BL Artists/Participants: You're being judged. How do you feel about this?

Lash is absolutely right. If you do not want the public to comment on your work, do not display it publically.

I can tell that most of you did not go to art school, where critique of work is commonplace and ruthless; you spend huge amounts of time both reviewing work and having your work reviewed. You quickly learn to get past hurt feelings (or the fear of hurting other's feelings), and you learn a tremendous amount about how to analyze art and how to use critical comments to improve your own work.

AnneDroid's comments only seem brutal in a touchy-feely environment where everyone gets an A for effort. To my eyes, her comments are an honest evaluation of the works as she sees them. You should be happy she took the time; honest feedback is like gold. It is up to you to decide how much of her comments to take to heart...that's the other side of the artist/critic equation. Use what you can, discard the rest.

This forum thread is typical of the response to anything that threatens the insularity of the SL experience. Torley had it right...why aren't there more reviews of this supposedly important event? Why would people rather make these defensive, thin-skinned forum posts? This thread could have been so much better. Stand up for your art! If you don't like what AnneDroid had to say, write a post that begins "fuck you, my art rocks and this is why..." Discuss other people's art. Talk about what you like and dislike. Be honest and constructive. Don't want to say anything negative? Then say something positive, but be specific about it. General comments like "oh, I was really inspired by your work" are useless ego-stroking.

Burning Life is supposed to be thought-provoking. Don't attack AnneDroid for thinking.

Pol,

Very well said.

I've been in the same environment for years, relative to fiction writing and nonfiction papers. And I don't agree with you. Any systemic criticism has to have common core criteria that goes beyond a personal emotional response in order to be credible and useful. While personal preference can be useful, any systemic criticism has move beyond the initial reaction into a studied and balanced analysis of the object or art in its context and overall effect - otherwise it has limited use.

My issue with A.L.'s criticism is this: her criteria has no consistency, her comments seem irrelevant sometimes, and the grading system was, well, juvenile. So while it might have been honest, I didn't take it very seriously.

On the other hand, I agree that creators who complain about critics often don't "get it". You don't throw out a creation in BL so that people can thank you for your hard work. You throw out a creation in BL so that afterward, people will pick themselves up off the ground and say "Wow!" And you can reply, "That's me!" or "That's what I care about!"

No, I did not go to 'art school.' Instead, I got my degree in Art at a University. Oddly enough, even at a University, critiqueing is done by people with at least a semblance of understanding of, and appreciation for, art.

SOYLENT PRIM IS GNOMES!!!!!!

Indeed.

Which is why, I reiterate my usual response: "It's not for you."

I applaud AnneDroid for being bothered enough to go round ALL the builds and attempt to make some comment on them and to take that much time. Motives I do not know, that is her business, and I tend to agree that by making something, anything, you place yourself as artist within range of friends, critics, and all, to judge and appraise, react and enjoy, or dislike, or worse still be neither moved not unmoved.. just disinterested.

I myself have been round and round, and where I've really loved something or found even one aspect of anything makes me react so that I want to tell the artists I have sent an IM< or a + rated with a message. That is MY way. But then I am not a critic, nor do I act or see myself as one.

I cannot be unhappy with being ' well rated' by Anne, for that thanks. Also thanks to many who have sent me IMs with their own personal comments. On the argument about the comments, well I cannot say really... with art comes possibility of ' critical' rating.. it's a risk.. art provokes, sometimes it disturbs, sometimes as history shows great art is not regarded or noted as such, by one person, yet adored by the next, or noticed later, or in changes of fashion what is regarded as good changes from year to year, or from culture to culture.

What I enjoyed was.. the idea.. the fact we were THERE.. the fact people BOTHERED.. the fact people thought, worked, tried, and took that risk to show what they themselves thought was ' good' even if their skill was not so advanced or complex as that of another. To me that is the art, that is the effort, and that is the fun in seeing it.

I did not ' adore' everything.. not everything made me go ' wow' .. but some things did...
and the beauty of SL is to have a place where that is possible... where something you can see, hear, watch and walk/fly round makes u go ' wow' or makes you think.. or react..

To me.. that's worth it.

