How Much Do We Appreciate Art?

July 6, 2015

Ok, here is a little quiz. Name three important artists. Generally when I ask this question, people reply with Picasso, Van Gogh and Rembrandt. Sometimes they throw in Matisse or others like Rothko, Jackson Pollock and some other post war American artists.

Isn’t it amazing when you contrast this question by asking about important musicians? Imagine if not one answer came from the last 50 years! For some reason, the system for creating literacy about visual art has failed us. And one of my goals at One River is to create a reference point for living artists and we are doing so in a number of ways.

We have created a proprietary curriculum that teaches the practice and style of the most important artists of the last 50 years so we can share what’s currently important and relevant. We also blog about it and now we have something new and exciting to share.

This fall we will roll out a class for adults that will teach the most important trends of the last 50 years and I will be teaching the class. We will cover art history from 1970 through today and will focus on numerous topics that include collecting art, how to value art and how to understand and appreciate contemporary art in relation to art history. If you are interested in this class, send me a note by clicking here. The class will begin in October; it has limited space and will include special guest lectures and visits to cool galleries and museums.

Monday, July 6, 2015

Matt Ross

Matt Ross is the Founder of One River School of Art + Design. Since 2012, One River has grown from one location in Englewood, NJ to fifteen schools in six states with a goal to “transform art education” across America. Prior to One River School, Matt was the CEO of School of Rock, where he built the company into the world leader in music education for kids. Prior to his experience with School of Rock, Matt held a variety of management positions in broadcasting, working for diverse media companies such as Clear Channel, CBS and Viacom. He is also active in promoting Autism awareness and supporting emerging artists and is passionate about collecting Contemporary Art with a focus on painting, mixed media and drawing.