In this curator-guided tour of Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial, visitors will explore some of the exhibition’s 25 original commissions, highlighting design’s role in shaping the physical and emotional experiences of home across the United States, US Territories, and Tribal Nations. The exhibition is the seventh offering in the museum’s Design Triennial series, which was established...
Experience the Cooper Hewitt collection objects and exhibitions through drawing! An Atlas of Es Devlin is the first monographic exhibition of British artist and stage designer Es Devlin. The exhibition traces the throughline from Devlin’s early artwork, to sketches and stage plans, to models and videos of her stage designs activated. This exhibition is full of visual imagery to spark the imagination for sketching!
Product designer Lucia DeRespinis has been designing since the mid-1950s, creating everything from lighting for George Nelson Associates to the ubiquitous Dunkin' Donuts logo, designed in 1976 and still in use today. Join us for a conversation with DeRespinis as she discusses her long and highly influential career in design at a time when women designers were few and their work often unacknowledged.
Come tour the galleries and learn about how conservators work to preserve the collections for future generations. Specific examples of pieces that require special handling or treatment will be highlighted and the challenges of exhibiting in an historic mansion discussed. Questions about the conservation process will be welcomed. Tour led by Sarah Barack, Head of Conservation and Senior Objects Conservator.
In this curator-guided tour of Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, visitors will explore the historical foundations and the future direction of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection. The national design collection, which has been part of the Smithsonian since 1967, is a living one that continues to grow and change as new works and ideas that...
In this curator-guided tour of Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, visitors will explore the historical foundations and the future direction of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection. The national design collection, which has been part of the Smithsonian since 1967, is a living one that continues to grow and change as new works and ideas that...
In this curator-guided tour of Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, visitors will explore the historical foundations and the future direction of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection. The national design collection, which has been part of the Smithsonian since 1967, is a living one that continues to grow and change as new works and ideas that...
Experience the Cooper Hewitt collection objects and exhibitions through drawing! The Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection exhibition highlights how Cooper Hewitt acquires new objects to shape the collection to better reflect current issues and design’s evolving role in daily interactions. The exhibition has over 150 works on view – which ones will you sketch?
For this conversation, artist Amie Siegel speaks with Professor Jasmine Nichole Cobb, a leading scholar of African American cultural production and visual representation whose published writings trace the emergence of Black freedom as both an idea and as an image in popular culture. Together, Siegel and Cobb will consider the visual and social signification of panoramic wallpapers. The program will explore each of their approaches to questioning depictions of people, landscapes and cultures in material culture across time.
In this curator-guided tour of Acquired! Shaping the National Design Collection, visitors will explore the historical foundations and the future direction of Cooper Hewitt’s permanent collection. The national design collection, which has been part of the Smithsonian since 1967, is a living one that continues to grow and change as new works and ideas that...
In this curator-guided tour of An Atlas of Es Devlin, visitors will examine the origins, rigor, and depth of Devlin’s process through a compelling journey into her 30-year archive, charting teenage drawings and paintings, to designs for theater, opera, stadium concerts, and ceremonies, to her current engagement with climate and civilizational crises. The exhibition will reveal thematic connections and trace the development of Devlin’s groundbreaking ephemeral architectures. Tour led by one of the exhibition’s curators, Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant.
Join Cooper Hewitt and our Museum Mile neighbors for the 46th annual Museum Mile Festival. Free access at participating museums!
In this curator-guided tour of An Atlas of Es Devlin, visitors will examine the origins, rigor, and depth of Devlin’s process through a compelling journey into her 30-year archive, charting teenage drawings and paintings, to designs for theater, opera, stadium concerts, and ceremonies, to her current engagement with climate and civilizational crises. The exhibition will reveal thematic connections and trace the development of Devlin’s groundbreaking ephemeral architectures. Tour led by one of the exhibition’s curators, Julie Pastor, Curatorial Assistant.
Build your design toolkit! Design Practice is a series of free, drop-in workshops for high school students exploring techniques, strategies, and careers in design. No prior experience required—just bring yourself and a creative mindset. Join interior designer Leyden Lewis of BADG (Black Artists and Designers Guild) for a mood boarding workshop. Learn how designers gather inspiration and create a mood board for your dream library! Participants will also be invited to tour BADG’s “Underground Library” featured in Making Home—Smithsonian Design Triennial.
