Courtesy photoThe work of an art critic seems largely about judging what is good or bad and how a customer should weigh the price of time and admission.
There is, Emily Christensen thinks, more to the work of an art critic than 鈥渢humbs up or thumbs down.鈥�
鈥淎rt is about ideas and exploring the ideas behind the art is so much more important than saying, 鈥業t鈥檚 good or it鈥檚 bad,鈥欌�� Christensen said. 鈥溾�淭hat鈥檚 not how you get at the truth.鈥�
In July, she spent five days on Zoom participating in the National Critics Institute, a program of the Eugene O鈥橬eill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut.
Christensen, coordinator of external affairs for 黑洞社区鈥檚 School of Art, Design and Creative Industries, wrote about food, plays, movies and dance. She, and 16 others in her group, listened to and received critiques from people such as such as Chicago Tribune theater critic Chris Jones, who directs the program, and Helen Shaw of New York Magazine. New York Times food critic Tejal Rao called Christensen鈥檚 writing 鈥渨itty鈥� in a critique.
"It was incredible to receive that kind of feedback from a writer whose work I admire so much,鈥� Christensen said.
Christensen wrote a review of a 鈥渢ruly awful meal鈥� in Kansas City (where she rented a place to sequester during the camp). She wrote an essay about how living with art during this period of social distancing helps her feel connected to other human beings. 鈥淭he Line,鈥� a documentary play about medical workers in New York during the pandemic, served as another subject for a review. The journalist and critic Mark Caro instructed the group to evaluate the movie 鈥淭he Social Network鈥� on its 10-year anniversary.
Shaw鈥檚 advice on tamping down the instinct to judge and focusing on the truth of the art resonated with Christensen, who writes about students and faculty art projects at Wichita State.
鈥淚 needed to be reminded that criticism is not about rendering judgement, that what you like or don鈥檛 like is almost the least important part,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is a moral obligation to criticism, which I never really considered, that you are creating a record of creative work.鈥�
That advice, she said, can immediately apply to her work at Wichita State and work writing about the arts community outside of her job. Wichita arts, she said, needs more record-keeping and she wants to do more of that kind of writing, inspired by what she learned.
鈥淭here are people making really great work here,鈥� she said. 鈥淭hey are here for many different reasons, sometimes it鈥檚 family. They want to raise children in a house with a yard. They don鈥檛 want to be in a large, metropolitan area.鈥�
Local artist Kate Van Steenhuyse considers Christensen a perfect fit for the role of explaining local art and widening the audience. She encouraged Christensen to apply for the program because of her communications background and her perspective outside the world of criticism.
鈥淪he has an amazing ability to translate really complex conceptual ideas and make them accessible for a very broad audience,鈥� said Van Steenhuyse, co-founder and executive director of Harvester Arts. 鈥淚t鈥檚 really about getting people to dive deeper into some critical thinking and be thoughtful. She鈥檚 good at translating these experiences that might seem sort of out there or fringe and connecting why they鈥檙e important to more people.鈥�
Christensen, who graduated from Wichita State in 2005 with a major in English, communication and anthropology, doesn鈥檛 consider herself a critic. She wasn鈥檛 sure if her background qualified her for the program and a cohort that included writers from the New York Times and Dallas Morning News.
鈥淚 tell students all the time to apply for things that they are interested in, even if they don鈥檛 think they鈥檙e qualified,鈥� she said. 鈥淚 decided I should probably take my own advice.鈥�
