In the front room, teacher and local artist Tom Baker presents his show, “Project: Be Journey.” His presentation of collages is a collaborative endeavor of the whole community. Inspiration started with the idea of refrigerator magnets of letters and words, and people’s creative urge to arrange them. Tom began collecting small pieces made by many different people that include a word surrounded by emotionally and intellectually significant images. He then arranges them in thoughtful ways, lending new meanings and ideas each time. This is a fascinating project that draws viewers to participate in the creation.
In the back room, quilter Cherlyn Monk presents an array of her beautiful art quilts. Starting with learning traditional quilting five years ago, Ms. Monk quickly moved into creating her own individual and expressive designs. Recurring themes in her work include women of color, symbols of life, Egypt, and the Caribbean. Her quilting has been shown in Texas and California. Ms. Monk quilts in her home in Bowie, where she has her own Longarm machine. She says the whole house is her studio! With deep emotion and vibrant color, these quilts will move and inspire you.
January and February 2009
In the cafe’s front room, Bright Side Pictures, a collaboration of three
artists, presents eye-popping, fine art photographs that will surprise and
entertain you. Gary Jimerfield, Rob Grant and Scott Grant, all experienced
artists in video and photography, use model set design, paint, and computer
abstracts to create fun and intriguing pieces in their Greenbelt studio. Their
work has been shown nationally, in galleries and museums from Florida to
California. Several pieces are in the Smithsonian’s permanent collection.
Visitors will be rewarded along this creative journey with classic glamour,
historic themes, and abstract art. For more information, visit
brightsidepictures.com.
In the cafe’s back room, Walker Babington displays a show entitled
“Torch-raiture.” He creates his striking work at his family’s home in
University Park. Using pyrography (many forms of wood-burning) and found objects
like shutters and wooden panels, he lets the surfaces suggest and inspire the
subject of the work. This technique results in larger than life, haunting
portraits. Walker also finds inspiration in French Symbolism, especially the
work of Redon and Moreau. For more information and commissions, send email to
.
August 2008
Two for One
“2 for 1”, an exhibit of drawings by Barbara McGee and photographs by her daughter, Nora Simon, runs through August 31.
Barbara McGee exhibits pencil drawings of figures, the main subjects since she attended art school. She illustrated children’s books and designed greeting cards for her own company for many years, and has now returned to her first love, drawing.
Nora Simon exhibits recent color photographs of flowers and landscapes. In contrast, she is also showing black and white photographs of scenes of Savannah at night. Nora is currently a student at the Pennsylvania College of Art and Design in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, majoring in graphic design. Her interest in photography started two years ago with a beginners photography course, and she continues to explore photography in all its facets.
Watch a “Greenbelt in Focus” segment about Barbara and Nora (3.8 MB Quicktime movie).
June 2008
Dancing
Joseph Jackson lives in Prince Georges County Maryland. He has been an artist, illustrator and photographing since 1979. He enrolled in Commercial Art during vocational high school. After graduating high school he moved from southwest Pennsylvania to Maryland and began his career. He attended the University of District of Columbia and received an associates degree in Graphic Design. As an art student he studied several styles African cloth painting, rubber stamp art, Indian paper sculpture and screen printing.
After Jackson completed the training he volunteered to teach at senior citizens homes and after school programs. As a member of the Greenbelt Photography Club he has shown with the group. The Greenbelt Photography Club has invited him to demonstrate matting and framing procedures and techniques. Jackson enjoys art and has taken many art classes at the Greenbelt Community Center. He has hung his work in the Greenbelt Community Center and the Greenbelt Arts Center.
Jackson’s artwork has been viewed throughout the Washington metro area and many foreign countries. Over the years he has exhibits in solo shows at Prince Georges Public libraries, the District of Columbia public libraries, the Prince Georges Artist Association, and Maryland National Capitol Parks Planning Commission. He is currently in a group show at Landover Dental Offices.
Jackson believes fun is the driving force of his profession. He is always seeking new ideas and techniques to add impact and interest to his work. Though he has no favorite art medium, he enjoys finding new ways to create interesting works.
This June at the cafe, Joseph Jackson will be exhibiting his work titled “Dancing”. The art exhibit focuses on the beauty that dancing brings into our lives. These works will show several dance styles in various art mediums/techniques (oils, watercolors, mixed media, computer graphics, rubber stamps, photography). The exhibit runs from May 26 to June 29th.
United States Parks
Even as a child, Sarah Walker’s perfectionist streak could cause her
trouble. Her drawings were often discarded in irritation, condemned to
the trashcan for failing to live up to the visions in her head. Years
later, when her artistic energies turned to photography, the chance to
endlessly manipulate an image was a large part of the appeal.
“Photography allows me to start with something, to capture a
reflection of the existing world, and share it with others,” says
Walker, whose show of nature photography debuts in the month of June
at the New Deal Cafe.