Anne's critic trip was to her own rules...she speaks in her own set of reactions judged by her own things she likes or dislikes or looks for. I cannot judge her for what shes does as we all have the choice to do as we wish within decency, and we must all accept that it's just one person's chosen style. I d not think anyone should be disheartened if one person did not ' rate' their work as high as they' rated' others. Every time I make something.. I see work of some others and think ' oh.. you are soo good..' or ' wish I could do that'.. that's why I love SL. I will never be 'too good to learn more' there will always be people I admire.. but I hope I shall be charitable and encouraging to those who are just starting to learn the prime skills. I knew NOTHING when I joined in 2003.

What am i disheartened by this year in Burning Life? .. well where is Linden Labs??,.. where is the directory/map/ guide to the sims, who is where, where is the linden feature, where is the Linden reporting.. where in fact is there much of ANYTHING at all about this? I have had many IM comments... not one from a Linden. Have any even been there?

Why was there no Forum for this event? Thank goodness we Do have a photo site like slpics at least there is somewhere to post pics with a FOCUS on the event.

Last year I visited BL and was inspired a lot. This year lucky me, I was able to put my own creation here to make a display and show a lesson in our human history which meant a lot to me. I am grateful for that and for anyone who visited or is yet to do so.

The one example of this we can learn is LET's all visit the work of all artists in SL, let's share views, lets share skills, let's encourage positive comment, and help more to learn the creative skills which make SL such worth.. better than all the political economic arguing we see all over the forum..

Thank you to all who built here and I hope I get to see each and everything made this week.

I don't know why anyone buys into the notion that she's a 'critic'. She's not. A real critic spells the names of the works correctly. Also, as I think Seth pointed out, a real critic employs consistent criteria and has some depth of understanding of the field and the world at large.

Here's a gedanken experiment: if I start to Snapzilla everyone I meet in-world and rate their AV the way AL did, would y'all applaud me for my honesty and bravery in expressing my 'opinion'? Or would you race to market a Jessica Qin Detector Bracelet at L$50 / per, so people could clear out of the Sim when they saw I was coming?

(Oh, and since a couple of people have asked me: she gave my build a good grade. Which she can deposit where her cheese comes out).

Jess

But she did not go to all the builds.

Eh. I went to law school, not art shcool (obviously, I got a C). Apparently law school is more "touchy feely." Anyway I think you make some interesting, and valid poits, except for one thing, BL is not art school. It is a celebration of creation, open to anyone,even if there skills are as meager as mine. In art school, peope ask for criticism because they want to starve as professional artists lol. BL is amatuer hour, with people of varying skills doing what time, and ability allow them to. The very nature of BL is an "A" for effort thing.
Its not a museum, its an expereince.

If you want to constructively critique people do it when they ask, or when they sing up for the workshop on proper texture alignments.

It seems to me that going about grading people is a bit pretensious, and while I respect the right to do it, and express it. PLease don't be suprised when people are hurt and angry by what really amounts to arbitrary and capricious mudslinging.

But then its just my opinion so I canbe as tactless and incondiderate as I like. Hell I might get negrated again. For my building too!

Seriously? Y'all are going to give me the ol' "pinky-in-the-air" treatment?

Naw, I thought I'd blow my nose all over you. Like the good old boy that I am .

I'm done now.

It doesn't have anything to do with a 'pinky-in-the-air' treatment. You said we obviously didn't go to art school because we couldn't take criticism. I said I was an art major, and I can take criticism. I just don't take it to heart from someone who basically doesn't have any sort of background in it, or know what they're talking about.

It's not a matter of not being able to take criticism, or wanting a big mutual back-patting. I just don't think wiping verbal boogers on other peoples' work is constructive criticism, or at all helpful.

Anne is getting a lot of 'thank yous' for going around and finding something bad to say about almost every exhibit at Burning Life. I'm sure it must have been exhausting, and everyone will remember her contribution. I would have much rather seen someone take the time to ask people about their exhibits, or ask for a blurb about them, but it wouldn't have been as scathing and edgy I guess.

