Lesson video

This is your art lesson, developing a distinctive idea from the unit, finding your artistic voice, an introduction to the creative process.

Hello, I'm Miss.

Gopel, and I'm your art teacher for today's lesson.

I'm really excited to be here with you for this lesson.

I know we're gonna have a great time together learning and making in art and design.

Our outcome for today's lesson is I can develop and refine my ideas using a mini critique.

We have key words.

We have refine, critique, reflect, and iterative.

Refine.

Refining often involves revisiting and reworking ideas, techniques, or compositions to achieve a distinctive outcome.

Critique, the process of giving and receiving constructive feedback, which is crucial in refining and developing ideas.

Reflect means critically thinking about your creative process, decisions, and outcomes.

It involves evaluating what works well, what could be improved, and how your work communicates your themes, your ideas, or theme.

Iterative.

In art, iterative refers to the process of repeatedly refining and developing our ideas through experimentation, reflection, and revision.

Some really good key words there for us today.

This is our lesson outline.

Firstly, mini critique.

Secondly, develop and refine.

Let's make a start with our mini critique.

Usually, the art you see is the final piece or the finished artwork.

You can see in this example, the art students are probably at an exhibition or at an outdoor sculpture park, and they're looking at a finished sculpture.

But how do artists get to the stage where they know what art to make? For example, how did this artist come to the conclusion that this was the piece of art they were going to make for this exhibition? One of the art students says, "We are seeing the finished art", but artists often refine their ideas and reflect on different ideas before deciding what to make.

So this art student is explaining to us that although we might see a final piece or a finished piece of art, there's often a bit of a journey that's come before where the artist has tried out different ideas before deciding what to make.

Some artists store their ideas in a sketchbook or in their studio.

There are different ways for us to store our ideas as artists.

There's a journey of developing ideas before they make a final piece.

Think back on your own final pieces and artworks.

Did you try out some different ideas and refine and reflect on them before you settled on your final piece? Remember too that art isn't only seen in galleries.

Most artists have a way of developing their own distinctive ideas and artistic voice wherever their art ends up.

The journey of developing ideas does not move in one line, a straight line, and it is an iterative one that might include being inspired by a theme, mind mapping ideas, having an idea, trying out materials and techniques, having more ideas and refining them, getting inspiration, for example, from other artists, linking ideas to personal experiences, settling on an idea.

Now remember that these might be processes or parts of the process that are iterative, and you may not go through one by one in this order.

They may happen at different times and at different parts of your journey.

Let's have a check for understanding.

Which statement is true? Is it A, many artists spend time making a final piece before reflecting on and refining their ideas? Is it B, many artists spend no time reflecting on and refining their ideas before making a final piece of work? Or is it C, many artists spend time reflecting on and refining their ideas before making a final piece of work? Have a think.

Let's see if you managed to get the right answer.

If you said C, well done.

Many artists spend time reflecting on and refining their ideas before making a final piece of work.

Artists often store their ideas in sketchbooks or studios, using them as a space to explore, refine, and reflect before creating their final piece.

You might be familiar with using sketchbooks as a place to store these explorations and reflections before creating final pieces.

The journey to a finished artwork is rarely a straight path.

Do you remember we looked at all those different parts of the process and discussed how they might happen in any order? It's shaped by experiments, changes, and thoughtful discussions.

Artists can use something called mini critiques as a tool to help refine ideas.

By sharing our work and receiving constructive feedback, we gain new perspectives and identify areas to improve or develop ourselves further.

You can see these art students looking at each other's sketchbooks, probably just about to give each other some feedback and a mini critique.

Let's have another check for understanding, shall we? Which of these does not describe a mini critique? A, gaining new perspectives.

B, receiving constructive feedback.

C, sharing work.

D, giving no feedback to each other.

Which of them does not describe a mini critique? Have a think.

See if you've got the right answer.

I bet you did.

D, giving no feedback to each other.

That doesn't describe what happens in a mini critique.

Here's our first task.

Task A.

Work in a small group to present your current ideas, thoughts, or experiments.

You could use these feedback prompts.

What stands out to you about this idea? What could be refined or explored further? What do you think is the strongest part of this idea and why? How does this idea link to any artists or art that you have researched? Good luck with this task, and remember, this is all about sharing and receiving feedback from your peers who are artists too.

How did that go? I asked you to work in small groups to present your current ideas, thoughts, or experiments.

Now, this is the sort of task where there are many possible outcomes, but you might have said something like, "The layering of textures is really interesting.

It adds depth and makes me want to look closer." "Your use of repetition in the pattern feels very intentional and ties in nicely with your theme." Really constructive bits of feedback there.

You might also have said something like this, "The composition is strong, but the background feels a bit empty.

