Art judge and some thoughts on criticism

I talk a bit about some things I thought about after I judged some High School and Middle School paintings. When is the right time to worry what critics think? How do we know who to listen to and who to disregard? How do we criticize children without damaging their confidence, self esteem or enthusiasm for art? I don't answer the questions, I just ask them.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• cirticism
• critics
• art
• children
• judging
• halloween
• contest
• self
• esteem

[thirteenfingers]

I might as well follow that with another story.

Aged 11 to 16 I entered the school swimming gala every year. I never did well, but always swam.

Then I started training and racing with one my town team.

In my last year at that school I raced and beat the school's "best swimmer" - who was on a rival town team.

The sense of achievement and pride was really quite overwhelming.

I've seen both sides of the argument, both as a "never gonna win" and as a "winner".

Win or lose, competition is good.

[thirteenfingers]

I don't know when losing became a bad thing.

I used to run cross country but never came close to winning a race.

Did I achieve something? Yup... I never finished a race in a lower position than the one before.

Did I learn something? Yup... I learned (at the age of 8, and understood) that there's far more than "first place" to achieve. I learned that someone being better than me didn't take away from what I can do or achieve.

Giving a prize for every place denies that very important lesson.

[leroyart123]

Thanks sir! I liked this...

[AudioVerite]

your cool dude i love the world wide web, you surf and find something of really value every now and then. brain food, YUMMIE

[flynfreako]

i couldn't help but giggle when you made those faces because of your daughter X3

i like your videos ^.^

[Marihani]

Very good points. I like when you sit and try to reason through stuff like this.