I don't know much about art, but I know this:
Duchamp's Urinial is a peice of piss..
Van Gough cut off his ear to spite his face,
But me, I have a message to the whole human race:
I want to be a phallic symbol like the Tower of Pisa,
And wipe the smile right off of that f*cking bitch the Mona Lisa,
Then I'll flash my whang at Botticelli's Venus, just to tease her...
But unless you're hung like a Jackson Pollack - you couldn't please her...

Well, no DUH. How patronizing. Thank you. I will still build but not participate in such events like this. I decided this long before you posted so don't take credit for that.

And as if, we'd pull out our builds now. So in addition to being called thin-skinned, uptight, unenlightened, pansyish, whatever we're selfish as well for taking our builds away?



Yeeeowch! The quick sting of "you're not accredited" spanking. Yes, I've never been to art school. You SOOOO got me!



.......... Sorry I just laughed so hard snot came out. Hey! Maybe my family should start a business and adopt people. I bet it's much cheaper than art school.

Honestly, she didn't say anything about my build that would "help" me improve it. She doesn't like static poses. And my build was no exception. And then I get a freaking C. Haha. Well, sheesh, mousewoman, if you truly feel that way then why bother commenting on something you're biased against?

These comments were like -robotic voice- I feel nothing, no scripting prowess, it's lacking, blah. How is this constructive feedback? I find this amusing. Most folks knew she was blunt and unhelpful in her comments. Quit feeding the illusion that she was.

And I didn't make this thread to call for any goddamn censorship or touchy-feeliness. So get off that tangent please. Me wanting censorship on art is like asking peanuts to be cherries, because the grass peed wine today. And touchy-feely?! How dare you.

It's just another killjoy in Burning Life. And I wanted to express my disappointment that those involved were not only forgotten by the Lindens, by-passed by residents, but now harshly criticized on Snapzilla. I know, sucks to be meh.

Then why did you start this thread? What is it you want?

EDITED TO ADD:
Actually, I only called some of the posters here thin-skinned, not the other stuff. Normally I wouldn't nitpick, but you're putting a lot of words in my mouth in this one little paragraph. Oh yes, and touchy-feely...I did say that one.

There will always be those who must equate "critical" with negative comentary.
The work in BL is so awesome and full of creativity!!! I guess the only creativity some people have is in finding negative words for the work of others.
I for one enjoyed Burning Life IMMENSELY, have been documenting it extensively these past few days/weeks and will make a huge POSITIVE documentary of it on my smugmug account first, and then on a web site, hopefully.

Kudos to all who participated in BL in any creative way. I am proud to have been part of this wonderful group.

Like I said in the paragraph after the one you quoted, I made this thread to express my disappointment in the negativity directed at the artists and how I felt about being judged. I in turn asked others how they felt. I respect those that said they couldn't care less. And I appreciated those that related.

Not asking for censorship. Not asking for a different grade. I don't have an agenda that people just loooove to feast upon here. I just wanted to see if I was the only one who felt awkward about it. Now leave me alone.

I was part of a group of friends who had an amazing time doing what they love. The people that worked on it are (IMHO) among the best in SL at what they do. It was a go with the flow fly by the seat of your pants thing with the best intentions.

Anne gave us an A+. Great. That's her *opinion.* An opinion that she gives with a disclaimer and in a rather tongue and cheek manner.

When it comes down to it, it was built, textured, scripted, & narrated for US. We thought it was cool, beautiful, funny, sad, wonderful. It is a moment in time with those we care for in here.

That everyone else believes it to be amazing is icing on the cake of the fun that was had. We were yelling over the sim, grooving to the music, fighting over prims, brainstorming and inspiring each other.

Do not let what anyone says or doesn't say about your art, your build, your whatever affect you, it shouldn't matter if it came from your heart, do it for you.

Am I pleased we got an A? Hell ya.
Would I love it even if we got an F? Absolutely.

I don't write for anyone but me. Each of my team mates does it their own thing, with their own style, in their own way.

