Street craft Guerrilla gardening / yarnbombing / light graffiti / street sculpture / and more

Positioning itself in relation to graffiti and street art, this collection highlights 28 artists working in "street craft," uncommissioned works that are installed in urban environments and typically make use of three-dimensional techniques such as crochet, gardening, and sculpture. Individual artists and collectives are presented to the reader through a brief introduction by the editor, a longer artist statement, and documentation of the work, all organized by artist. U.K. artist Paul Harfleet plants pansies at sites where homophobic harassment and abuse occurred, while Spanish sculptor Isaac Cordal places tiny cement businessmen throughout cities. The selected artists come almost entirely from the U.S. and Western Europe, and a good number build off movements such as yarnbombing, the 21st-century practice of covering public objects with crocheted or knitted fabric. Despite the claim that these artists, in relation to graffiti, offer "the next chapter in this story: the growth of street art into a multidisciplinary pick-and-mix of arts and crafts," the actual evolution of street art is far more multivalent and multinational than this book implies. These artists do represent a worthy phenomenon, and Kuittinen smartly gives most of the collection's space over to images and artist statements, providing a number of insights into their practices. The book is a serviceable guide for those interested in the intersection of craft and street installation. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

Curator and writer -Kuittinen takes readers on a global tour of street art; the volume's international perspective is one of its clear strengths. From yarn bombing to appliqué, gardening to stenciled light projections, origami to cross-stitch, miniatures, and book sculpting, Kuittinen takes us far beyond street art in its most widely understood form (graffiti tags), though some spray paint is featured. The author's introductory essay discusses the evolution of street art forms, with an overview of the genre. Brief essays from each of the featured artists introduce their work and supply insight into the creators' processes, motivations, and identities (many of which remain anonymous since street art installation isn't entirely legal). The author also references the online presence of these "makers," an integral component of street art/craft's semi-permanence-documenting these fleeting and ephemeral pieces can be difficult, and an online presence expands an artist's reach. Kuittinen demonstrates that art can be both visually striking and effective activism, even if pieces are noncommissioned, temporary street works. The premise that guides this compilation is that "rather than vandalism, this is street art as volunteerism." VERDICT A solid primer on the subject for both burgeoning artists and fans.-Rachael Dreyer, -American Heritage Ctr., Laramie, WY © Copyright 2015. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.