Art Criticisms and Observations

Writing about pictures is fun and allows pupils to show their understanding of the visual world even if they are not confident artists.

A good starting point is to ask them to describe WHAT they can see in the image: a list of items and their various positions, shapes and colours; as if a detective was describing the important clues in a crime scene.

Other useful prompts are HOW was the image created (media, mark style, colour scheme), WHO created it, WHEN was it produced (historical period, calendar date, time of year, time of day, artist's age), WHERE was it made (continent, country, location, interior or exterior) and finally WHY was it made (record, illustration, expression, decoration or artistic experiment).

Other approaches could involve writing a description to an imaginary friend who had missed an important event or to use the image as the inspiration for a short story or poem. David Perks, Head of Art, Weston Road High School