Visit it, don't visit
love it, hate it

It's art for art's sake.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Ars Prim-etica (With all apologizes to Archibald MacLeish)

A prim should be palpable and mute
As a globed fruit

Dumb
As old medallions to the thumb

Silent as the sleeve-worn stone
Of casement ledges where the moss has grown -

A prim should be wordless
As the flight of birds

A prim should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

Leaving, as the moon releases
Twig by twig the night-entangled trees,

Leaving, as the moon behind the winter leaves,
Memory by memory the mind -

A prim should be motionless in time
As the moon climbs

A prim should be equal to:
Not true

For all the history of grief
An empty doorway and a maple leaf

For love
The leaning grasses and two lights above the sea -

A prim should not mean
But be

Lash,

I have always loved your work - indeed your sculptures can be really moving, a quality that I have not found in any other work, with the possible exception of Starax. You are too gifted to allow poor criticism to affect you, and I do hope you will continue to exhibit at all events; if you do not we will all be the poorer.

So far as the criticisms went, there was a disclaimer that they shouldn't be taken seriously, but using a grading system gave them a spurious authenticity which demanded they be taken seriously.

I couldn't be bothered to read beyond the first page, but I couldn't help noticing that the single exhibit which received no adverse comments at all was the one to which Annedroid herself had contributed.

I've been struggling for days to find the right words to say exactly what Sereine said to perfectly. I think most of us approached our BL builds this same way. Our builds reflect who we are because we build first and foremost for ourselves. I look across BL 5 at my neighbor, Brace, and even though we've only exchanged a few words, I feel like I know her. I love her color choices and irreverance. Her build is WHO she is, in the same way that my build is who I am. I build things to please myself and if others enjoy it, that's just a bonus. I love my build even though it is not a grand technical achievement in the art of SL building. I'm sure plenty of people have flown right on by it going, "Ugh. Something with trees. Where is the cool stuff?" And that is fine. Plenty of other people have spent lots of time just hanging around and enjoying the environment.

So, if you think my content sucks, I can't help you there since the content is part of who I am and what moves me. I would have welcomed comments and suggestions for how I can improve my techniques; if you can't offer me any solid suggestions for improving my skills, then quit the bitchy commentary.

There is a difference between criticizing and critique. A HUGE difference.

Criticizing is just tearing down something.

Critique, is pointing out what YOU feel is wrong and then giving ways YOU would improve it.

Examples

A critic would say… the texture alignment was awful.

A critique would say, I wish you had spent more time on texture aliment it is what my eye focuses drawing attention from the work.

Critic, I just don’t get it.

Critique, I was not able to understand where you were going in this, was that intentional? If not you may want to make the message more prominent.

Critic, I just hate this kind of work.

Critique, I just hate this kind of work so I feel I cannot comment on this particular work fairly.

What’s the difference… A critic tears down. A critique states their comments as opinion rather than fact and directs the creator into ways of how to improve it.

I did go to art school, and the first thing you learn is give what you want to get. If you just rip someone’s work and offer no ways for them to improve it prepare to get it and get it good in return. If you give insightful and helpful critiques that is what you will get back. Those who engaged in critic sniping didn’t last and either left or learned the hard way how to give a true critique.

I commend the effort to “review” the builds but the execution gets an F-

If it had been a true review vs just criticizing this thread wouldn’t exist, and to justify it all with a set of self made criteria that has absolutely nothing to do with SL’s Burning Life is just plain absurd.

Not everyone is going to see that opening pick that explained the motives, they just stumble across the pics at random and may never see the opening pic. To not make that criteria apparent on each and every pic and keep the “grading” consistent and broken down so the reader understands it is opening yourself up to attack.

On this note, My team got an A+??? How the heck could we get an A+ yet be lacking in the criteria she set out at the beginning, the only thing our build did on her list was be built and texture well and that was last on her list. She even said that building was secondary to the former. Did we have a message? Heck no, we had fun. Did we push SL to new levels try new techniques? No, we just do what we normally do and had a blast doing it. I truly don’t get it.

By her criteria my build should have gotten an A on building skill but overall it’s static and no real life relevance, doesn’t try anything new, purely a flight of fancy no more, no message here. Overall C-.

Empty plot owners DO NOT deserve an F! Fail the Lindens on that one. They either could not have clamed their land due to a bug and got no Linden help, or should have been reassigned for not being clamed as they were supposed to be.

Burning Life has no rules, no expectations, no minimal building skill. If you got a plot it was luck of the draw.

Take you’re criticizing to a contest with set goals in mind, and leave Burning to be free.