In his article, Materialising the Studio. A systematic review of the role of the material space of the studio in Art, Design and Architecture Education , James Corazzo surveys the literature about the role that the space of the studio plays in Art and Design Education.  He states clearly that part of his motivation for undertaking this study is to show the importance of space in arts education and to call for more study to be done, as public policy and financial concerns at both public and private institutions of learning has endangered studio space in many programs.  It’s interesting to actually give some thought to the studio.  In teaching I have usually taken the studio space more or less for granted, but in my own work as an artist I have thought a lot about the importance of space to work in, and the influence that my space has had on the type of work I have been able to do.  When I got out of art school, I wanted to do sculpture, and to do so I needed to have a space where I could make noise, make a mess, and manipulate heavy objects.  I did have such a space for a wile, and then I didn’t and I moved towards materials and processes that I could do in a home studio: mostly drawing and paingting, and that is around the time that I started to gravitate towards digital photography.  Doing digital work does change your relationship with your space, especially the need for storage.

I think that Corazzo’s overlapping categories for thinking about the functions of studio classroom space are very useful.  The space is a social space, a space for experimenting with identity, a space for seeing work develop and for being able to track and comment on it and a space for critique and discussion.  It needs to be an inclusive space where all students feel that they belong as well, and where each studetn feels that they can both be with other students and have a space of their own.