This article draws on Searle's philosophical realism to explore how critical agency is grounded in critical reasoning and supports the construction of art criticism as an institutional practice in art and design education. Examples of critical exchanges between a teacher and her students reveal how intentional beliefs inherent in the teacher's pedagogical choices implicate students in taking critical agency when constructing a collaborative interpretation of the meaning of a contemporary artwork. The article concludes with some reflections on the implications of a realist account of critical agency for teacher pedagogy and student learning.