Urban Knitting - the Soft Side of Street Art

Abstract

The new craft movements have moved crafts from the home environment to public Internet blogs, to art worlds and to street art. The ties of tradition have given way to free creativity in contemporary crafts, which allows the expression of thoughts and feelings, and can be political or critical as well. Urban knitting is one form of craft-based artistic expression. It formulates its own particular area where amateurs and professionals, traditions and the contemporary culture cross. This soft urban art is based on handicraft skills, but it operates using strategies familiar from both fine arts and street art. This article is based on my current research on Finnish soft art, in which I examine the use of craft techniques in artistic expression, and on interviews and photo material related to that purpose.