Out of the studio 1

Each issue of the Journal of Modern Craft has a slot called ‘Statement of Practice’, in which artists are invited to write about their work with the act of making in mind. ² It is striking that the Statements of Practice so often focus on makers and artists, from puppeteers to photographers, who work outside the studio. For example, the Brazilian artist Gabriela Gusmão sent thoughts and photographs from her project Invention Street (2002–2012), a documentation and celebration of the improvisatory street-craft of Rio de Janeiro. She captures the irrepressible power of the human spirit in which people make the best of tough lives, offering photographs of individuals like Pelé with his Equipped Tricycle, a moveable sound-system with sparkling decorative additions; a radio and homemade loudspeaker strapped to a strut of wood; a simple resting spot made out of abandoned furniture; and a neatly arranged sales display featuring cones of peanuts placed in an adapted can (Gusmão, 2009). Other contributors include the Handspring Puppet Company, whose contribution was central to the success of the National Theatre's Warhorse (Kohler et al., 2009); the novelist A. S. Byatt, whose study and multiple libraries can be seen as an extended workshop (Harrod and Adamson, 2011); the jeweller Romilly Saumarez Smith, who has MS and has her work fabricated for her (Harrod, 2012a); and the artist Simon Starling (2008), whose work is never site-specific.