Book excerpt: This is a guidebook for art students at the college level (BA, BFA, MFA, PhD). Compared to other books on critique, this book is more colorful, more engaging, and less formal. "James Elkins is one of the world's leading educators in the visual arts. In Art Critiques: A Guide, Elkins shines his bright light across the long overlooked shadowland of studio education. Beautifully written and easy to use, this book is an absolute must for art students and faculty alike." -George Smith, Founder & President, Institute for Doctoral Studies in the Visual Arts. "Elkins introduces refreshing commonsense in the tired and tiresome activity of the critique of art works by students. A dissection geared to avoid or delay a future autopsy of the field, the book uses case studies that teach as much about "how to" as they do about 'how not to.' A nice and often funny exercise in debunking, Art Critiques: A Guide is also a fascinating analysis of the successes and failures in communication among people." -Luis Camnitzer, Professor Emeritus, State University of New York, and Pedagogical Advisor to the Cisneros Foundation.