Time for Critique

Final Reviews in A172

School of Art

at Rochester Institute of Technology

May 6, 2016

There was a whole table with food and a whole bunch of people gathered together for the final reviews of the Spring 2016 semester.  What made this gathering unusual was that we had a guest critic visiting on Friday who is an art critic for The New York Times,  and that was Martha Schwendener.  She is regularly in and out of the galleries and museums in the New York City area so she knows her way around the contemporary art scene, and has been writing reviews since the early 1990's.

The group split up into cells, that is a few students and a few guest faculty members to lead the reviews, and we went off into the warren of studios to see the art work and to talk with the student artists.  For many of the visiting faculty - this art was new to them, so they were seeing it with fresh eyes.  A lot of good discussion comes from this, and it isn't limited only to the grad students or upper level undergrads - but all students who have space in A172, or have their work up on the walls to see.

Show and Tell

Each student had a segment of time to explain what they have been doing, and explore the artistic territory with the advisors who came in to see what was happening.  Suggestions were made about the relative value of the artwork on display.  Names of artists to follow were mentioned, and everyone had a chance to have their say.

For the shy artists  in the group, they get over their fears by talking in a conversational way with their advisors.  For the more demonstrative artists, they were able to show their stuff and see how it played to the crowd.. there is always a lot to learn about the studio visit.

Martha Schwendender

guest art critic

checks

her phone