Ten years ago I was trying to figure out how to connect Contemporary Art to a compelling and fun classroom experience. And, in order to do so, I needed to truly understand what drove artists to do what they do. While this was going on, I was also uncovering so many unique artists, styles, materials, processes and artworks that I realized it was going to be a fun and stimulating journey trying to master the aesthetics of Contemporary Art.

Since today is an important day in British and world history, I thought it might be fun for me to share a British artist that helped to inspire me to build One River School.   Bob and Roberta Smith is his name and no that was not his given name… Patrick Brill, better known by his pseudonym Bob and Roberta Smith, is a British contemporary artist, writer, author, musician, art education advocate, and keynote speaker. He is an associate professor at the School of Art, Architecture and Design at London Metropolitan University and has been curator of public art projects, like Art U Need.

Bob has devoted his artistic expression to “sign art”… yes, I didn’t know this existed either. Very simply, he combines text-based art into signs that express his pure devotion for the value of making and teaching art. I was originally exposed to his world when Pierogi Gallery in Brooklyn showed his work in 2011 and I subsequently wound up buying five of these little objects. Over the last ten years they have often acted as a symbol and motivational reinforcement for what we do.

Click here to see more “signs”.

Inspiration comes from so many directions and in the ten years since we started One River School we remained completely inspired to continue on our mission to “transform art education”®.