Writings
Please tell me how
To make critique sympathetic instead of antagonistic
Accept flaws without even labeling them
Replace control with surrender
To embrace the defeat and surprise of unexpected results
To be spacious and affirming with no rubric
Rather to work for the sheer love of it
Free of an agenda of perfection
Please tell me how
To do critique without mandatory participation
But rather in the spirit of "Come see what I saw, what I made!"
Contagious
Intoxicating
Positive
Void of collusion
A critique coming from the inside
With advice from the master
(In the winter of 2017 I re-read Tariki and wrote down some thoughts on critique. In the Fall of 2018 I revisited those notes and wrote this short poem of sorts, so as not to forget.)
Perhaps the time has ended for the artist to be silent and listen during critique. Perhaps it is now their turn to speak, to see what they have done and articulate it. Perhaps they need to want to know how to make it stronger, and to ask for help. We should not teach without a request. This is age old. The teacher should be less pushy, use less words, but stronger words, more precise words. We teachers must be like the water that soaks a parched sponge. We cannot fill that which is already full.