Critique, is it critical?

Mid term critiques are rolling through town here at NSCAD U. Today on my way to work the studio was bustling at it's normally quietest time, 8am.

I had one of the most focused critiques I've ever had a few days ago, and it is quite timely with a solos show coming up. Other friends in the studio have had a terrible time with critiques that leave them unable to even explain the basis/ inspiration of their work and force them to sit through 1 1/2 hours of speculation and ridicule.

Hopefully it will all come out in the wash. For many of my compatriots this fall there has been the question, is it always critical to have critiques? I think we will know by the end of the year.