Encouraging Constructive Criticism
Yesterday I posted observations about an organically inspired necklace. Beautifully done, it still had room for improvement and I mentioned my thoughts on that. It felt rather odd to do so. Our community doesn’t really spend a lot of time talking about the missed opportunities in our art work. Usually we praise (and usually deservedly so) the work of our fellow artists which certainly helps bolster confidence and enthusiasm in the artist. But how much does it help them improve their work?
A week or so ago I had a great Skype conversation with Christine Dumont of Voila (see the interview/article on Voila in our latest magazine issue). One of the very unique things about her site is that members get constructive feedback on work they submit in their gallery. Much of the Voila concept is built around ways to help polymer artists improve their work, not just receive confirmation that they are going in the right direction. I think this is a concept we all need to embrace further.
The hard part of with working more constructive feedback into our conversations is that most of us have not been through the training and educational experience of art school or other exposure to critical commentary on our heartfelt work. But in an artistic and educational environment, constructive criticism is a major part of the learning process. Not only does it help to hear other people’s opinions and ideas about how to improve what you do, but honing a critical eye through observing the work of others can help you more readily see ways of improving yours.
I would certainly love to see more of this kind of exchange in the community. Do you think you have a thick enough skin to hear people express what might be done to improve your work so you can learn and grow your artistic skills from it? And can you give others helpful and supportive advice on opportunities you find in their work? If so, perhaps try including small suggestions in your conversations about other artists’ work. And try Voila if you haven’t already done so.
I welcome and ask for constructive feedback on my artwork. It does take a thick skin, sometimes, and an awareness that not everyone likes the same style. But I learn so much when someone does make a comment like you did about the vine. Yes, if it were less perfectly even it would have been more organic; that’s just an idea for the artist to consider and accept or reject or even modify yet more.
During our monthly meeting our guild (SCPCG) does something similar; we bring work we’d like to share and ask for idea on improvement. Or if we have a direction we want to go but can’t quite perceive of how to get there, many of our co-artists can offer ideas.
Change is always good! It’s too easy to stagnate when we stay in our own little spaces.
I have been reading this post and I have to say, it did not leave my mind anymore. I totaly agree that constructive feedback is not very wide spread in the polymer clay community and I am wondering if it really is wished for.
I have been to art school and my professor was a very hard woman, she did a great job on the critic side. On the praise side not so much. And it was definitly too much! Quite a couple of people droped out of school. I would not want to go throught that ever again!
But if you are talking about having a friendly person helping you to improve, what you are trying to achieve, that is something complettly different! And I highly recomment it. That really helps to get to the next level. But not everyone is ready for it, or will ever be. We have a corner in our forum (polyclaykunst.de), where our members can ask for a piece to be criticized (of course only in a friendly way!), it in very seldom that anyone asks for a critique, ever!
Praise is good and absolut neccessary in my eyes, but so is critique and that often is seen as a way to put someone down (and it can be, of course). So this is a really difficult way to walk, and I would like to know more about what others are thinking about it!!!