Maybe you could add something subtle to balance it." "Your idea is clear, but the colours feel a bit muted.

Could you experiment with brighter tones to make it more striking?" I really like the way suggestions are being given.

You might also have said something like, "The use of personal imagery is really effective.

It adds an emotional connection that makes the work feel unique to you." Or something like, "I think the way you've blended colours is the strongest element.

It gives the peace a calm and cohesive feel." They're very good at giving feedback, these students, aren't they? Task A 2.

Now it's time to record your reflections on the critique and outline next steps for development.

So you've had your moments of reflection and feedback.

Now it's time to record them.

You might do this in your sketchbook.

How did you go? Again, there are many possible outcomes for this, but you might have shared verbally or recorded something like this.

"I agree that the background looks unfinished.

I'll experiment with adding faint textures inspired by Mark Bradfordshire.

." That must be an artist that Izzy's looking at.

.

."To bring more depth without distracting from the main subject.

Next, I'll sketch a few background options and decide which one compliments the composition best." Sounds like she's got a good plan for moving forward.

Record it by writing in your sketchbook something like this, "I've been sticking to pencil for detail work, but trying ink could make certain areas stand out more.

For my next steps, I'll redo one section of the piece using ink to compare the results.

If it works well, I'll apply this technique to the rest of the composition." Again, really good steps for moving forward there and for extending and expanding the repertoire of this artist's work from pencil to ink.

Could also use Post-it notes in your sketchbook, that's a good idea.

And again, many possible outcomes, but you might have said something like this.

"I'm glad the patterns were noticed as Kusama's work.

." That must be another artist.

".

Inspired this piece.

To develop the idea further, I'll create larger overlapping patterns and test different colour combinations to make them more striking.

I'll also research Kusama's scale and see if increasing the size of my patterns has a similar impact." I like the way this person is really thinking about how their work links to the artist they researched for inspiration.

Okay, time for the next part of our lesson, develop and refine.

Izzy and Alex are discussing the mini critique.

Do you agree with them? Izzy says, "I think I can use the mini critique to refine and develop my artistic voice." Alex says, "I have to act on all the feedback I got from the mini critique." What do you think? Who do you agree with and why? Actually, you don't have to act on all the feedback you get.

Critiques are about giving you different perspectives, but it's your decision as the artist to decide which suggestions align with your vision.

Think about which pieces of feedback resonate the most or would make the biggest and best difference to your work.

You can prioritise refining areas that feel important to you while keeping your main idea intact.

Remember, your creative voice is what makes work distinctive.

True or false? It's time for a CFU.

You don't have to act on all the feedback you get.

Have a think.

Do you think that's true or false? Let's see.

True.

You don't have to act on the feedback you get.

It's your decision as the artist to decide which suggestions align with your vision.

It's really good to listen to the feedback and consider it, but you don't have to act on every single piece of feedback.

Many artists exemplify this process in their practise.

For example, the artist called Alberta Whittle, a Barbadian-Scottish artist, often begins with extensive research, testing materials, exploring concepts through drawings, mixed media experiments, and video work before producing her final pieces.

Her artworks, which interrogate themes of colonial history, climate justice, and belonging, demonstrate how thoughtful refinement can amplify an artist's message and voice.

You might want to look at some other examples of artists who constantly review and refine their work so that it really, really resonates with their artistic voice.

True or false? Thoughtful refinement can amplify an artist's message and voice.

What do you think? Let's see.

True.

Think about which pieces of feedback resonate the most or would make the biggest difference to your work.

You can prioritise refining areas that feel important to you, while keeping your idea intact.

It's time for task B.

Based on your feedback and annotations, create a second iteration of your idea.

You could focus on refining specific elements such as technique.

Experiment with more precise or varied techniques.

Composition, rework the arrangement of elements to improve balance or focus.

Materials, test alternative materials to see how they change the feel or impact of your work.

Good luck with this task.

Let's see what you come up with for your second iteration of your idea.

How did you get on? Remember, there are many possible outcomes for these tasks, but you might have said something like this.

"I sketched a few background options to bring more depth without distracting from the main subject." You might have done something like this.

"I've redone one section of the piece using ink to compare the results." Or this, "I tried increasing the size of the patterns." So those are all examples of second iterations of an initial idea.

Well done.

You've worked really hard this lesson, lots of interesting approaches and concepts to get your head round.

In summary, the journey to a finished artwork is shaped by experiments, iterations, and thoughtful reflections.

Artists often share ideas and work to receive constructive feedback.

Critiques are about giving different perspectives.

The artist decides which suggestions align with their artistic voice.

The iterative refers to the process of refining and developing ideas through experimentation, reflection, and revision.

Congratulations, you did really well today.