This special issue on embodied making and learning is dedicated to aspects of embodied cognition that goes on in the field of art, craft and design. The contributors to this issue were invited from the Embodied Making and Learning (EMAL) research group at the University of South-Eastern Norway, where aspects of learning in creative practices have been studied from many different angles throughout the institutions nearly 80 years existence, and amplified since the formation of the group in 2014. With its 50 members, divided into five thematic clusters related to embodied making and learning, this research group is one of the largest in the field. It involves both experienced and early career researchers, as well as experienced university teachers, from several disciplines.

Academic research in crafts, conducted by crafts persons from an insider perspective and through practice-led approaches, is still just emerging and ways of conducting research is developing with each research project. Through this article, we try to navigate the field from a doctoral candidate’s perspective, presenting the research field and some central issues commonly confronted with in regards to epistemology, methodology and methods. We exemplify the arguments made through our own doctoral projects to make our points more concrete. The article discusses the methodological perspectives of these research projects, how and why they developed and changed over time and influences posed by outer circumstances. We especially point to the challenges and opportunities of practice-led research in crafts and highlight the relevance and type of contribution to be had and its meaningfulness for the practice field and related education.

This paper presents an initial research project to explore what characterizes knowledge production in craft practice situated in an informal/neutral learning arena outside the education institution. The research project is carried out by craft and design researchers from Norway and Denmark. The project participants include students, academics, older generation volunteers with craft experience, freelance designers, and arts and craft persons, as well as researchers. The overall methodology is a case study approach and has references to practice-led research, participatory design research and A/R/Tography. In this paper we present the research design of the project. Along a theoretical framework consisting of research perspectives of each of our institutional traditions, we lastly discuss the challenges in engaging a neutral learning arena, throughout and as preparation for our research project.

This article discusses the relationship between practice and research in the making disciplines. The discussion is based on a systems theory with reference to the German sociologist Niklas Luhmann (2007) and the way Rasmussen, Kruse and Holm (2007) use Luhmann´s theory. This article constructs and emphasizes the fundamental difference between the practice system and the scientific system. Furthermore, it highlights the distinctions between practice as the development of knowledge and research as the generation of knowledge. In addition to these boundaries, the following four different forms of knowledge are classified and described:1) practical knowledge and 2) professional knowledge, which are both associated with the practice system, and 3) research knowledge and 4) philosophy of science knowledge, which are associated with the scientific system. While emphasizing a fundamental difference between the practice system and the scientific system, this article assumes that art and design research should deal with aspects from both systems. The systems theory term ‘structural coupling’ offers a way to enable the two systems to influence each other while maintaining their own boundaries. Insider research is a structural coupling between the practice system and the scientific system. By exploring art and design processes from within as both the practitioner and the researcher, it is possible to generate knowledge both about and for practice. This article considers art and design research as a subsystem of the scientific system and argues that this approach may strengthen the further development of art and design research.

Ei utstilling med konkrete produkt, kan gi studentar større nærleik til materiale og kunnskap om teknisk utføring enn ved å møte produkt gjennom visuelle og digitale presentasjonar. Å presentere konkrete produkt og materiale gjennom undervisningsbasserte utstillingar er eit kreativt grep og ei viktig støtte for undervisning og veiledning. Etter bruk av utstilling som didaktisk grep eit bestemt semester, vart det gjennomført ei undersøking der ti studentar svara på spørjeskjema om kva utbyte dei hadde hatt av utstillinga. Fleirtalet svar at dei hadde blitt inspirerte til eige arbeid og tileigna seg kunnskap både om materiale og teknikkar. Studien viser at å hente fram aktuelle produkt og presentere dei på ein god visuell måte, gir motivasjon til å være kreativ.