Abstract

This study Palabras y Pintura is a self reflective studio inquiry. Its autobiographical content is based on my own journal writing, sketches, and paintings produced throughout my graduate as well as undergraduate degree in Art Education at Concordia University. Between 1992 and 1999, I attended numerous studio classes in which critiques were held regularly. I became increasingly interested in the notion of critiques as they were held in university studio classes. Once someone asked me whether I felt the manner in which we had critiques was in any way helpful to me. My answer was an evasive 'not really, but I found it interesting to hear different responses to my work.' Afterwards I thought about what I had said. Was it true that the feedback of others did not affect my work at all? Of course not. I began with the question: how did what others say about my work affect me or my painting process? I examined my journal notes and the notes I took during critiques in order to answer my question. In doing so, I came to the realization that I had addressed the notion of critiques quite a bit in my journals. In this study, I gathered a number of paintings and journal entries as well as notes taken during the critiques of those particular paintings in order to examine how words have affected my work. This thesis is a personal reflection about how language, either through critiques or through writing, impacts my work I revisited the art/writing journals I have kept for the past eight years in order to see what, if anything, I have stated about my own art making process. I also looked at the infinite notes I have taken during the critiques of various studio classes, between 1994 and 1996, in order to document what has been said about my art work by different people. I chose ten paintings to focus on, based on the amount of written information I had on each.