Lesson video

Hello, my name's Mrs. Alton.

Welcome to this lesson on art design.

Today is all about the art of critique, analysing, and interpreting artworks.

And this is from the unit "Foundation workshops: Selecting primary sources and inspirational source material." So let's get started.

I hope that by the end of today's lesson, you can analyse and interpret artwork to engage with critical thinking.

Some key words for today's lesson.

Critical is when you question, examine and think deeply about an artwork rather than accepting things at face value.

Analysis is looking closely at all the parts of an artwork to understand how it was made and what it means.

And describe is when you use words to give an account or detailed explanation of something.

Our lesson today has been broken down into three learning cycles.

The first one is noting first impressions.

The second is describing what you see.

And the third is applying critical thinking.

So let's look at learning cycle one, noting first impressions, Assessment objective one in GCSE art design focuses on critical analysis, and that's when you examine an artwork thoughtfully and carefully.

The word critical has two stems. So when you're a critic, it involves careful judgement or evaluation.

And when you're critical, it's related to this idea of being a critic.

So that extension of judgement or evaluation.

Critique, or crit as it's called for short, doesn't just mean saying something negative.

It's about giving feedback on what works well and what could be improved.

A quick check for understanding.

The stem word crit refers to: A, ability to identify a type of artwork; B, ability to judge or evaluate; or C, ability to list historical events.

Well done if you said B, ability to judge or evaluate.

So why do you think it's important to analyse the artwork that you are studying? Sam comments that it helps to teach him new skills and techniques.

So by looking at how an artist might approach their work that's influencing parts of his artistic practise.

And Aisha says, "It gives me lots of inspiration to look at how real practising artists, designers, and craft people create their work." So it's that actual real-life application of skills and how that might influence the development of her work.

And Lucas is discussing the idea of this artist's eye.

So how do you use your artist's eye to notice things or see things differently rather than just taking everything at its first glance.

And it's really important to remember that there's no right way to do critical analysis or maybe no one way to do it.

In art, some people think it's just about researching, but it's really about this idea of forming your own opinions on the work's meaning, and that can include how it makes you feel and what it communicates.

So a true-or-false question.

When looking at art, it's better to have lots of facts about the artist than your own opinions.

Is that true or false? Well done if you recognise that's a false statement, and that's because knowing about an artist can help.

But analysing your own opinions and feelings are just as important when looking at art.

And if we think back to this assessment objective and how the sophisticated end of that mark scheme is judged, it's really about how you are incorporating your own opinions.

So it's not just facts that you might collate on an artist.

In fact, it's really your own personal views that are gonna really push you higher in those assessment bands.

So let's look at Izzy here.

First impressions are a good way to start exploring your own thoughts, feelings, and opinions.

So Izzy's thinking about when she's looking at work, maybe connections she can make, or maybe things that includes things that she's seen before.

It may be about what she thinks the work's about, how it's making her feel, or maybe differences between particular artists or ways of approaching a theme or a style of art.

And really to remember that our own unique life experiences shape what we see and don't see in art.

So that means all opinions are valid.

That's a really nice thing about art design.

Your opinion is just as valid as anybody else's.

So artwork can make us feel different emotions depending on its theme and the artist's message.

Have you ever had an emotional response to an artwork before? Sophia says, "There is a local statue that always makes me think about the people that used to live in my area years ago." And Jacob says, "I recently went to an exhibition where the whole room was the art, with light, sound, and moving images.

It made me feel happy like I was living in the artwork." A quick, true-or-force question.

It's good to let go of the idea of a correct answer when discussing art.

True or false? Well done if you said true.

Can you think why? Well done if you mentioned something about the fact that everybody interprets artwork in their own way, allowing different people to draw different conclusions from the same piece.

Many artists use their work to talk about important issues, encourage change or raise awareness.

You can identify these themes in many artworks including: El Anatsui's "Earth's Skin," Ai Weiwei's "Straight," Lynette Yaidom-Boakye, "A Passion Like No Other," Ifeoma Anyaej, "Ghangha the Rainmaker." Whatever your first impression, make sure you note it down.

