Erica R. Mott

This critique course is offered for students who do not speak English as their first language. Students build competence in giving critiques, participating in class discussions, and giving presentations. Students make artwork to present to the class. They learn and practice the vocabulary of visual and design elements and use these to analyze and critique their own and their classmates' works. Students practice a variety of critique formats by using formal, social-cultural, and expressive theories of art criticism. They discuss and critique works both verbally and in writing.

What does one¿s emergent creative practice have to do with one¿s body in the world? How do we maintain the resilience and vulnerability required of artists and art students when we already feel so vulnerable in our everyday lives? How, as audiences and community members, do we share and receive feedback generously while still honoring our own lived experiences?

This course offers strategies for students to explore, reflect upon, and connect common themes and interests in the development of an emerging creative practice that will serve as the basis of their ongoing studies at SAIC and beyond. While the focus of this course will be on both embodied practices and the politics of having a body, it is open to all disciplines and areas of study. Through studio assignments, readings, viewings, and writing projects, students will generate a clearer understanding about how and why they make art, and how to continue making their work authentically.

What happens when the city becomes your stage¿and your collaborator? In this site-specific laboratory, you¿ll step beyond the gallery into Garfield Park Conservatory, surrounding parks, and neighborhood corridors to make performance with a place, not just in it. Working in collaboration with the Chicago Park District and Garfield Park artists, organizers, and community groups, you¿ll treat public space as both studio and partner¿experimenting with how movement, sound, text, and participation can activate civic life.
What we¿ll do: Learn site-reading tools: history mapping, stakeholder interviews, and embodied research. Practice social-practice methods: co-design, consent, accessibility, and care. Prototype interventions: processions, micro-rituals, soundwalks, and durational scores. Navigate real-world logistics: permits, timelines, budgets, safety, and documentation. Build reciprocal partnerships with local artists and organizations.
Outcomes: By semester¿s end you¿ll produce a public-facing series of small works created in dialogue with Garfield Park sites and neighbors, plus a process dossier¿scores, maps, and media¿that can travel to future projects. You¿ll leave with a toolkit for ethical, site-specific collaboration and the confidence to make performances that matter in the public sphere. No prior dance or theater experience required; curiosity, respect, and reliability are essential.