While her portrait and wedding photography has helped to hone her eye
and sustain her professional growth as a photographer, capturing and
interpreting the natural world is Walker’s passion. Many of the images
in the New Deal series were shot while Walker took a cross-country
journey with a friend, touring several national parks. The natural
beauty of the American landscape served as the perfect inspiration,
but capturing the texture and feel of these distinct locales was no
easy task. “It’s a challenge to transform a three-dimensional world
into a two dimensional piece of art,” says Walker. “The art is in
capturing not just the scene, but the moment, and how that moment
feels.”
Shooting in more than a dozen national parks, Walker has hoofed many
miles and logged more than a few backaches to get the shots she now
calls “her babies.” While shooting photos of Australian flying foxes
for the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Walker actually climbed into
an enclosure with these giant bats, whose wingspan is up to 5 feet in
length. Part of her passion for nature photography, Walker says, is
the chance to feel closer to the natural world.
One of Walker’s husband Mike Walker’s favorite images was shot while
she was crossing a mountain range in Yosemite National Park. The image
of mountains, grassland and sky combined is expansive. Pausing in that
moment to set up the shot, Walker says, was a feeling that’s hard to
describe. “I couldn’t believe how lucky I was,” she said. “It’s hard
to talk about something like that without talking about a Higher
Spirit.”
Walkers’ photos of Yosemite, and other moments in U.S. parks, are on
display throughout the month of June at the New Deal Cafe, while her
more commercial work exists online at www.sarahlanephotography.com.
March 2008
Student Exhibit
Artwork by people taking art classes.
February 2008
Their Pretty Life
“Their Pretty Life” will feature mostly acrylic artworks ranging from subtle to bright and bold. Marshetta is a representational artist whose artwork reflects
simple human enjoyment and beauty.
Painting is my joy as well as my release of emotion from within me. I started at the age of nine years old doing water colors after receiving a water color set from “Santa”. But I later discovered that watercolor was just a door for me to eventually open to the world of acrylic. As I continue my love affair with acrylic I find that painting has allowed me to experiment with texture and bold color that bursts out from my soul. My art is bold, beautiful and free. My art represents love, life and me.
Marshetta was born in North Carolina and raised in Montgomery County, MD by loving parents who recognized her early love and talent for the fine arts. At the age of nine she received her first nice water color set for Christmas that added life and color to the sketches she had mostly been doing previously. This was just the tip of the iceberg because Marshetta later on discovered the wonderful world of acrylics and that was it. The love affair began. Marshetta is known for painting bright uplifting scenes of couples celebrating. Marshetta Davis is a self taught abstract representational artist who loves to depict happiness and beauty in her paintings.
Also at the cafe this month, art by Thomas Wicizer.
November 2007
Artista Emergente
Corzo’s exhibit, featuring between ten and fifteen mixed media pieces, will be displayed in the front room throughout next month with an open reception in early November.
This is not Corzo’s first exhibit. Aside from participating in four student exhibits at Prince George’s Community College where he is a fine arts major, Corzo had a solo exhibit displayed at The Maryland-National Capital Park and Planning Commission and was their Cover Artist of the Month for October. His New Deal show will feature a variety of pictures using oil, acrylic, watercolor and graphite, as well as two sculptures, which will only be visible to the public during his reception.
A Laurel resident, Corzo is a native of Mexico City, having moved to the United States almost five years ago. He supports himself through the profits of his art sales, having sold artwork in New York, California, Mexico, and Iceland. Corzo experiments with a range of techniques in his art, including a three-dimensional series he is preparing for an upcoming show in Baltimore. He is ambidextrous, writing with both hands and can write backwards and forwards; he even signs his pieces backwards. Though his works feature a variety of subjects, his seven year old daughter is his favorite subject, he says, and unlike the rest of his pieces, pictures featuring her are not for sale.
Corzo’s exhibit will be hung in the front room of the New Deal Cafe on Friday, October 26th. A reception will be held there on Sunday, November 5th from 7 to 9pm. All are welcome to attend and refreshments will be provided.
October 2007
Mysteries and Meditations
Kliman’s “Mysteries and Meditations”, a large body of works consisting of large
black and white oil paintings, newer smaller Paintings on Paper, and Conte crayon/Charcoal
Drawings, have most recently been seen at Harmony Hall Regional Center and the U.S. District Courthouse
in Greenbelt. Many of the large works, representing 12 years of Kliman’s dedication to this series,
have been exhibited across the U.S. in various venues.
Kliman has often been asked, “What is your inspiration?” He replies, “I
didn’t set out to make these paintings, but as happens so often in art, things occur accidentally.”