If you don't like something that's perfectly okay, just try to describe why.

Maybe it reminds you of something or it's just not the style that you are drawn to.

Examples of noting first impressions might include writing key words and bullet points.

And if you look at this example, there's just a short list down the side of the page where it really pulls out key information.

Remember, it's all about the quality of your analysis, not about writing lengthy paragraphs or copying information from the internet.

Another example might include sketches or short phrases.

So it really has to be worthwhile to you the information that you're recording.

So experiment with what method of recording suits you best.

A short check for understanding.

Noting down your first impressions of an artwork is important because it helps you: A, memorise all the facts about an artist; B, explore your own thoughts and feelings about it; C, avoid any emotional reactions to the artwork; D, understand only the technical aspects of the piece.

Well done if you said B, it's about exploring your own thoughts and feelings about it.

So let's look at the first task.

Select an artwork and describe your first feelings and reactions.

So you are gonna choose an artist or artwork that relate to your own practical work, and that might be through a similar subject matter or the theme or the style of an artist, maybe an artist that you would like to investigate.

In one of those ways.

You can use key words, bullet points, sketches, and short phrases to describe that reaction.

And just remember at this point, it's really not about the researching bit, it's about your personal views and opinions, your first impressions.

So if you need any help getting started, try these prompts: What is your first impression? What do you think it's about? And does the artwork remind you of any personal experiences? So we're thinking of that idea of connections or ideas.

I'll give you a moment to complete this task.

You may want to pause the video here.

So how did you find that? I hoped it allowed you some time to think about your own reactions before delving deeper into any research.

So let's look at what Andeep has experienced when looking at his work, which is Ai Weiwei's "Straight." He said it's huge and looks like a metal landscape made up of individual metal rods.

His first impression was that it has an industrial feel and a serious theme.

And Izzy looks at Ifeoma Anyaej's "Ghangha the Rainmaker." And this piece reminds her of a mask.

It's bright, textured, and fun.

Though it's hard to see how it was made, it looks a bit like a weaving.

So let's move on to learning cycle two, describing what you see.

What do you think is important to include in descriptions? Describing means explaining something in detail.

It helps you closely examine the content and emotion of an artwork leading to more informed interpretations.

So that's really going back to this idea of your own opinions and how you're interpreting what you're seeing within the image or piece of art.

And in art, this can include many methods like we previously discussed including discussion, writing, or sketching.

Lisa Squirrel is an art historian and poet who leads visually impaired tours at the Tate.

She explains that the most important thing when describing an artwork is to convey the mood or emotional reaction it evokes.

So for example, she might describe abstract white, blurry brush strokes as something more relatable, like a memory or an experience.

So that might be something like thick fog or cold morning mist.

And if you think she's doing tours for people that are visually impaired, they need some kind of anchor to really bring that painting to life through the use of language so that they can connect with the image in their mind's eye, which is a really important skill.

Quick true-or-false question.

Describing an artwork helps you look more closely at it and understand it better.

Well done if you said true.

It's because it encourages you to focus on specific details like colours, shapes, and textures, which can reveal deeper meaning and emotion in the piece.

So when describing what you see, it's important to use as much detail as possible as we've mentioned.

Take a look at this image.

Laura comments that this mood could be calm, peaceful, or flowy.

Aisha says that the image reminds her of a landscape, and she's describing it as green, oval hill shapes with blue rivers of lime.

So you can see how she's starting to incorporate some other examples of descriptions like hills and rivers and landscapes.

So although this is an abstract piece of art we're looking at, we're starting to imagine other aspects of this image.

Take a look at this image here.

Laura's describing the mood as serene, mysterious.

We're getting this idea of this kind of calmness.

"It reminds me of the deep ocean." And we can see here the background this idea of the kind of very black contrast of the ocean, the deep ocean.

And Aisha says, "In this photo, bubbles rise against a brightly lit fish with orange-red colours.

The fish has flowing lines and the reflections of colour above." So we're thinking even if we didn't have this image here, could the language evoke a more vivid picture in our mind? Aisha goes on to describe the composition.

So she's breaking the image down and she's saying that the fish takes up two thirds of the composition.

