Studios for Artists: Concepts and Concrete

‘Studios for Artists: Concepts and Concrete’ is a collaborative project between Acme Studios and Central Saint Martins College of Art and Design. The book presents the preoccupations, activities and achievements emerging from the ongoing dialogue between two of the UK’s leading art institutions, affordable studio provider Acme Studios and art college Central Saint Martins. The form, function and future of the artist’s studio is the central focus of the collaboration and of the publication. The subject of studio provision is approached from the partners’ different but entirely complementary roles and perspectives, as is their shared commitment to create new models of support for students after graduation. ‘Studios for Artists’ presents a series of written and visual essays showing how the partners formalised and intensified their work, resulting, amongst other initiatives, in the design and construction of an award-winning studio building and the establishment of a sustainable graduate studio programme. The book provides a remarkable insight into the world of art education and of the artist in London at the beginning of the 21st century. It reveals not just the ongoing challenges faced by art education, but also the threat to affordable studio provision where spiralling property prices threaten this vital, but generally unacknowledged, part of the contemporary visual arts ecology. Illustrated