Rejection and Critique

politics?

tdaniel

>How do you keep politics out of the judging?

TD

Re: Rejection and Critique *LINK*

Sean Troy

>If you ever get the chance to see Jim Christiansen, jump at it. He does what is called a gentle critque. It is honest and thorough without blasting the turner. I,ve learned more from his critiques than any other way. Besides that, he is one fantastic turner. He will be one of the leads at the Desert Woodturning Roundup Symposium.


http://www.desertwoodturningroundup.com

Re: Rejection and Critique

Keith Tompkins

>Hi Greg, good question. A couple of points, make sure the person who turned the piece really wants a critique. Many turners are very sensitive to criticism, and take a critique very personally.

Try to ensure they understand the point of the critique is to improve the quality of their pieces, and that the critique is subjective.

Always point out the good aspects of the turning during the critique, and be sure to encourage the turner.

Re: Rejection and Critique

Barry Turner

>My ultimate critic is lying on the couch right now. She insists I'm more critical of my work than she is. But, sometimes it hard to be objective when you've spent the better part of a day hollowing a vessel.

The critic should identify his own ability.

Pete Lamberty

>I think that a critic should first explain his own level of expertise. How good is his knowledge of the subject matter? Many times I have witnessed an individual talk/critique something with an authoritative voice when it is obvious to me that from his/her own words, he/she knows very little about the subject matter. I have taken many design oriented classes. When a fellow students asks for my thoughts on their own project, I let them know up front that I don't know much more than they do. With that said I try to critique based on the lessons we have learned in class. I will even remind the person of a lesson we learned which may pertain to their project as a means of reinforcing my thoughts. Some people have a natural eye for great work. But I am willing to bet that a larger percentage of people think that they know a lot about design and technique than those who really do. It would be interesting to have a post on WC that could give a sort of test to each of us. The test would give us a "knowledge" ranking. Than whenever we gave a critique of someones work we could put our knowledge ranking in our post. That way everyone would know if we actually knew anything or not. I once talked to a guy who after taking a one week class thought he knew everything there was to know about design. I talked to him for a while and he really felt that he now held a great amount of design knowledge. It seems that when it comes to design, it is hard for people to understand that they don't know much about it. Knowledge of design is not as easy to identify as say knowledge of computers. I couldn't write a computer program to save my life. So all of you would know that I know nothing about computer programming. But with design I could just say what I like and dislike about an object and not many people would know whether or not I know anything about design. So I thinki t is important for the critic to identify his own ability.

Between me and him...

Bill Grumbine, Kutztown PA

>We know everything in the world. He knows everything except that he is an idiot, and I know that!

Pete brings up a very good point here. There are a lot of armchair generals, quarterbacks, and turners. The value of the critique depends on the abilities and experience of the critiquer, and the respect accorded to that person. Two years ago, I was invited to demo at the Indianapolis chapter of the AAW. What I did not know was that in the newsletter the statement was made that I would be doing a critique of pieces brought in for show and tell. I did not agree to that and was not real happy that it was published without my knowledge. It was not malicious or anything, just an assumption. What they did not know was who in the heck I was! It all combined for a very sparse table, as there were very few people willing to subject themselves to the opinions of an unknown quantity.

On the other hand, I have no personal desire to be set up as an authority - not that anyone has offered, just an observation. I will often critique pieces when people ask me to do so, and I do so often in my classes, but I hate doing it in public. In the end, the most important critics are our customers. If people are buying our stuff, and we are happy with the prices we are getting, then who cares what anyone else thinks about it? This is not to say that we should not strive to improve, but I think we have a tendency to take criticism a little too seriously sometimes.

The critic is just as human and fallible as the rest of us, and maybe more so since he or she is now an "authority". I have an acquaintance who taught me that anything in turning is legal if it works, but it is curious (and amusing) to see sometimes how he does not take his own advice himself, chastizing some for not doing it "his way". Like I wrote in the other thread, we need to take what we think is worthwhile and dismiss the rest, not in contempt, but in the realization that not everyone has the same tastes or sensibilities about these things.

Bill

Re: One of the "Rules"

Russ Fairfield

>One of the rules for giving any instruction, whether it be technical, design, or the academic side of woodturning is, "Know of what we speak."