So we start to get an idea in our mind about the size, scale and shape of the of the fish in the image.

So a quick check for understanding.

I'm going to use descriptive language to describe this painting.

And then you'll having an example of a painting to describe.

So in this one, I would start by maybe saying that it's abstract, it's blurry.

And maybe think about that painting technique.

Maybe I could describe that as almost quite a dry-brush technique where it's been applied quite heavy flat colours.

And I could talk about the colours that I'm seeing.

So maybe the blues, I could say they were ocean blues or cool shades.

And then contrast to the warm, hot pinks.

I could almost draw a diagonal line between the top right-hand corner and the bottom left-hand corner and say that that top half of the triangle is in the cool shades and the bottom half is in the warm with those hot pinks.

So you're thinking about that.

How would you kind of divide up the shapes? And that could be in quite simple geometric patterns and shapes.

And the style is abstract, but reminds me of an animal head or a skull.

So over to you to think about how would you describe this mural.

So this might be a good opportunity to work in pairs and have a go at describing it to each other.

Pause the video here while you complete this activity.

So I wonder how you got on with this task.

It's quite a complex pattern, but it's absolutely fine to set out exactly what it is at the start.

So something like a large-scale mural, and we know it's a mural because it's on a wall or a building, we can see the sky.

And maybe thinking about the background, how would you describe that? So maybe something like a jigsaw puzzle or these organic shapes all joined together and maybe thinking about the pastel colours or again, the contrast between the blues and the warm, hot pinks and oranges.

You may have mentioned something about the black pattern in the foreground, and that almost looks a bit like a branch or tree-like pattern.

But any way that you've described it is absolutely fine.

It's about your development of your language and the things that this will be reminding you of.

So remember, there's no right or wrong in this activity.

So describing artwork using the elements of art helps you understand its structure and meaning.

Some key elements to consider include composition, as we've mentioned, use of line, shape, form, colour, texture, and pattern.

Let's take a moment here to see if you can match the art elements to their descriptive language.

Well done if you identified that lines can be curved, straight, wavy, bold, or thin.

The composition might be balanced, chaotic, layered or centred.

Colours might be bright, dark, vibrant, warm or cool.

And textures might be smooth, rough, bumpy, or glossy.

Can you list the art elements that are missing? Well done if you said shape, form, and pattern.

So now over to you for our second task.

And this is a paired activity.

So for this, you're gonna need to move chairs so that you're sitting back-to-back and one person is going to describe a chosen image or object.

So it's important that your partner doesn't see what that is and your partner's going to sketch while you describe So a bit like Lisa Squirrel does at the Tate Modern where she does her visually-impaired tours.

And then you're going to switch roles so that you both have an opportunity, one to sketch and one to describe.

Describe the image clearly without showing it.

So focus on describing what you can see overall and what the image reminds you of.

Remember if you are sketching, it's not about worrying about the quality of your sketch.

It's really try to listen to the language and see if you can interpret that within your drawing.

Refer to the art elements to enrich your description.

So like we've been practising in this learning cycle, thinking about the quality of the words that you are using.

So you may even want to go back and use those descriptive words of things like line or composition, tone, form, and really see if you can embed those into your description.

You only want to spend about five minutes on this task and then switch.

So it's good to have a timer handy.

So good luck.

Pause the video here to complete your back-to-back drawing.

So let's take a look at what your work may have looked like.

Jacob's partner started by describing columns being similar to those found in ancient Greece.

When Jacob saw the image at the end of his drawing, he saw that it was an artwork by Ai Weiwei, and it was an installation he did in Berlin where thousands of life jackets were used to cover the building.

So I think they did a pretty good job of describing and sketching here.

So next, take a moment to review how closely your completed drawing matched the original artwork based on your descriptions.

So you may want to put your sketch and the image that was being described to you side by side.

So have a think which descriptions were most effective, what would've improved the description.

And just note any key observations and descriptive words.

Take a moment here while you compare the drawing and the description.

So for this, you may have said, as Jacob did that he found the descriptions of what was in the image and where everything was located the most helpful.

