A mentor of mine once told me that the best way to see your work and understand it well is to give a talk about your photographs, and I agree. For the most part, it's worked for me, and I've recommended it to plenty of other people. The question I have today, though, is how do you learn to talk about your work? Hand in hand with that is, how do you learn to talk about other people's work?
Like many artists, I participate in some critique groups where other artists gather together and talk about our work. I realize that I, along with everyone else, struggle with knowing what to say or how to best talk about our colleagues’ work. I feel like I've learned how to articulate my thoughts about my pictures, and my work as an educator has helped me speak about other artists’ pictures. Although I don't really have any recommendations for what you should exactly say, I have a handful of things that I've learned are not very helpful, and so they are something you might want to avoid.
I have begun to avoid suggesting people crop their photos in a different way. In my opinion, any photograph can always be cropped in a new way to make a different photograph. I have found that it is not going to be helpful for your maker to hear your suggestions on cropping.
The other thing I find people tend to do is look at somebody else's work, and they somehow talk about it in terms of their own work or how it relates to something they've done or a way that they've handled something similar. And again, that's just not going to be very helpful for the maker you're talking to because it takes the focus off of their work and puts the focus on yours.
I do think it is helpful to listen closely to what the person is saying or even asking about the work they are showing, keeping in mind the level of discomfort they may be experiencing. Maybe focus on your thoughts surrounding the ideas they mention as they are showing the work. Avoid any side conversations that might take the focus off of the work currently being shown; everyone deserves attention while showing artwork.
My last recommendation is for the artist who is showing their work— understand the expectations of the rest of the folks involved. Bring work that represents the best of what you are currently making. If you are wanting to bring “work prints” or “work in progress,” be clear in your mind that you are not expecting the crowd to help you decide how you feel about said pictures. Sometimes a lack of confidence in our work makes us want an escape hatch. We say “these are work prints” just in case people don’t respond the way we hope.
Finally, we can only make art alone and live with it by ourselves for so long; at some point, we need an audience. Salon groups are important and meaningful; we all owe it to ourselves to make the most of it when we participate.
Be well,
Ray
