The Lardner Report

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Creativity: Don’t Stop the Flow!

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(Pic #1) Husband home alone

Or, how my husband replaced me with an iconic action figure

(Pic #2) Chan: The perfect model: "Surprisingly easy to work with"

For years, my husband Josh has been a passionate, and very gifted photographer. So it’s not unusual to find him exploring new territory, using state-of-the-art equipment, trying new techniques, and shooting spontaneously around the house. He’ll often say, “Can I take your picture today?” And, depending on just how fat or old I feel at the moment, I might oblige. (Truth is, he is the go-to guy for all my headshots, because he is, in fact, a master. See a recent shot at the beach in Pic #4 below.)

Well, I suppose it should not have been a surprise — when I returned from the gym this weekend — to find Josh alone in the living room, shooting away, with a brand new lighting system, a jerry-rigged backdrop made from purple bedroom sheets, and, well, what appeared to be a very elaborate, professional portrait set-up.

His subject? A bobblehead doll of superstar action hero Jackie Chan.

The plastic model was poised on a stool, in the center of a living room, facing the photographer, in a classic martial arts stance. This, amidst an audience of a couple of very confused cats. (Pics #1 and #2)

(Pic #3) Models in waiting

I stood there, in what can only be described as a parallel acyclovir universe, and decided to ask. “What the heck are you doing?” I said gently. Josh’s answer sent me falling solidly in love with him one more time.

He said he had gotten a brainstorm about a lighting technique, which he wanted to try out on me, or his 19-year-old son, Jake. But because I was out of the house, and Jake was at school,  he needed someone else to “sit” for his session. He stressed that the experiment couldn’t wait. So he headed toward Jake’s bedroom Bobblehead doll collection, and asked Jackie to oblige. (Pic #3)

Feeling slightly awkward, but creatively stoked nonetheless, Josh began to shoot. He said he was “in the zone” and could not have been happier about the possibilities. That day he got to play with light and shadow, responded to his creative instincts, and said that despite being such a huge international star, Jackie Chan “was surprisingly easy to work with.”

(Pic #4) I can keep a secret for a sweet headhsot

As a reporter, blogger, and creativity consultant, I talk about this critical need to create – every day. But the true challenge comes in knowing how to really shove aside the obstacles that stop us from answering the call — the call of inspiration. (Even if it means encountering the somewhat pathetic sight of a grown man and a six-inch action figure sharing an intimate moment.)

NYC: Art Underground

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(Pic #1) New York's not-so-hidden treasures: Don't pass them by

Subway art offers sweet surprises

Every day, millions of New Yorkers navigate the 722 miles of underground transit lines, racing for trains, leaping through closing car doors, then fighting for their right to personal space. Obviously, there’s little time to consider an island-wide course in art appreciation. But my last trip to Manhattan – in the dead of winter – turned out to be a lovely episode of artistic discovery. By letting my eyes wander, I began to really see the history of the city through its art underground.

(Pic #2) Romare Bearden Stained Glass Panels, “City of Light” at Westchester Square

City of Light

A stunning site: The stained glass windows designed by one of America’s most important and inventive artists – Romare Bearden – in the mezzanine of Westchester Square station. The panels depict – through the artist’s cubist interpretation – an elevated subway train winding its way through the New York City skyline. The colors are dazzling.

You can find an overview of New York Transit art by clicking here.

Underground Philosophy

(Pic #3) Remember "The golden root"

Beneath Bryant Park – at 42nd St., down a long corridor to the Fifth Avenue exit, you’ll find quotations ranging from “Jack and Jill,” to an obscure passage from James Joyce’s “Finnegan’s Wake” – each tableau framed by delicate mosaics of golden tree roots (from above) and by mosaics of layered bedrock, below (Pics #3 and #4).

(Pic #4) Bryant Park "bedrock"

(Pic #5) 81st St: Tiled Wildlife

(Pic # 6) Officer Russell King contemplates Jung

While thousands of riders pass a nearby quote attributed to Swiss psychiatrist/philosopher Carl G. Jung, it’s anybody’s guess as to whether they give it a second thought. It reads, “Nature must not win the game, but she cannot lose.” (Pic #6)  The piece is actually called “Under Bryant Park,” a reference to the preserve of well-tended greenery above the station, and the artist says the Jung quote “has to do with human imperative: trying to control external nature.” My hunch is, most passengers would settle for controling the population of the rodents darting over the tracks.

Subterranean Museum

Some of the most whimsical collections of images appear at the 81st Street station, home to the American Museum of Natural History. I watched this installation grow over the years, and its treatment of wildlife large and small always captivates the attention of small children, including me. (Pic #5)

“Mosaics make sense”

(Pic #7) Vintage tile (upper right) Columbus Circle

According to Sandra Bloodworth, director of the Arts for Transit program at the MTA, there are always “durability issues” in the subway environment, so mosaic and tile are ideal materials for these public projects. That could explain why an historical New York “original” was recently unearthed at the 59th St.- Columbus Circle station. (Pic #7)

The newly-discovered sign is from 1901, and was created three years before the first underground line opened. Back then, the architects used its walls as an art gallery, experimenting with decorative ideas in various colors of tile. These “experiments” were eventually covered over and forgotten. NYC Transit says it is working on a design for a window in the wall so this treasure can be shared.

For a peek in the meantime: it’s on the the uptown platform of the No. 1 train, and according to the gothamist.com intern who shot this photo (Elyssa Goldberg) “it was very much hidden and high up.”

(Pic #7) Really?

Tile and Error?

Okay, just because….

Someone might have gotten sent home from work early (Pic # 7) — I’m guessing Spellcheck wasn’t anywhere near the  G-Train platform that day.

Brain Teaser: What Color is Your Thought?

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Photo by: Cristina MR - Flickr

Forget the Slurpee – try this for full-on brain freeze

I just went to see the exhibition called  “BRAIN: The Inside Story” at the American Museum of Natural History in NYC. A very cool experience – that makes your head hurt – in a good way.  

The specific exhibit that blew my mind was the one I’ve duplicated below. It’s a “word-color” exercise – technically called the “Stroop Test” (named after its inventor) and dates back to the the 1930s. It challenges two distinct parts of your brain: language and color recognition. When you take this little test you might feel a tug between the two. For me, it was a fairly dramatic conflict that felt almost physical. That, apparently, was my brian trying to reconcile clashing impulses.

TASK: Read aloud the WORDS in Group #1 – and  time yourself.  Then, read the COLORS (not the words) in Group #2 – and time yourself again.

Most likely, you will see Group #2 takes accutane more time. Focusing on getting the colors right, it took me three times as long to read the “colors” in Group #2. Experts say the interference between the different stimuli (what the words say vs: the color of the words) causes the discord. There are two theories that may explain the Stroop effect:

  1. Speed of Processing Theory: The words are read faster than colors are named.
  2. Selective Attention Theory: Naming colors requires more attention than reading words.

I did learn there is a way to trick your brain and improve your time on Group #2:  Cover most of each word with your hand (leaving only one letter, or part of a letter) – that way your brain will have an easier time naming the color – eliminating the competition. Who showed me that? Another engaged museum-goer — Alex, age 7.

This extraordinary exhibit continues through August 15th 2011.

To view additional BRAIN exhibition photos from the New York Times, click here.