And Aisha comments that it would've helped her drawing to listen to all the details before breaking it down and starting.

So next we're gonna think about how you can apply what you've learned from this activity to your original image from task A.

So the one where you noted down your first impressions, and we're thinking of approaching this like Lisa Squirrel.

So that idea of this real rich, a descriptive language as if it was for a visually-impaired tour, for instance.

So connecting it to your emotions or experiences is a really good way, as we've discovered to create this more vivid image in our mind's eye.

So if you want to pause the video here, go back to the image from Task A and apply descriptive language.

And that can be in any form that suits you.

So it may want to be a recorded discussion, bullet points, or a piece of longer writing.

So let's have a look at what you may have said for this task.

So Jacob noticed that doing this activity made him see his original artwork differently by considering how he would describe it to somebody who couldn't see it.

And Aisha comment that she aimed to include a greater variety of descriptive language and use the phrase "it reminds me of" to reference experiences creating a more vivid description.

So let's move on to our last learning cycle, applying critical thinking.

Take a look at this image.

Artwork can communicate powerful messages.

When you look at an artwork, do you ever wonder what influenced the artist? Sophisticated reference to contextual sources involves considering the broader context of an artwork.

So in art, contextual means looking at an artwork in relation to its history, culture, time and place.

And also in relation to the artist's life to understand its full meaning.

It's about considering what influenced the artist when they were creating it.

A quick check for understanding.

Select two aspects that contextual in art refers to.

Is it: A, the history culture, time and place; B, the artwork's popularity; C, the artist's life; or D, the personal preference of the viewer? Well done if you said A and C, the history, culture, time and place and the artist's life.

How might having a greater contextual understanding of an artwork change the way that you view it? So understanding more about when it was created.

Sam says, "It helps me understand why the artist made certain choices like the colours, symbols, or themes they used." And Aisha comments that knowing an artwork was created during specific events like a war or social and political unrest can make me see it in a new way.

An example of an artwork that needs greater contextual understanding is Ai Weiwei "Straight" the one that we've mentioned before.

Ai Weiwei is a Chinese contemporary artist and activist.

His work is deeply connected to his experiences living in China under difficult conditions during the cultural revolution.

The work "Straight" is made from metal salvaged from schools that collapsed in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

The artwork challenges government corruption and the coverup of the disaster's true impact.

It also invites us to think about the loss and grief caused by the tragedy and the aftermath.

So here we are thinking about how our first impressions might differ when we start to understand more of the context.

So more of the events around how and when the artwork was made.

Over to you for our last task.

Revisit your chosen artwork to the one we've been looking at through task A, B, and now this task, task C, and carry out further research.

You could develop by researching historical events that may have influenced the artwork, the artist's cultural background, so where they're from, what's inspired or influenced their work, whether the artwork reflects social issues or concerns of its time.

And then reflect on your findings and how they may have changed your original interpretation.

Lastly, document your findings in your preferred format.

So that might be a digital or sketchbook format.

It might be using key words, bullet points, writing, sketches, diagrams, or even a short podcast or commentary.

Pause the video here where you apply critical thinking.

So let's take a look at what your work may have looked like.

And this is an example of a journal format of using keywords, bullet points, writing sketches and diagrams. And this is an example of presenting as a short podcast or commentary.

So Andeep saying that he enjoyed introducing the topic as an episode of "Art Talk" where we discussed "Straight" by Ai Weiwei.

"Doing the research was really important because it helped set the scene and gave me a deeper understanding of the artwork's meaning." And Izzy comment that she liked expressing her own opinions about the work and thinking of questions to ask the audience.

"It was a fun to engage listeners and think about how art can challenge ideas." Let's take a look at a summary for today's lesson.

Contextual analysis of the historical, cultural and social backgrounds of artwork helps deepen understanding.

Describing and analysing our elements promotes critical thinking and leads to richer interpretations.

There are alternative ways to annotate artwork beyond writing, such as through podcasts, commentary, sketches or symbols.

Analysing art encourages a deeper appreciation of its significance and invites more thoughtful reflections.

Well done for all your hard work today.

I look forward to seeing you soon.