Thursday, September 2, 2010

Reviewing Art

I met with a local artist this morning to discuss guidelines for artists and others who want to write art reviews. She brought some reviews that had run in the paper, and I brought some guidelines that I had found online.

Here are some thoughts we had:

1. Reviews should support the local arts.
2. Reviews should be honest and served the readers' needs for information about the show.
3. Reviews should contain constructive criticism.
4. Reviews should be educational for the reader (and probably for the writer).
5. Reviews might include interviews with the artist(s) about their methods, intent, process, and background; thoughts on other issues like framing, hanging arrangement, and setting; and personal opinion, so long as it is supported.
6. Descriptions of art should use art terms and concepts--rather than simply saying it was a lovely painting of a beautiful sunset.
7. I suggested 700 words, though longer or shorter could be fine. When I first started writing music reviews, they were 1200 words, but now I try to keep them under 900, aiming at 600 or 700.

It's a start.

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