In 1998, Jason and a good friend Kiera Merriam had decided to try and attend a sold out Sarah Mclaughlin concert in Elora, ON. Kiera had extended an invitation to her brother Tyson to meet them there, to which he had accepted. It was the first time Jason and Tyson had officially been introduced although they had both attended the same high school years before. With numerous failed attempts at stealthful entry into the concert, Kiera, Tyson and Jason sat across the road, listening to the music echoing from the Gorge. During the show, Tyson and Jason discovered they held a variety of common interests including music, art and outlooks on life. At the end of the evening phone numbers were exchanged with an agreement to stay in touch before everyone went their separate directions.
Over the next month, Jason and Tyson stayed in touch and made plans to attend a Jane Sibbery concert at the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. On the way to the concert a conversation began that has carried on to the present day. The conversation expanded rapidly as both Tyson and Jason realized how similar their tastes in books, music and philosophy actually were. During the drive to the concert it was discussed how amazing it was how the right book always just seemed to drop into one's lap at the right time when the knowledge would be of the greatest use. About midway through the concert, Jane had stopped to talk to the audience for a brief moment and echoed the exact sentiments of the appearance of books at the right time in one's life. It was an uncanny sychronicity and struck both Jason and Tyson as very meaningful. It wasn't an hour later as they filed out of the show, that two girls walking directly in front of them were animated and speaking excitedly and loudly. Both Tyson and Jason could easily hear the exchange and were almost floored as the girls were going on about how much of a coincidence it was that Jane had mentioned the comment about the books appearing as they had just had the same conversation before the show. Synchronicity abounded and left a stunned duo with much to digest and think about.
The next day, Jason and Tyson went for a hike to a local river and set about skipping stones across the water. With their backs turned to one another and spaced about 20 feet apart, both of them threw a rock simultaneously. Each watched in amazment as the rocks vectored towards one another......keeping perfect time....skip....skip......skip....closer and closer they flew. In a timeless moment and one against all odds, both rocks lifted from their final skip and collided against one another in mid air. Laughter and disbelief left the 2 friends with much to reflect upon. Clearly their meeting was more than a chance occurance.
As a result, more concerts were attended in Toronto and the exploration of common interests continued. It was soon discovered that they were both avid students of the exploration of human consciousness within the human condition and the power possessed in positive thinking and knowledge. Their conversation grew to encompass elements and ideas of such authors as Jane Roberts, Richard Bach, Robert Monroe, Carlos Casteneda, and Gurdjieff. During this time the exploration and study of dreams also became a major point of commonality between the two. As the relationship developed, Jason began bringing Tyson in on various mural and design projects, extremely satisfied to see the dedication and talent possesed by him. A very synergystic creative working co-operative began to develop at a rapid pace.
In 1999, Jason, Tyson and Jason's brother Justin, took on the task of building a new studio in Toronto in order to establish Think Big as a professional prescence within the city.Think Big Creative Designs, evolved into Think Big Creative Services and Tyson, Jason and Justin began to work more closely towards the common goal of the realization of a working studio. The vision of this new studio was to create an ecology condusive to the fulfillment of the creative spirit within the human design. The studio got off to a flying start in construction, but was halted suddenly only a few months later due to a legal issue. Think Big had no where to go and Tyson, Jason and Justin were forced to assume a 3 bedroom apartment above a neighbourhood pub. With less time and energy spent on construction, the business experienced a growth spurt which called on Tyson to assume more responsibility in all levels of the business.
Within the next year, Jason entered into another business venture in the Scarborough Town Center with an American couple, doing custom airbrushing. It was at this point in December of 2000 that Jason and Tyson officially registered Think Big Creative Services as a partnership and purchased an embroidery machine which was placed in this new location. In early 2001, Jason took the machine and the airbrushing business to Las Vegas, NV and expanded Think Big to encompass an American market.
Also within that year, a vinyl plotter was added to their roster and vinyl graphics became a part of the growing service base. The next 3 years saw exponentially fast growth and expansion in both Jason and Tyson's lives and their partnership within Think Big. Celebrity clientele began to seek out the airbrush work of Jason and demands for mural work began to increase. During this time, Jason and Tyson were commissioned to paint a number of murals from Haileybury, ON to Las Vegas, NV. With the meeting of Don Lemmon while in Las Vegas, design and printing work began to elevate and the repeated request for Web design caused them to branch out yet again into a new domain.
In late 2003, with the sale of the embroidery business in Las Vegas, Jason returned to Canada so he and Tyson could more seriously concentrate their combined efforts as their client list grew. A large format printer was purchased in December and full colour printing was undertaken. Work began to be sent to places as far away as Japan. Newspaper and magazine articles, radio and T.V. appearances started to manifest on an increasing basis and in 2005 Jason was featured in a 5 part T.V. series on TSN's Canadian Chopper Challenge, taking top honours for his paint job.
The business continues to expand and encompass many artforms with digital photography being the latest addition. Mutual respect, a complete trust in each others abilities, and the pursuit of personal development are part of what has contributed to the success of the various creative endeavours throughout the years. An unwaivering belief in that fact that anyone can accomplish anything that they put your mind to, backed by a little endurance and self determination, is a theme that permeates throughout the history of Think Big while the promise of expansion into new terrotories of creative expression and explorations into the template of what is now possible presses Jason and Tyson forward into the future.
As the future unfolds, Tyson and Jason are now starting to seriously focus their energies toward a deeper and more refined understanding and expression of the unseen elements and rarified frequencies of the world around and within the human being and how that world is an integral and catalytic influence on all that we do. Translating these frequencies into mainstream design and media has been accepted as a worthwhile use of their collective time and energy, and the challenge is being met with the same level of commitment that has defined the structure of Think Big from day one. There is no doubt that the planet and it's inhabitants are evolving on a daily basis and that the creative paradigm is evolving in turn. With any creative urge, there is a push to expand the boundaries of what is possible and therefore Tyson Merriam and Jason Gateman are moving towards forging new working definitions of creative expression in that quest. Think Big!
"Whatever you can do,
or dream you can, begin it.
Boldness has genius, power and magic in it."
Goethe
