the date it was created, the artist, the culture it was created in and a description of the physical
aspects. Then, the critic should examine the literal qualities of the work. Realism and accuracy will be
observed at this stage in the critique. Then, the critique will examine functional qualities. This can be
what practical use the work may have, or what ceremonial use it may have. The formal qualities, the
elements of art and principles of design, are then examined. Last, the expressive qualities, including
emotions, moods, symbols, and ideas, are examined. After all this information is gathered it is time to
determine relevant theories. At this time it is the goal to determine what theory (or theories) pertain to the
work, and what the artist is trying to accomplish. The main goal of this stage is not too judge.
Anderson, in A model for art criticism: Talking with kids about art, proposes a four step model
for art criticism. Anderson believes that none of us can help having initial emotional reactions when we
see new works of art. For this reason, his first stage in art criticism is to record that initial reaction, or as
he puts it, your gut response. The second stage is that to do a description of the formal qualities of the
work. This description includes more than in others. It includes not only a physical description of the
work, but also any ideas about the emotional impact the work is meant to have as well as any context that
may affect the works meaning. This stage is similar to a combination of Feldman’s description and
analysis stages put together with an addition of a consideration for the context of the work. The third
stage for Anderson is an interpretation of work. As in the other models it is important that the
interpretation does not simply come out of the critiques background and personal experience, but comes
out of the information gained in the description and analysis of the work. The final stage of criticism for
Anderson is the evaluation stage, which is similar to the judgment stage. At this time the viewer makes a
statement about the impact and the success of the work.
This review of literature has helped to establish the importance and the need for the study of art
criticism in the classroom. In addition, it has outlined four different, yet similar, methods for art criticism.
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I will use these four methods in my research proposal as the four different treatments that students will
receive. These will be the four methods that will be compared through the given assessment.
Why It’s Important
Art criticism is a topic I used to have mixed feelings about. As an Exceptional Student Educator I
thought about how my students would feel being in a situation where they had to show others their
artwork and then actually be judged on it. After taking the Art Appreciation and Criticism course I came
to appreciate the positive impact that practicing art criticism can have on students. This is why I decided
to focus my topic on creating an assessment to show that studying art criticism is effective and helpful for
students in many different ways.
Showing that the study of art criticism can improve students observational, descriptive, and
interpretive abilities would give its practice in the classroom legitimacy. Showing that practicing art
criticism improves students artwork would help make the case that it should be done by anyone interested
in improving their own artwork. If these two things are true, then knowing which method of art criticism
in the most helpful to student learning would be helpful. Knowing which method of art criticism students
respond to the most positively would save art teachers time in lesson planning, and would ensure that
their students are receiving the best instruction.
Methodology
The proposed study would be ideal for high school students in the eleventh and/or twelfth grade.
The larger and more diverse the sample size the more reliable the results would be, so ideally it would
take place in at several schools in several states with varying populations of students. Again, in an ideal
setting, the students would be selected randomly, so they would not necessarily be taking an art class.
This is important because if the study is only done with students who are interested in art, and took art as
an elective, they may be more motivated to do well. The goal is to show that all students, whether art
minded or not, benefit from the study of art criticism. Of course, this study would also be beneficial to
individual art teachers, and could be completed as action research within their classrooms.
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The first step to completing this study would be to test each student using a sample of the
questions in Appendix A. This would establish a baseline score for the students. After a baseline is
established, students would then randomly be assigned into one of four groups. Then, depending on the
group they are assigned to they would be taught a different form of art criticism. One group would be
taught the Feldman method of art criticism, one would be taught the Lankford method of art criticism, one
would be taught the Prater method of art criticism, and one would be taught the Anderson method of art
criticism. Students would then be taught a series of lessons that taught them how to use their particular
method of art criticism. During these lessons the students would learn the steps of the method, and then
be given opportunities to practice using the methods on given art works. Students would be allowed to
practice critiquing a work in small groups, and then would be asked to critique a work individually. All
groups would be given the same instructional methods, and practice using their particular method for art
criticism on the same works of art. This is important because it helps establish that the improvement on
the assessment is based on the method taught instead of the instructional methods used to teach that
method. Students would be told not to discuss the study with members from the other groups until the
study is completed. It is also important that students not receive any instruction in studio art at this time.
