Art on the Walls

The New Deal Cafe provides a venue for local artists to exhibit and sell their work. We have a showroom and glass display cases, and every other month new artwork is featured. Join us at a reception to meet the creative talent behind the next exhibit.

If you’re an artist, we’d love to talk to you about having a show at the cafe.

The cafe’s art exhibits are mounted by the New Deal Cafe Art Committee and sponsored by the Friends of New Deal Cafe Arts with support from Prince George’s County. Your tax-deductible donation to FONDCA supports art at the cafe.

September 2010

Splendor of Natural Vistas by Rhia Khan and Misadventures of the Mind: One Year, 365 Paintings by Rich Potter will be on display from September 7th to October 31st, and there will be a public reception for the exhibits on September 26th from 7pm to 9pm.

Splendor of Natural Vistas by Rhia

The exhibit consists of some of Rhia’s best photographic artistic pieces, including a dazzling collection of landscapes from New Mexico, Colorado, Maryland, and Washington, DC.

Rhia is the owner and manager of Digital Photos by Rhia™ and a professional photographer. She is also a member of Maryland State Arts Council. While she has photographed with 35mm film, Rhia primarily works with digital photography. Rhia has degrees in Business Administration from Prince George’s Community College (A.S., 2004) and American InterContinental University (MBA, 2010) and has studied art, photography, and business at the University of Maryland (2004-6) and The Art Institute of Washington (2010). Rhia has been a photographer since 2004 and has photographed several bands and musicians as Director of Photography. As an amateur photographer she took stunning photos of landscapes and photographed weddings and events as gifts for her closest friends. With six years of photography experience behind her, including weddings, events, music, sports, nature, architecture, studio, and artistic, Rhia is pleased to offer her debut art exhibit at New Deal Cafe to show some of her best artistic pieces including a dazzling collection of landscapes. Rhia is also an artist and does charcoals, sketches, oil pastels, colored pencils, and has recently started venturing into painting.

Artist Statement

When I take photos, my aim is to take exemplary quality digital shots. In nature photos, I combine elements of lighting, stability, speed, and motion if necessary to take photos that are clearly impressive. Photos of natural elements found within nature, wildlife, moving water, the sun, sky, people present out for a stroll, and the landscape itself all add to the composition of the photo I try to capture. I am proud of my photographs and hope to leave a positive impression upon you.

Often, a challenge I find present during a photo shoot is that the sky is too blue, the water too green (or brown), the wildlife too distant, the trees too…

With digital editing I can fix these problems, however, I prefer to shoot on days where the sunny skies provide optimal shooting opportunities. I would rather capture an image that is breathtakingly beautiful while striking an impression on a viewer’s mind without necessarily having to spend hours editing it. My goal is to convey natural beauty…aaahh well naturally. I hope in your eyes that I meet that goal.

Find Rhia’s work on her website at www.digitalphotosbyrhia.com.

Misadventures of the Mind: One Year, 365 Paintings by Rich Potter

Artist and Circus Veteran Rich Potter Paints the Year with a Comic Brush

When creating his art, Rich Potter paints from his experiences as a dreamer, tree-hugger, world traveler, and circus clown. His recent diagnosis of Attention Deficit Disorder was both the adversary, and the inspiration for him to sit down, once a day for a year, to create 365 different paintings. This exhibition contains only 43 paintings, or 12% of that body of work, as there are enough paintings to fill a wing of the National Gallery of Art. (Mr. Potter indicates he is open to invitations thereof.) Until such an invitation arrives, he is choosing instead to display his works at the New Deal Cafe.

When he left his job with the Big Apple Circus Clown Care hospital program to concentrate on this passion, it was uncertain that he would be able to continue this project through travels to various gigs. However, he carried his muse — and an easel — with him while teaching circus arts in New Hampshire, vacationing in Key West, and studying at a clown school in Spain. He managed to paint. Every night.

His current exhibition stems from the source as his clown work, but instead of rainbows and lollipops, he ventures into a more twisted, sometimes macabre Wonderland where the Grim Reaper romances you, tooth fairies stalk you with pliers, and the canvas itself wants to taste your flesh. Kids may enjoy the works, but this show is decidedly for adults who want to enjoy their inner child.

To list the inspiration for each piece could fill a book. His interests include the supernatural, paranormal, religious, and the lies our parents traditionally tell us as we grow up. We are all a Gestalt of our experiences and the unique wiring of our souls. This show is a year-long snapshot of what mine looks like.” Mr. Potter said.

This Maryland native draws his style and influence from a misspent youth devouring comic books, Warner Bros. Cartoons and Mad magazines. His heroes and influences include Gary Larson, Salvador Dali, Buster Keaton, Chuck Jones, and Charles Addams. Mr. Potter added to this creative recipe an art school education, an international tour with Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus, and world travel as a variety entertainer, and still performs at his day job, doing shows at festivals, colleges and corporate events.

Read more about Mr. Potter’s voyage of discovery at awfulcute.com.