Sculpture II: Fast, Cheap and Out of Control

11 Responses to “First Critique:blog1”

1. Kaitlyn Says:
   January 28th, 2008 at 5:26 pm

   I have learned that it is hard to make a comment on others’ works. It sounds foolish but before I say something about a piece I say it in my head to see if it is even worth sharing with the class and most of the time it is not and then it looks as if I am not participating. I have also learned that a lot of the problems pointed out in crit I have noticed and considered but did not know how to solve. I used to think I knew how I worked but now I am not too sure. I have been doubting myself a lot lately and feel cut off from inspiration and my work….definitely not a good thing, I know. I just can’t get into it, I can’t think…this also being my biggest limitation

2. casey Says:
   January 29th, 2008 at 3:00 pm

   In the first critique I have learned that I have a tendency to make multiples. However, I don’t think I make enough of them. I also have learned that I struggle with presentation. My piece does not work on the ground, so now I need to figure out a new way to present them, maybe that requires building something to put them at eye level. Another thing I learned is that an idea or thought I may have about my work may be seen in a completely different way by another person, which could be really interesting, unless they are seeing something that you don’t like at all. For example, I didn’t think of my piece as showing violence at all, but after the critique I can see how it may show that. I think my limitations are experiences with materials, and a fear to push myself to the absolute limit. As I continue to work on this piece my goal is to try and push the materials as well as myself.

3. csnif3jm Says:
   January 29th, 2008 at 6:53 pm

   After the first critique I have learned that I can make a piece that’s not large scale and be appreciative of it. During sculpture 1 I feel like I tended to work more large scale because I felt that was the way to push myself. Also, I think some of the ideas I was getting at the time worked themselves out to be large scale. Working in this size I realized the hardships that come with it (straining on materials, how to support it and make it stand, transportation issues, etc). I wanted to push myself by creating tensions with the materials I was working with, but I now realize that working in smaller scales brings other issues into play. And one may still put stains on the materials they’re using as well. When working in small scale, the artist still confronts presentation issues and also must work to make a small object worth looking at. I think large-scale sculpture tends to put the person in awe of the piece simply because of the size. Except with small scale work, something really small could be just as impressive. I think a limitation I have while working is that I start with an image in my head of what I expect to be making. Although sometimes I do not always stick 100% to that, I could be a little stubborn in that I don’t want to stray too far from that original plan.

4. Isabel Says:
   January 30th, 2008 at 7:52 am

   During critique I observed the way many people articulate ideas and are able to communicate them. I think many of the same things, however it is difficult for me to express what I have in my head. It is very important to have this critiques because I learn many things from other people’s opinions. I know that I have to push myself and express my ideas.

5. archress Says:
   January 30th, 2008 at 10:15 am

   I agree with some things Kaitlyn and Isabel said in their posts, and I feel the same way. I can’t say exactly what I’ve learned my weaknesses are according to others yet, since we didn’t get to critiquing mine, but I know I must be lacking a “wow” factor in some way. I think scale does have a lot to do with that; if I had made a spider big enough to ride on, I bet it would get people talking. Why didn’t I? because I still thought I had a good idea using the materials I did to suggest spider.
   And I know my biggest limitations are in expressing my ideas verbally. There’s always someone who can articulate the idea better, and quicker *cough* robert *cough* and I struggle with that for so many reasons. It was difficult to come up with comments about the works on paper, and 10x harder to speak it. I still have a hard time wrapping my mind around sculpture.
   And as I look around at this blog page and what others wrote….you’re not alone smilingirisheyes! I too felt awful and upset after critique on monday. I was so upset, it affected the rest of my day greatly. I wouldn’t talk to anyone after that (yes I do talk normally). I hope this sculpture day goes better.

6. mollybigmonkeybird Says:
   January 30th, 2008 at 11:26 am

   The critique helped me realize that I need to begin to trust myself again as an artist. Last semester was a giant disaster for me in a number of ways. I was constantly doubtful and critical of both myself and my art, and as a result I had trouble generating ideas and produced some lackluster pieces. I’ve made a lot of progress in working my way out of that slump, but this assignment presented me with a challenge because I could sense skepticism from some people who I respect when I told them I was making a unicorn, and almost changed my plan. I ended up trusting myself, not doubt, and the positive feedback I heard in critique helped reinforce that decision. Thanks dudes!

