Positive Energy
I spend so much time thinking about how to avoid the pitfalls that mess with my psyche, impact my productivity, harm my confidence and put me in a negative place. While I’m naturally wired to be positive, that wiring largely goes first towards helping others… I don’t always practice what…
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Two River Has Come a Long Way Too
Don’t be confused by the title above because in September 2013, we presented an exhibition entitled “Two River” that featured five female artists from Brooklyn. At the time, we wanted to share with our community some of the most compelling female emerging artists from Brooklyn (located two rivers away from our first location…
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Painting in a Pandemic
This past weekend, we opened a new exhibition at our Allendale location with artwork by Jared Deery. Jared is one of my favorite people in the art world… he is self-aware, thoughtful, hard-working and talented. When I was talking with Jared about the exhibition, he told me that so much of…
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Dillon and Agnes
Art making is a journey that allows you to reflect on what went into making an object long after it was completed. The same goes for building an art school or any business. There’s some synergy in this photo that is worth describing as we reflect on the 10th anniversary…
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The Joy of Doing vs. The Joy of Sharing
For the last 10 years I have loved sneaking into the studios to see our students engrossed in making artwork. I have become fascinated with the process of making art and the deep concentration that’s required. Without a doubt, you can see the wheels turning, the problem-solving skills at work…
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Defend the Imagination
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…
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The Best Art Project? Starting a New Art School!!!
A couple weeks ago, I wrote “Monday Thoughts” with the promise of sharing some learnings that you may find both interesting and personally helpful as we approached our 10th anniversary. The photograph above captures our “window sign” during the construction phase leading up to the opening of our first school…
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Ten Years and Counting
OK, I have an assignment for you. Close your eyes and think about where you were 10 years ago. Where were you in your life? What were you happy about and what were you trying to change? What was motivating you? What was going on around you? And, what is…
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Visual Curiosity
Can you tell me what the image above is? One of the things that I love most about going on a trail-walk is coming around the bend and finding a landscape that stops me in my tracks. My visual curiosity often takes over and I find myself lost in…
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