Cairn L 50x50" oil/cold wax on panel ©2011 Janice Mason Steeves I am heading out to western Canada on Friday to teach a series of workshops. Over the course of the past two months while I've had my arm in a cast, I spent a great deal of time thinking about, developing and revising my workshops. In the Winnipeg workshop , that will take place on April 23, 24 and 25, I'm going to include a section on critique. I feel strongly that as artists it is crucial to learn the language of art, just as we learn the fundamentals of writing in school. The fundamentals of art are not taught in most art schools, certainly not in the art school I went to at the time I went there. So how can we analyze our own work or the work of others if we don't have a language? I'm aiming to teach a language. How often are we in someone's studio, in front of their work, and at a complete loss for words. We get a 'feeling' for the piece. We might decide if we l