7. roblog Says:
   January 31st, 2008 at 6:39 am

   For the most part, I was really excited during Monday and Wednesday’s critique, and greatly preferred this in-depth working critique format (almost entirely focused on the possibilities offered by each current work rather than their successes/failures) to last weeks abbreviated and conceptual critique. Frankly, I’d like to have greater emphasis placed on methods of accomplishing theoretical goals and less on purely craft–I don’t know if our perceptions have really been stretched yet.

   In four years of studio classes at Mary Washington, Wednesday’s critique may have been the most helpful and informative I have ever received, for a handful of reasons (not the least of which being the under-development of the presentation of my piece). First of all, I was pleased to have some discussion on the nature of narrative, authorship and presentation, which obviously involved substantially different issues than the other sculptures that were physically present. The viewers imagination was the most important part of my work and so it was both exciting and frustrating to find out where the presentation did it a disservice.

   I also was surprised to hear my work described as campy, although I suppose that is inevitable (especially with the inadvertent Blair-Witch spooky-flick quality to the presentation). Sometimes I feel that I have a kind of sinister anti-art aesthetic that leans toward campy and away from a self-conscious seriousness. I also think that certain impossibilities (raccoon self-portraiture) are inevitably unrealistic by association.

   Truthfully, I am a little intimidated at the prospect of tweaking my piece, because at the moment my only two choices are to completely recreate my work in a different setting (and believe me, it was difficult to build the first time) to begin to make adjustments or to simply focus my efforts on editing the presentation. The critique did push me in a lot of tangential directions for completely new work.

8. Chard Says:
   January 31st, 2008 at 11:39 am

   From this, I realized that my assumptions about how my work would be presented is not something that I was able to convey. The suggestions and comments I received on my bull piece however were far greater than anything I had planned on doing. In one regard, this allows for others to inspire or reveal a technique that I had not thought of but at the same time, if I had supplied a stand or other method of presentation, the critique could have focused more on the interaction with the method of mounting (and then evolved) instead of just confirming a change in presentation was needed. The critique was helpful and when I eventually display the piece, what I learned will be put to use.

9. archress Says:
   January 31st, 2008 at 6:26 pm

   I thought Wednesday’s critique did go better than Monday’s, mostly because I perceived the latter critique as more constructive than the former. I also see the problem of many sculptures in the critique- it’s not that the sculptures didn’t start out with a “wow” factor, it’s that they couldn’t retain their “wow” factor in the sculpture space. The space detracts from the works; the floor is a discolored gray, there are tables and machines everywhere, and I always fail to see that my piece is lacking because I fail to remember where it’s being shown. The pieces seem very trivial indeed when placed on that floor, and this is where the scale issue comes into play. So the question really is how do you translate an interesting idea from the working space to the viewing space? In that particular viewing space, it’s no wonder that the solution often is make it very big, or make a ton of them.
   In any case, I’m still a little unresolved as to how I should edit my work. On thinking about what was said, that my sculptures are always very “polite,” I’m almost tempted to take that idea to an extreme, so that my polite spiders are an intention rather than a weakness. But then again, there’s also always the problem of what the right materials are to get the idea across. Ah, if only this were ceramics or painting, my problems would be half-solved.

10. drgirlfriend Says:
    January 31st, 2008 at 8:39 pm

    Hmmm…critique…First off, I was originally afraid to build using solely tape and wire, and I know the materlials were an issue in critique to a certain extent but the major issues now are presentation and the potential of numbers. I do want to built many of these, but they need something more. I identify with the problems of my classmates, particularly concerning presentation and conceptual difficulties; the dimensionality of the pieces is now a major hurdle for myself and others. I agree with Robert’s comment that Wednesday’s critique was especially refreshing because there was a lot of focus on potential.

11. elaina Says:
    March 25th, 2008 at 8:46 pm

    Well, this response is late coming… However, in general I believe most critiques in the sculpture class are polite and the criticism is always vague. I respect that people don’t want to seem rude and appreciate the efforts in which they go through to avoid it, but it’s not really necessary. In return I feel like I have to be polite as well because I don’t want to seem like the jerk in a room full of polite people. Overall, I think the critiques are extremely stressful, not because of the criticism, but because of all the moments of awkward silence.

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