Design Matters with Debbie Millman: Best of 2024 with Artists

Release Date: January 6, 2025
Hosted by: Design Matters Media

Introduction

In the "Best of 2024 with Artists" episode of Design Matters with Debbie Millman, Debbie curates highlights from her interviews with four distinguished artists: S. Devlin, Olafur Eliasson, Nell Irvin Painter, and Carson Ellis. This episode delves into their creative processes, significant projects from the past year, and personal reflections that shape their artistic journeys.

S. Devlin: Innovating Concert Design at the Sphere

S. Devlin, a renowned set designer known for her work with global superstars like Beyonce and Lady Gaga, discusses her latest ambitious project—the digital sculptures for U2's inaugural performance at the Sphere in Las Vegas.

Key Discussions:

• Integration of Sound and Vision: Devlin explains the groundbreaking aspect of the Sphere's design, where speakers are embedded behind a permeable screen, allowing sound and visuals to coexist seamlessly. She draws a parallel to Jony Ive's design philosophy for the iPhone, emphasizing the Sphere as an "iPhone-ified" concert experience (04:02).

  S. Devlin [04:02]: "The Sphere has iPhone-ified concert design... combined the thing you need to do at a concert, which is to hear, and the thing you want to do at a concert, which is to see."

• Audience Interaction: Devlin reflects on the initial reception of the Sphere, noting the simultaneous excitement and the intrusive nature of audiences filming the experience, comparing it to a "film studio" environment (06:40).

  S. Devlin [06:40]: "Everyone had to film it and listen. That's fine... but it does preclude dancing."

• Collaborative Process: She highlights the collaborative efforts with U2's creative director, Willie Williams, and the Treatment team, emphasizing the collective vision to deconstruct and reveal Las Vegas's essence through the Sphere's architecture (08:07).

Notable Quote:

S. Devlin [07:24]: "I have found life far more interesting when I try to always find an alternative to judging. Applying curiosity makes life more interesting."

Olafur Eliasson: Childhood Memories Shaping Artistic Vision

Olafur Eliasson, celebrated for his large-scale sculptures and installations involving light and water, shares poignant childhood memories that influence his art.

Key Discussions:

• Formative Experiences: Eliasson recounts a significant memory from the early 1970s when his grandparents' home in Iceland experienced electricity rationing. The ritual of sitting by a candlelight amidst the twilight-blue glacier-lit landscape left a lasting impression on him (14:04).

  Olafur Eliasson [14:04]: "You had the ice and you had the fire and you had this blue color and you had the warm color in everybody's faces... it's like a little bit of a campfire."

• Early Artistic Pursuits: Despite his initial passion for breakdancing—winning a Scandinavian championship—Eliasson's artistic inclinations led him to visual arts. His first solo exhibition at 15 showcased his drawings, albeit under the critical eye of his mother (18:04).

• Intersection of Movement and Art: Eliasson discusses the influence of witnessing early robotics performances and breakdancing on his understanding of embodiment and movement, which later permeates his installations (20:14).

Notable Quote:

Olafur Eliasson [20:37]: "I needed to acknowledge that I have a body. And how better to acknowledge embodiment by disembodying and becoming a robot."

Nell Irvin Painter: Bridging History and Fine Art

Nell Irvin Painter, a distinguished historian and artist, explores her transition from academia to fine arts and the challenges she faced in merging these distinct disciplines.

Key Discussions:

• Academic to Artistic Journey: Despite holding a PhD from Harvard, Painter pursued a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, driven by a rekindled passion for imagery inspired by her biography of Sojourner Truth (24:54).

  Nell Irvin Painter [24:59]: "I wanted to be professional in the way I was professional as a historian."

• Challenges in Art School: Painter recounts encountering dismissive attitudes, including a pivotal moment where a printmaking teacher doubted her potential as an artist. Her resilience, supported by peers from Yale, enabled her to persevere (29:43).

  Nell Irvin Painter [29:43]: "He said... you will never be an art artist. That stung. What saved me was I had friends at Yale. They put me back together again."

• Integration of Disciplines: She emphasizes the difficulty of balancing her historical expertise with her visual artistry, highlighting a decade-long process to harmonize the two realms (27:04).

Notable Quote:

Nell Irvin Painter [26:49]: "Graduate school was the hardest thing I've ever done. Getting a PhD from Harvard in history was a piece of cake in comparison."

Carson Ellis: Illustrating Life's Mundane Moments with Emotional Depth

Carson Ellis, an acclaimed author and illustrator, discusses her latest work, One Week in January: New Paintings for an Old Diary, which intertwines meticulous journaling with evocative illustrations.

Key Discussions:

• Rediscovery of the Diary: Ellis shares how she stumbled upon a detailed journal from a week in 2001 when she moved to Portland, Oregon. Initially perceiving it as mundane, she recognized its value as a time capsule capturing the transition into the digital age (33:55).

  Carson Ellis [33:55]: "I thought there is something to that... it's such a time capsule."

• Artistic Interpretation: She explains her approach to pairing the stoic text with vibrant illustrations to convey the underlying emotions and memories not explicitly stated in the journal entries (35:28).

  Carson Ellis [36:36]: "There's so much longing and unfulfilled stuff in it."

• Emotional Resonance: Despite the text's objective tone, Ellis emphasizes how the illustrations bring forth the emotional layers of the documented week, creating a dual narrative that enriches the reader's experience (40:05).

  Carson Ellis [41:49]: "They feel like they're the same person, but they also feel really, really different."

Notable Quote:

Carson Ellis [35:48]: "I was moved when I read it. I thought it was very funny how boring it was."

Conclusion

The "Best of 2024 with Artists" episode offers a profound exploration of creativity through the lenses of different artistic disciplines. From S. Devlin's innovative concert designs to Olafur Eliasson's evocative installations, Nell Irvin Painter's fusion of history and art, and Carson Ellis's nuanced storytelling through illustration, each artist provides unique insights into their creative processes and personal journeys. Their narratives underscore the diverse paths to artistic expression and the enduring impact of personal experiences on creative endeavors.

Notable Quotes Summary:

1. S. Devlin [04:02]: "The Sphere has iPhone-ified concert design... combined the thing you need to do at a concert, which is to hear, and the thing you want to do at a concert, which is to see."

2. Olafur Eliasson [20:37]: "I needed to acknowledge that I have a body. And how better to acknowledge embodiment by disembodying and becoming a robot."

3. Nell Irvin Painter [26:49]: "Graduate school was the hardest thing I've ever done. Getting a PhD from Harvard in history was a piece of cake in comparison."

4. Carson Ellis [35:48]: "I was moved when I read it. I thought it was very funny how boring it was."

Additional Resources:

For full interviews with S. Devlin, Olafur Eliasson, Nell Irvin Painter, and Carson Ellis, visit designmattersmedia.com or your preferred podcast platform.

Produced for the TED Audio Collective by Curtis Fox Productions. The editor-in-chief of Design Matters Media is Emily Weiland.