Group Critique: Material, Alchemy, and Empathy
Zahar Vaks + Catherine Haggarty
8 weeks - IN PERSON
Payment Plans + Financial Aid

Day of the week: Wednesday

8 Weeks of Classes: September 28, October 5, October 12, October 19, October 26, November 2, November 9, November 16

Time: 7-9pm (EST)

Length: 2 hrs.

About this course:

This 8 week in-person course is co-taught by NYC Crit Club Co-Founder & Director, Catherine Haggarty, and new Faculty Member + artist, Zahar Vaks. To depart from the original cadence of the foundational critique classes, in this course we will begin sharing food, stories and connecting in a social practice to develop trust. Our first class will consist of discussions, snacks, collaborative drawings, jokes, stories and more. Over the course of 8 weeks, artists in this course will get the opportunity to present their work to the faculty and the group in either two 30 minute critiques or one long hour critique.

Essential elements discussed within the course: 

• We will discuss the nature of specificity rooted in one’s discipline in the studio. This means expanding on the relationship of particular approaches to art making and how being open and exposed to interdisciplinary thinking can further and deepen one’s work. 

• What is the role of spontaneity in conversation with structure?  

• Color can be specific and yet mysterious and elusive.

• Is our painting practice projecting our everyday life experiences? Or is our time in the studio something outside of our everyday existence? 

• Figuring out our strengths and weaknesses to the idiosyncratic ways of making a painting.

• Can empathy be used in the construction of the paintings and not just in one's reflection of the value judgments and ways it holds attention.

• Is empathy with one self different from the empathy in one’s painting.
  

*Please Note: The NYC Crit Club studio is located in Bushwick, Brooklyn off the Morgan L. The studio is on the fourth floor and artists must be able to walk up three flights of stairs. Also, we encourage artists to leave class together and/or find a buddy to walk to the nearest train or bus during evening hours. As with any event in the evening artists must understand leaving a night class might occur after dark.

Artists in this course will: 

• Artists in this course will pick from a critique menu - asking for exactly what they need at the moment for us to consider

• Artists in this course will connect with a peer outside of class to see a show together

• Artists in this course will respond to one prompt given by the group over the course duration

• Artists in this course will laugh 

• Artists in this course will believe in their work and better understand where they want to be in their best version of their art life / world

Guest Speaker / Critic:

Financial Aid is available. NYC Crit Club provides payment plans, BIPOC scholarships and additional aid based on extenuating circumstances. Please click here to learn more before checking out.