This would help ensure that if their studio sample improves between the baseline test to the final test it
was due to the instruction in art criticism, and not due to studio instruction in another class.
After all four groups were instructed in their given method for art criticism the students would
then again take a sample of questions from Appendix A. After the scores were received the scores from
the final sample and the baseline sample would be compared. Improvement in students’ abilities to
describe, analyze, interpret and judge would be looked at. This would be evaluated be the multiple choice
and essay questions. In addition, students’ abilities to create studio work would be compared. The
evaluator would see if there was a significant difference in rate of improvement between any of the
groups. This could be done using a T-test. Rate of significance is generally determined based on the .05
level.
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It should also be mentioned that a rubric would be created in order to score each essay question as
well as a rubric for the creating prompt and the artist’s statement. If more than one person was used to
score the assessments then a training would need to be conducted in order to ensure that they were being
scored fairly across the board. If all the assessments were scored by the same person then it would be
important that the scorer either did not know the students or their names were not visible during scoring.
This would help ensure that the scoring of assessments was as fair as possible.
Through this course we have discussed the difference between qualitative and quantitative
research. I believe this proposed study falls more on the quantitative side of the spectrum and the
qualitative side. Baseline data is taken, then instruction is given, and then a final collection of data is
taken. This is part of the study mirrors a traditional experimental model, which is purely quantitative. It’s
the assessment that makes this proposal fall into a gray area. If the test were comprised of only multiple
choice questions, it would be a purely qualitative study. Instead, the test is comprised of multiple choice
questions, essay questions, and a drawing sample. The multiple choice questions fall into the quantitative
category, but the essay questions and drawing sample are in between. The essays and drawing sample
would be graded with a rubric, so they would be assigned a numerical score, but they also provide us with
language and visual data which is more on the qualitative side.
Results/Implications for the Field
Since this paper is a proposal for a study, there are no concrete results. I will discuss what the
implications for the field would be if this study were conducted and found both hypotheses to be true. As
a reminder, the first hypothesis stated that students who study art criticism will improve their abilities to
describe, analyze, interpret, and judge other’s work. The second hypothesis stated that students who study
art criticism will create studio work that is more carefully planned and executed. I will then discuss why
answering which method of art criticism is most effective would be helpful to the field in general as well
as art educators in practice.
Proving that teaching art criticism improves student’s ability to describe, analyze, interpret, and
judge will encourage art teachers to take teaching art criticism seriously. While art criticism is part of the
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state standards in Florida, it is not always used consistently in practice. The reason some instructors do
not choose to practice art criticism in their classroom frequently would be another interesting topic for
study. I can speculate that it may be a lack of training, a dislike for the subject, or a preference for doing
studio lessons. If art educators were able to see the benefits for students they may think again about their
practices. I believe that this would be especially true if the study showed not only an improved ability to
describe, analyze, interpret, and judge others work, but also improved studio ability as a result. I also
believe that the assessment sample given in Appendix A is teacher friendly. It would be simple for an art
teacher to give the assessment, teacher a series of lessons in art criticism, and re-administer the
assessment. If a skeptical teacher read this study they would be welcome to try to replicate the results.
Seeing the difference in their own students’ observation and inference abilities could change their mind.
The improvement in studio work would also do a lot to convince a teacher.
If this study can show that simply teaching art criticism can have an effect on the way students
approach their own studio work, art teachers will feel justified in sacrificing studio time for this practice.
Many teachers may already appreciate the ability to be able to practice art criticism. These teachers may
spend time on art criticism briefly, but feel pressure from students and administrators to focus most of
their instruction on studio work. If this study can show that the practice of art criticism improves students
planning for studio work, their attention to technique, and their thoughtfulness behind their message, then
teachers would not hesitate to spend the needed time to truly teacher art criticism to the point of full
comprehension.
