Category Archives: Podcast

Tony Hawk and Rodney Mullen, Skateboard Legends…and Inventors?

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In January 2011 I found myself in a rather unusual place—at the National Surf and Skate Expo in Orlando, Florida. Along with my colleagues Jane Rogers, an Associate Curator in the Museum’s Division of Entertainment, Sports, and Culture, and Betsy Gordon, a Project Executive from the National Museum of the American Indian, I traveled to Orlando to meet some of skateboarding’s founding pioneers and enduring legends. The National Museum of American History had just launched a broad collecting initiative focusing on skateboarding and I was keenly interested in the role of invention, innovation, and creativity play in skate’s history and culture. As a group that feels that it has been cast as “outsiders” most of their lives, the skaters were surprised at the Smithsonian’s interest, but very welcoming and eager to share their experiences with us. The day culminated with an “All-80s” skate competition that featured the likes of Tony Hawk, Mike McGill, Andy MacDonald, and a host of other icons of skateboarding lore. At the conclusion of the event, Tony Hawk donated his skateboard to the Museum while standing in the middle of the vert ramp surrounded by 2,500 screaming fans.

Tony Hawk signs deed of gift for his skatedeck. Jane and I are standing by--the skateboarders were expecting the Smithsonian to be represented by a bunch of "old dudes." Photo by Lee Leal, Embassy Skateboards.

Since that time, the Lemelson Center and the Museum have continued to build important relationships with skateboarding’s innovators. The Lemelson Center’s belief that everyone is inventive and that innovation abounds all around us is one of our greatest strengths and affords us the opportunity to explore the history of invention and innovation from a variety of interdisciplinary perspectives and across a broad range of subjects. Most associate invention and innovation with technology and science, but the Center often explores other unexpected places where invention and innovation flourishes—like skateboarding. This wide exploration is critical to fostering an appreciation for the central role invention and innovation play in the history of the United States. It also makes our work extremely interesting, fun, and exciting as we meet, collaborate, and explore the world of invention and innovation with all types of people.

Skate legend Rodney Mullen was kind enough to let us film him doing tricks on the roof terrace of the Museum.

In August of 2012, the Lemelson Center invited Rodney Mullen, the unquestioned leader and pioneer of street skating, to visit us to discuss the role of invention and innovation in American life. It was a truly wonderful day in which we exchanged ideas and views not only about skateboarding, but about the role and importance of creativity and innovation to building a better society.  You can watch our video podcast with Rodney below or on YouTube.

Our exploration of the intersection between innovation and skateboarding continues. On June 21-22, to coincide with National Go Skate Day 2013, the Lemelson Center will host Innoskate, a major public festival that will celebrate invention and creativity in skate culture. Innoskate will highlight the contributions skate innovators make to society through demonstrations, hands-on education activities, public programs with inventors and innovators, and donations of objects to the national collections. Activities will also include discussions and demonstrations of evolving technology such as decks, wheels, trucks, board design, materials, etc., as well as innovations in tricks that fueled further technological innovations. Hands-on activities related to skate culture may include aspects of board design and fabrication, use of new materials, and/or the engineering and physics of making decks and performing tricks.

We will continue to share program information about Innoskate in the months to come—so keep checking back with us.

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Podcast: Political Machines — Innovations that let people be heard

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Laurel Fritzsch interviews Rachna Choudhry for our podcast series.

A lobbyist and a Congressional staffer walk into a dinner party. It sounds like the start of some sort of inside-the-Beltway joke; instead, it’s an invention story. Rachna Choudhry and Marci Harris found common ground on a vexing issue–when constituents write in to Congress, there is no way of the writer knowing if the message has been received or for Congressional staffers to know that it’s coming from a real person. The result of that conversation is Popvox, a web tool that verifies, aggregates, and simplifies communication with Congress.

Rachna sat down with Laurel Fritzsch to talk about the process behind developing Popvox in our latest podcast. Click here to listen in.

Note: This post is not an endorsement of any product.

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Podcast: Graham Nash’s Inventive Approach to Art

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Former museum director Brent Glass, Graham Nash, Steve Boutler, curator Shannon Perich and Mac Holbert pose with the IRIS printer in 2005 at the National Museum of American History.

One of the most exciting aspects of working at a Smithsonian museum is the chance to meet and work with some extremely interesting people. This could be a curator who oversees and studies a unique collection, a visiting lecturer regarded as the top of their field, or even the occasional two-time Rock ‘n Roll Hall of Famer–no big deal. I recently had the opportunity to interview Graham Nash over the phone for the Lemelson Center’s Inventive Voices podcast series. Mr. Nash discussed his role in the development of digital photographic printing and the connections between the inventive process and creating art such as music and photography.

Now, to be completely clear, I’m probably much younger than Mr. Nash’s primary audience (CSN’s album Daylight Again was released in the same month that I was born). That doesn’t mean I didn’t grow up listening to his music though, as I like to think my parents had excellent taste in what was played around the house and in the car. Having the chance to interview a musical legend was a thrill in itself, but from a work standpoint, hearing him talk about the similarities between tinkering with a machine to make it do what he wanted and the act of songwriting was a total hit. Have a listen to the latest episode in our Inventive Voices series, and see if you don’t find some artistic or inventive inspiration from Graham Nash’s story.

 

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Video Podcast: Inventing Early Photography

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“…soon the plate takes on a clouded appearance, and then gradually it clears and like a thing of life, stands forth the image in all the boldness that art and science can combine to give.”

“No one writes like that anymore.”

Indeed, the flowery prose of S.D. Humphrey’s 1858 American Handbook of the Daguerreotype isn’t seen much these days. Finding a daguerreotypist may prove just as difficult. This past April, Mike Robinson from Toronto’s Ryerson University visited the Museum of American History’s photographic collection. Taking a break from his research in the collection, Mike demonstrated his contemporary process for preparing light-sensitive plates and then actually using them in creating a daguerreotype portrait.

The most recent episode of the Lemelson Center’s Inventive Voices podcast series also features Museum of American History curator Shannon Perich discussing the combination of forces that led to advancements and innovations in the field of early photography. Be sure to check out the entire Inventive Voices podcast series on our website for more audio and video interviews!

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