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Begin With the End in Mind

By Matt Ross

The phrase “begin with the end in mind” is something I often fall back on when I am challenged with working on a creative project or figuring out a task.   I can make an argument that this is the single most important thing for building strategy…and that can be…

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“Delivering Happiness”… The Inspiration of Tony Hsieh at One River

By Matt Ross

I was shocked and saddened when I learned of Tony Hsieh’s death this weekend. While I never met Tony, I watched him share his stories about Zappos over the years and viewed him as an artist whose medium was building people centric business experiences. In 2010, I read Tony Hsieh’s…

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Thanks

By Matt Ross

What a year. Regardless of what has happened and what will happen as we move through the balance of 2020 and into 2021, I find myself deeply focused on summoning gratitude for what life has provided me and making sure I share my heartfelt thanks for all of the support…

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Brian Calvin

By Matt Ross

As an educator and art collector, I am motivated to share more about the artists that jump out at me and one of my favorite artists, Brian Calvin, recently opened a show in New York at the Anton Kern Gallery. Brian Calvin (born in 1969 in Visalia, California) is an American…

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Bob Ross

By Matt Ross

Bob Ross. Mention his name and a smile appears on the face of almost everyone who has encountered his “Joy of Painting” shows from the 80’s. Notwithstanding that we share the same name (and I rocked my own serious fro back in the day) Bob and I are not related,…

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Optimism

By Matt Ross

I took the picture above during a weekend this past June at my friend’s home on the North Fork of Long Island. It was the first time I had spent any time away from my house since March and I was reflecting on how this beautiful moment was in such…

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Engaging in Art During a Pandemic

By Matt Ross

For the last six months, our lives have been so interrupted that it has been impossible to appreciate in real time how much we miss the basic things that we love and perhaps took for granted. But, as an arts educator and passionate consumer and collector of visual art, I…

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Art-Making, TM & the Benefits of Meditation

By Matt Ross

Eighteen months ago, I took a four-day class to learn how to practice Transcendental Meditation. The experience changed me. The truth is, I have no way of knowing how I would have coped with Covid without having this tool in my toolkit. The noise of the world combined with an…

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Art Pods at One River School

By Matt Ross

When I think of the word “pod”, it takes me back to my childhood and watching the Jetsons fly around in a little capsule. Now I hear the word every day and never before in my lifetime has a pod or “self contained unit” become a more practical and comforting…

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The Meditative Power of Artmaking

By Matt Ross

For the last ten years, I have immersed myself into understanding Contemporary Art from a number of different vantage points. As the operator of a network of art schools and a patron and supporter of artists, I have had a first hand look at people in “the process of doing”…

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