This finding could also have implications for other fields (especially writing). If art teachers can
show that they are able to teacher students how to effectively critique a work of art, this could possibly
improve students writing abilities in general. The ability to focus on fine details as well as an overall
picture is very important to creating an interesting work of fiction that also makes sense, and moves the
plot along. The ability to make inferences and draw conclusions is important when answering
comprehension questions about a text. These are skills that could be learned in art and be helpful in other
subject areas.
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Limitations
There are several things that could be improved upon in this proposal. One thing that I was not
able to complete is to create the rubrics for each essay response as well as for the creating prompt and
artist statement. If this assessment were truly to be used in a study that would first need to be completed.
The quality of these rubrics could positively or negatively impact the reliability of the scores for the
assessment. In addition, the reliability of graded responses for essay questions and drawing assessment
can be an issue. While judges can be trained to look for the same criteria, anytime you add the human
element to scoring it can always be called into question.
A downfall of the assessment sample in Appendix A is the fact that there is a larger ratio of twodimensional art versus three-dimensional art. This could possibly affect some students’ scores in a
positive or negative way. If students are more comfortable viewing two-dimensional art then this could
give them an advantage, and if they are more used to viewing three-dimensional art this could give them a
disadvantage.
There is one more thing that I believe could have improved this proposal. I would have liked to
create a demographic survey to go with the assessment so that some correlations could be made using the
results. This could help look at the performance of students of difference races and socioeconomic
backgrounds as well as more interest specific things. Examples of interest specific things could be number
of years of art instruction, independent study of art, grade point average, or ability to visit museums.
Having this information could allow the test administrator make many different interesting correlations,
and would make the results much more meaningful.
Conclusions
I chose this topic because I believe it is an important one. It is my opinion that the practice of art
criticism in the classroom will help students to really look at work and examine it before jumping to
conclusions about it. I had this experience when taking Art Appreciation and Art Criticism, and since it is
fresh in my mind I can remember how I looked at artwork before the course as well. I would like students
in the public schools to experience the same shift in thinking that I did. I hope that this will help students
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more fully understand what makes a work effective as well as broaden their taste in art. If we do not take
the time to stop, think, and really give new and different artwork a chance we are slaves to are initial
emotions about art. This does not help any of us grow as people or artists. These are the reasons that
studying art criticism is good just for the fact that it changes the way we look at art and the world.
If students are able to use what they learn in critiquing work in their studio work I believe their
planning would be improved. The reason I think this is because when you have picked apart others work
you learn from their mistakes. You also get a better sense of what you like and don’t like, and you get
inspired. All of these things will add up to more carefully planned artworks. I also believe that students
would be able to use technique to more effectively get a message across in their work. If students more
carefully plan their work that will include planning their use of materials and technique to create a piece
that really communicates something to the viewer.
Creating assessments is not something many art educators are comfortable with. This sample
assessment is a tool art educators could use to test their students ability to critique art. If more
assessments were easily accessible for all aspects of art education all art teachers would benefit. If art
educators want to be considered equal to other subject areas assessment must be taken seriously.
Assessment is the key to proving that learning is occurring. Unfortunately, the rest of the field of
education will not simply take the studio work of a class as a form of proof. Because of this art educators
need to become more familiar with ways to quantify that learning. This is an attempt at creating one tool
that could help quantify one small part of that learning.
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References
Anderson, T. (1997). A model for art criticism: Talking with kids about art. School Arts, 97(1), 21-24.
Feldman, E. B. (1994). Practical art criticism. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Heid, K. (2005). Aesthetic development: A cognitive experience. Art Education, 58 (5), 48-52.
Lankford, E. L. (1984). A phenomenological methodology for art criticism. Studies in Art Education: A
Journal of Issues and Research, 25(3), 151-158.
Prater, M. (2002). Art criticism: Modifying the formalist approach. Art Education, 55(5), 12-17.
The Saatchi Gallery : London Contemporary Art Gallery. (2011). Retrieved April 7, 2011 from
http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/
Weichman, M. (2001). Here and there. Retrieved April 9, 2001 from
http://marieweichman.com/Here_and_There.html
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Appendix A
Name: ____________________________
Date:_____________________________
Directions: Read all the questions below thoroughly. For multiple choice questions choose the best
possible answer. For essay responses, use the space provided. The amount of space given will give you an
idea of how detailed your response should be.