As he began this series, Kliman said, “I realized that I was embarking on a difficult artistic path:
the fusion of realism and conceptualism.” Although the images were conceived in a
sense of suffering, of affliction, provoked by the inconceivable horror of the Holocaust, Kliman
says, “…grief and suffering are universal. I feel these paintings are symbolic and identifiable
for people of all religions and cultures.” Ori Soltes, professor of Art and Religion at Georgetown
University has said that these paintings, “convey the emotional content of memory…they take on the
contours of figures…which are eerily absent…these are texts without words, caught between the realms
of the natural and the preternatural.”
Contact Ted to purchase a painting or drawing:
http://www.tedkliman.com/
(301) 345-3945
September 2007
A Little Ways Down the Path…
Yes, that’s right, just past the garden, and down the path some. There you might find a branch in the path.
Not just any branch. This one has a certain color, maybe a hint of silver or red. And, over there, some clay and a few small pebbles.
Keep going and you’ll see more of the gifts the forest path offers. As you leave the forest and enter the fields you may find grasses
of various hues. Look out there and you just might see someone else – someone looking closely at roadside bushes, seemingly searching for
a gem where others may pass by without a second glance. That would be local artist Paul Downs engaging with his medium.
Paul Downs’ latest show at the New Deal Cafe displays his exquisite ability to bring nature to you. His work, in the medium of
found natural materials, brings the viewer refreshing and enticing images of a life lived without the trappings of modern times.
Down this path you may see a canoe paddling by, a serpent slithering through, a falcon in a steep dive, or, you may hear the lone
whistle of a train passing in the night, the crackle of a storytime campfire, someone splashing into the water, maybe the voice of
the “King” or … the silence in the spaces between.
So, please, come a “little ways down the path” to the New Deal Cafe this month from August 26 to September 26. And make a point of
coming by on Sunday, September 3rd, 2007 from 7-9pm for an artist reception to meet Paul Downs at the New Deal Cafe.
Photographs
Linda Siadys is a professional photographer based in Greenbelt, Maryland and her body of work focuses on Nature,
Contemporary Art, and Photojournalism, especially Sports. Her show at the New Deal Cafe A la Carte exhibit showcases
a sampling of all her work.
In 2001 Linda picked up a camera, and with no formal education in photography or art, but a desire to be a good
photographer, decided with a free spirit to photograph whatever she wanted. This approach has led to a solid portfolio in
three different styles. More importantly she discovered for the first time a realization of a connection to her calling
and purpose in life.
Although a lot of her images are straight-forward, typical shots, many are more abstract and artistic. A common thread
through all of her work is a particular focus on the symbolism or archetype nested an image. She has always been fascinated
with symbolism, because she feels it invites and engages not just the mind, but the unconscious and senses to experience what
lies beyond the visual. Her Contemporary art has been embraced by the Metropolitan Arts community and DC Art Bank has purchased
her work and one of her pieces is showcased at the Department of Forestry in DC.
Linda is a participating artist in the annual Two Rivers Gala, an event that raises funds and awareness for Two Rivers School.
This year she had a solo nature show at the Hollingsworth Gallery at Patuxent Wildlife Refuge and was part of an impressive
group show at the US District Courthouse in Greenbelt. Currently Maryland National Capital Park and Planning Commission is
showcasing her boxing photography in a solo show at 6600 Kenilworth Avenue in Riverdale Maryland. To view more of her work,
please visit her website at http://www.lindasiadys.com or her
collections at her online gallery: http://photodawg1.smugmug.com/.
August 2007
Oils
Oil paintings of flowers, and views of Greenbelt Lake and Scotland, the latter
dating from her trip there last summer researching her ancestors.
Elizabeth studied music in Europe on a Fulbright Scholarship and has a doctorate
in vocal music from the University of Maryland. She has taught at the University of Papua and New Guinea.
In Greenbelt, she likes to paint local scenery, and she is an active singer with her church. She has
just had a book published in England in which she matched Biblical passages and other sacred writings
with the melodies of great musical masters.
The reception for the August show on Sunday, August 5, will be very special.
Elizabeth will have her works on exhibit, but the reception will also reflect her musical talents and
enthusiasm for world music! Not only is she planning to sing, but her sister will play the flute and a new
neighbor of Elizabeth’s, Yuli Wang, will play traditional Chinese music on the Chinese zither. Please
join us from 7pm to 9pm!
Artwork
July 2007
Expressions of One in Tissue Paper Collage
This self-taught artist works in tissue paper collage to create painting-like
results. Included in show are several pieces done with only recycled tissue paper from shoe boxes,
stores, and gift bags—helping to reduce our landfill if only by a slight bit! Until July 29th.
See something you like? You can reach Jan at 301-351-8022 or
to purchase a piece!
Expressions in Stained Glass
Richard teaches stained glass and mosaic classes at the Greenbelt Community
Center.
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