An Atlas of Es Devlin: A Creative Curriculum

AN ATLAS OF ES DEVLIN: A CREATIVE CURRICULUM

The book and exhibition An Atlas of Es Devlin—on view at Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum through August 11, 2024—charts connections across 30 years of British artist and designer Es Devlin’s creative practice. Inspired by the ways Devlin sustains and adapts her artistic process, this curriculum provides resources, prompts, and exercises designed by Cooper Hewitt’s learning and audience engagement, curatorial, digital, and design library teams to foster creative thinking. Whether you’re looking to shake up your creative practice, expand skills, or try something completely new, we invite you to explore these pages and connect with your own creativity. 

Each month, we’ll approach creativity through different lenses and themes, adding new resources. The curriculum will grow and evolve over the course of Cooper Hewitt’s exhibition, bringing together a body of creative strategies and stories. These activities are suitable for ages 15 and up and can be done on your own, with a partner, or even with a larger group.

Learn more about An Atlas of Es Devlin.

DECEMBER 2023: A CREATIVE LIFE

Es Devlin's creative life began in childhood. Her constant curiosity has continued throughout her life, driving her artistic process. While Devlin models one version of an artistic life, all of us make creative choices every day. How might we better connect with our creativity?

JANUARY 2024: DRAWING

Drawing is essential to Es Devlin’s creative practice. She draws every day, making quick, rough sketches and longer, more detailed studies. Drawing can be a kind of meditation. How might a drawing practice contribute to your creative exploration?

FEBRUARY 2024: TEXTS

For Es Devlin, reading is an essential first step in translating plays, operas, or song lyrics to designs for theater and music performances. While reading, she imagines a world based on a writer’s language. How might we use texts to spark our own creative thinking?

MARCH 2024: CREATIVE COLLABORATION

Es Devlin’s artistic practice involves a wide network of collaborators who enrich her work and make it possible at such a grand scale. Exchanging creative ideas fosters stronger outcomes. How might we kickstart or reflect on collaboration in our own lives?

APRIL 2024: IDEATION AND ITERATION

Es Devlin begins each project with blank paper and a pen, ideating and iterating to a final form. The process of germinating and revising ideas can strengthen a project’s result. How might we explore ideation and iteration to sharpen our own creative practices?

MAY 2024: FORM AND SCALE

Es Devlin often works with a limited vocabulary of forms, transforming basic shapes to tell stories on stage. She also plays with scale, changing how these sculptures feel to an audience and performer. How might we observe and play with these elements as tools in our own creative practices?

JUNE 2024: PERSPECTIVE SHIFT

Es Devlin’s public installations deepen how audiences experience stories, shifting their perspectives and strengthening their connections to each other and to the planet. How might we play with perspective shift to spark new creative thinking?

JULY- AUGUST 2024: PARTICIPATION

Es Devlin often transforms audiences from viewers to participants in her public installations, inviting us to become protagonists in a work to deepen our encounter with an idea. How might we engage with participation as a transformative act in our creative practices?

Illustrations by Hannah Riley