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Learning to Love The Critique

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Contributed by: Wendy Halderman on 11/30/2007

While working on my art degree, I spent many, many hours visiting museums, performing research, reading art history books, shaping clay, mixing paint, and stretching and stapling canvases. But by far, the most important part of my art education was learning how to face The Critique.

On some level I accepted the fact that it was a vital part of any good art training. But publicly stating what is wrong with an artist's work, I thought, was both rude and cruel -- akin to saying, "Gee, you'd look even better if you lost 10 pounds," or "Wow, those shoes don't really go with that outfit, do they?" I wondered, who would want to be subjected to that type of humiliation?

It took courage, but eventually I learned to welcome and value The Critique. Not because I enjoyed the criticism per se, but because it ultimately made my work better. Others' opinions helped me to see my work more objectively.

My first formal critique came at the age of 17 in Bernie Dietz's Drawing and Composition class at Ventura College. In high school there was very little critiquing that I recall, so this was new to me. My high school teacher had basically praised everyone's work, or at least found something encouraging to say about even the most disastrous pieces--bless his soul-- just like a mother would praise a youngster's drawing. In retrospect, it was probably a disservice to be handled with kid gloves.

The first assignment from Mr. Dietz was to arrange, and glue onto an 11 x 17 board, cut-out shapes of complimentary-colored paper (two colors opposite each other on the color wheel). I chose blue and orange. I arranged and rearranged these pieces of paper, hoping to find a composition that would be critique-worthy. In retrospect, I think I struggled with it more than I would have otherwise because I knew it would be subject to public scrutiny. (Either that, or it was a lesson that blue and orange don't REALLY go together well in most cases.) Anyway....eventually I ended up with something I thought was pretty good.

What made this first critique all the more dreaded was the fact that Mr. Dietz was known to not mince words. His criticism-to-praise ratio was about 100-to-1 (yes, we kept track), and he was just so good at finding things that could be made better. Whenever he came around to your desk you knew you were in for an earful. As an extra intimidation factor, he commanded the classroom in a booming voice laced with fierce old-school precision, like Humphrey Bogart in The Maltese Falcon: "When you're slapped, you'll take it and like it."

On the day of the critique, as the students walked in the classroom, they placed their compositions on the wall, sat down, and waited. I was surprised to see that everyone's work looked somewhat similar (although I did realize at that moment that red and green, and purple and yellow, go together even less well than blue and orange). At least I had picked the least offensive complimentary color combination. I put my artwork in the lineup. I felt optimistic.

When Mr. Dietz walked in, a nervous silence fell upon the room. Thankfully, he began his critique immediately, so our angst was not extended any longer than necessary. He spent about five minutes critiquing each piece. As I listened to him discuss the pros and cons of each composition, my initial trepidation eventually transformed into epiphany. His words were filled with a deep knowledge of his subject and concern for his students. It was clearly evident that he wanted us to learn.

When he got to my piece, I was amazed to find myself not only welcoming his comments, but truly appreciating them. Sure, there were criticisms ("Complimentary colors in a 50:50 ratio will clash...it will be more successful if one of the two colors is used in a lesser proportion, as an accent"). I wanted to hear more. The critique was helpful. Critique was good!

A few years later, I was hired to be the manager of a type and design department for an advertising agency. Whenever a client said something to the effect of, "That's not exactly what I was visualizing. Can you try something a little different?" I silently thanked Mr. Dietz, smiled, and replied, "Sure. I appreciate your comments. Let's try to make it better."

Bless you, dear Mr. D. You treated your students like adults. You helped us see that openly discussing both weaknesses and strengths leads to improved outcomes, and that art arises out of the context of community. Most importantly, you taught us that The Critique is not a negative event, but rather, an expression of caring.

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