There were no prerequisites to get into Printmaking this semester. I like to sign up for art classes with no prior experience and mess around with different mediums. Usually, this goes pretty well for me. I loved pottery last year.
My least favorite part of art classes is critique. You sit in the fluorescently lit hallway at 8:30 a.m., pretending to have opinions and feedback about composition, color contrast, and abstraction. Everyone else wears silver bangles, colored sunglasses, and all-black outfits. There’s an almost excessive amount of vocal rasps and pauses for reflection.
Without a lot of artistic background, most things my classmates say in crit (lesson 1: this means critique) go right over my head. Now in my second art class, I definitely understand more, but am still unable to give productive feedback in a tone that seems to match everyone else’s. I try to just smile and nod. Lesson 2: Saying that you like something is not enough; you need to say why. Many have taken this too far and stopped saying they like things altogether.
To anyone who may be in a similar situation, I’ve attempted to write up a translation guide based on things I’ve heard said during a crit.
KEY: Things I’ve heard → what I think they mean:
“I resist seeing the hand in my work” → I don’t like messy.
“I had difficulty coping with layers not going how I wanted… had to let go.” → I am anal-retentive.
“I wanted the marks and lines of the subtraction to mimic the motion of my piece and add to the composition.” → My mistakes look purposeful and I’m getting away with it heheheh.
“Concentrated place of warmth amidst an otherwise cold landscape.” → The colors are opposite and I like it.
“Activated negative space.” → The shapes are where they are supposed to be.
“I see the Fibonacci spiral.” → The shapes are where they are supposed to be (math undertones).
“It fully exploits that composition.” → The shapes are still where they’re supposed to be.
“The low opacity of ink really works.” → The shapes (that are where they’re supposed to be) are also very pretty. Good job.
“The darkness provides a nice counterbalance to the expansive white space at the top of the print.” → It felt empty at the top, so I pointed it out to make everyone feel better.
“The quality of the reduction and balance of space along with the colors in which they are rendered reminds me of origami paper.” → I want to fold your print into a crane.
“…in a way, that’s pretty successful.” → This is the instructor’s way of saying good job.
“By co-opting her older work into a new context, she facilitated that much more depth of meaning.” → I don’t actually know what this piece is saying, so I’m just saying that it says a lot. “…alternative readings of abstractions” → Just an excuse to use the word abstractions.
Lesson 3: It’s okay if you don’t understand what your classmates are saying. I’m not entirely sure they know what they’re saying. Sometimes, critiques are untranslatable and are just an excuse to use a few big words all in one sentence.