For questions 1-4 refer to the image below.
Patrick Martinez
Sign of the Times
Mixed Media 2005
1. Choose the list of terms that could be used in a simple description of this piece.
A. Blues, browns, and pinks, squares and rectangles
B. Bullet proof vest, students holding books, bus stop
C. Mixed media, painting, use of lettering
D. Tennis shoes, jeans, teenagers, wary feeling
2. Choose the response that could be used in an analysis of this piece.
A. City scene, safety, student life, males outnumber females
B. Dominant figure in foreground, representational, light, muted colors in the background, asymmetrical
C. Mixed media, asymmetrical, students holding books, feeling of unrest
D. Blues, muted pinks, browns, curbed lines, rectangles and squares
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3. What is your interpretation of “Sign of the Times”? (Explain your interpretation based on a description
and analysis of the work).
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4. Do you think this piece is effective technically as well as in its content? Support your answer with
information from your description, analysis, and interpretation.
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For questions 5 and 6 refer to the work below
Amy Sillman
Bed, 2006, Oil on canvas
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5. Which grouping of words could be found in a basic description of Sillman’s “Bed”?
A. Red, green, bird, patterned lines, light faces contrasting with a dark bed
B. Two people, bed, embrace
C. Messy style of painting, abstract, reds and greens are dominant, cool colors
D. Red, green, yellow, curved lines, geometric shapes
6. Which group of words could be used to analyze the work?
A. Animal has it’s arm around sleeping couple
B. Abstract, green and red dominant, visible brush strokes
C. Black, red, green, and yellow, birds-eye view
D. Poor technique due to lack of realism
For questions 7 and 8 refer to the image below
Khalif Kelly
Confrontation at the Clothesline
2007
Oil on canvas
7. Think about the subject matter in “Confrontation at the Clothesline.” This piece brings to the viewers
attention the actions of a group of children without an adult present. What message do you think the artist
was trying to get across with this piece?
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8. Do you think this subject matter is important and/or relevant today? Why or why not?
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For questions 9 and 10 refer to the image below
Michael Cline
Police Line
2007
Oil on linen
9. How does the artist’s painting style contrast with the subject matter of the piece?
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10. Do you think this contrast is effective at drawing the viewer in? Why or why not?
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For questions 11 and 12 refer to the image below
Marie Weichman
American Still Life, slip cast porcelain 2006
11. Select the list of terms and phrases that could be used to describe AND analyze “American Still Life.”
A. Critique on the American diet, clay, slip cast, blue and white
B. Parody on traditional still life, fast food containers, critique on the American diet
C. Blue and white, clay, three dimensional, traditional medium used in a contemporary fashion
D. Blue and white porcelain, two dimensional, big mac in foreground
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12. Do you think the artist makes her feelings about fast food and American culture clear, or does it
remain ambiguous?
If you believe the position is clearly communicated, explain why. If you believe the position remain
ambiguous, what could the artist have done to make her message easier to receive?
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For questions 13 and 14 refer to the image below
Jansson Stegner
Sarabande
2006
Oil on linen
13. Does the fact that the subject of this painting is a female authority figure (versus male) change the
meaning of the piece?
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14. What does the subject’s body language convey to you? Be specific.
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Eduardo Berliner
Handsaw
2009
Oil on canvas
15. What might the turtles shell symbolize?
Why might a shell be cut away?
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Back up your answer with information obtained from observing the formal qualities of this work as well
as your interpretation.
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Drawing Prompt
Directions: Use the paper and materials provided to create a drawing based on the prompt below. Then
create an artist’s statement to go with the drawing as detailed below.
1. Think about the artwork you have viewed and thought about during this assessment. Each artist is
communicating something with the viewer about their personal life or society. Think about a topic or
event in your life that is important to you and create a drawing that informs your audience about it.
2. Write an artist’s statement that describes why you chose the formalistic qualities of the work (use of
line, shadow, composition or the work, etc.). Explain how these qualities convey the meaning of your
work. Last, describe how you hope the viewer will respond to the work.