In the Studio
Critiques, Critics, and Criticism
Sometimes, the best way to take the criticism is with a fancy latte.
When I was in school, we were subjected to numerous critiques: some constructive, some destructive, some subjective, and all of them personal. But in order to use a critique and grow from it, you have to let both the extreme negative AND positive roll off your shoulders. A 180 shift in response to a negative comment is just as bad as not exploring any other options because someone really loves your current work. Either response is stagnation and limits your growth.
Personally, I love critiques, and frankly, I have always learned more from the negative comments than the positive. Whether it was that I needed to follow my own convictions even more strongly and expand my vision or to reign in my abstraction because my work was not conveying the underlying principles I wanted to express. Either way, you’ll never be able to escape the critics. And aren’t we all our own worst critic anyway?
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