MasterClass, the streaming platform where anyone can learn from the world’s best across a wide range of subjects, today announced that influential designer and artist Es Devlin, known for her large-scale sculptural installations and designs across music, theater and visual arts, will teach a class on turning ideas into art. Giving a behind-the-scenes look into her creative process, Devlin will inspire members to unlock inspiration from within and turn an abstract idea into something concrete. Devlin’s class is now available exclusively on MasterClass, where subscribers get unlimited access to all 100+ instructors with an annual membership.
“From installations at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Victoria and Albert Museum to set designs for Beyoncé and The Weeknd, Es’s ability to combine music, language and light to connect with audiences is simply magical. She changes how we see things,” said David Rogier, founder and CEO of MasterClass. “In her class, she takes members on a behind-the-scenes journey into her creative process, showing them how to combine their curiosity with research to inspire their own art.”
Designed for creatives of all disciplines and skill levels, Devlin’s class will explore what it means to be an artist, getting to the root of creativity and providing strategies for expressing abstract ideas in concrete form. Underscoring the importance of blending curiosity with research, she will share her own innovative processes for using light, sculpture and technology to surprise audiences and tell visual stories regardless of medium. Breaking down the thought process behind her large-scale installation work Forest of Us as well as her stage sculptures for The Weeknd and The Lehman Trilogy, Devlin will share her approach to creative connection and how to work effectively with a wide range of collaborators. Devlin will also teach members how to cultivate a creative practice, find confidence and build meaningful and sustainable collaborations. To help bring their ideas to life, members will learn how to find inspiration, approach sketching, make models, create three-dimensional worlds and play with scale. They will also learn how the audience as a collective mind can be used as a tool in their work. Members will leave the class inspired to unleash their creativity to actualize their own personal visions.
“We should be part of a world where we aren’t defined or diminished by narrow labels but can instead continue to grow and learn throughout our careers,” Devlin said. “In my class, I will help members turn their ideas into something they can hold in their hand and encourage those that might meet a fork in the road and don’t know which path to take to take both, and then take both again.”
With more than two decades of experience, Devlin has established herself as one of the most influential designers of our time. Her work manifests through large-scale performative sculptures and environments that fuse music, language and light. Having collaborated with some of the world’s most notable artists, including Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, The Weeknd and U2, she is known for pushing boundaries and creating unforgettable art and stage sculptures across opera, drama, dance and music. Bringing her talents to the international stage, she designed the 2012 London Olympic Closing Ceremony and the 2016 Rio Olympic Opening Ceremony. Most recently, she took the role of artistic director of the London Design Biennale and created Forest for Change—a temporary forest in which visitors were introduced to the U.N. global sustainability goals at London’s Somerset House. Her latest large-scale mirror maze, Forest of Us (2021), forms part of the inaugural exhibition at Superblue Miami alongside a new large-scale work by James Turrell. Devlin conceived the UK Pavilion for the World Expo 2021 Dubai, the first female designer to conceive a UK Pavilion since the inception of the World Expo in 1851. Devlin has been awarded the London Design Medal, received three Olivier Awards, a University of Kent doctorate and a University of the Arts London fellowship.
