Permanent Exhibits
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Peace and Struggle (Mural)
Andy Shallal | 14th & V (Langston Room)
This mural takes the viewer on a journey through the civil rights movement. Some of the faces and events you see on the wall represent the struggles and triumphs of that period. The word “PEACE” at the center of the mural held by women suffragists and peace activists from the Women’s Peace Party provides a focal point for the room. At the top of the mural are the words of Langston Hughes’s poem, “Let America Be America Again.” This poem represents the hopes and aspirations of a true democracy. -
Paul Robeson: Artist Activist (Mural)
Anas "Andy" Shallal | Shirlington (Robeson Room)
The "Paul Robeson" mural, Andy Shallal’s third mural, indeed pays homage to this Renaissance man. In a time of deeply entrenched racism, Robeson struggled for further understanding of cultural difference and was a national symbol and leader in the war against fascism abroad and racism as home. Robeson used his profession as an artist as a platform for social change and justice. The significance of Robeson’s life and involvement in civil rights movements continues to reverberate throughout history and is remembered on this wall. -
I’ve Known Rivers (Mural)
Anas "Andy" Shallal | Hyattsville (Zinn Room)
Andy Shallal’s fourth mural pays homage to his late friend and mentor, historian and anti-war activist, Howard Zinn and Zinn’s best-known work, A People’s History of the United States. The title of the mural, “I’ve Known Rivers,” is a poem by Langston Hughes that stretches across the mural, weaving together the inspiration behind the name Busboys and Poets and the events and people that inspired Zinn’s faith in the possibility of historic change. Zinn’s life work stresses the importance for a critical understanding of our history and Shallal’s wall emphasizes Zinn’s philosophy. This philosophy emphasizes the role of working people, women, people of color, and organized social movements in shaping our history, and how history is made not by a few heroic individuals, but by people’s everyday choices and actions. -
Anna Rose Soevik art (Giclee prints on canvas)
Anna Rose Soevik | All Busboys and Poets Locations
Anna Rose Soevik has large-scale works on display at all locations of Busboys and Poets. Their iconic white backgrounds with brightly colored, recognizable scenes of peace and love have become iconic. -
Happy Family (Mixed media, handmade paper, papier-mâché)
Anthony Dihle | 450K
Anthony Dihle is a full-time designer living in Washington, DC. In addition to his artwork, Anthony has curated several poster/print shows and actively serves on the DC area board of AIGA, the professional association for design. Anthony also hosts workshops, and speaks about design and food on occasion. -
Blowback (Found object mixed media mural assemblage; digital print by Sonia Keiner, “sunrise ~ Lago de Atitlan”)
Matthew Gifford | Hyattsville
Matthew Gifford created the mural assemblage entitled “Blowback” in direct response to Andy Shallal’s requested themes of peace, democracy, and the military-congressional industrial complex, incorporating Howard Zinn’s philosophies, ideas, and research into the content. Watch Matthew and Sonia in action! -
Rammed Earth Drawing, Busboys and Poets (Hyattsville raw clay)
Margaret Boozer | Hyattsville
Margaret Boozer created the rammed earth drawing that hangs to the left of the main bar area with clay that was harvested from the building site of Busboys and Poets, Hyattsville. Boozer taught for ten years at the Corcoran College of Art and Design before founding Red Dirt Studio, where she directs a ceramics and sculpture seminar. -
Earth to Table (Archival pigment print, from the Hunger project, 2009-2010)
J.J. McCracken | Hyattsville
J.J. McCracken constructs active installations composed of earth materials and activated by sound, smell, taste, and living models that move through them, executing tasks they’ve been assigned. Her photographic print adorning the wall over the kitchen line was designed for Earth To Table, part of her 2009-2010 Hunger project. -
Clouds (Plaster, metal)
Joanna Blake | Hyattsville
Joanna Blake fabricated the plaster and metal sculptures that hang from the clouds. Margaret Boozer welded the crosshairs. Joanna has worked for Giannetti’s Studio sculpting architectural ornament. -
Farmer Portraits, ECO City Farm (Archival pigment prints)
Sonia Keiner | Hyattsville
Sonia Keiner’s farmer portraits were taken at the urban farm just down the road in Edmonston, MD. They are images of people who work, intern, train or volunteer at ECO City Farms and serve as a reminder of the commitment, labor and care vital to growing healthy, sustainable food. -
Genocide ≠ Justice (Posters)
Favianna Rodriguez | Hyattsville
Using high-contrast colors and vivid figures, Favianna Rodriguez’s composites reflect literal and imaginative migration, global community, and interdependence. Whether her subjects are immigrant day laborers in the U.S., mothers of disappeared women in Juárez, Mexico, or her own abstract self portraits, Rodriguez brings new audiences into the art world by refocusing the cultural lens. -
Message in A Bottle, Mississippi Freedom Riders
Martha Jackson Jarvis | Brookland
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Fry Cycle (Mixed Media Print)
Anna Riker |
Annie Riker is an illustrator, hand letterer, graphic designer, photographer (and whatever else you can add “er” to in the art world). Her style is organic, curious, playful, upbeat and uplifting, often infused with a bit of wit and humor. She is especially inspired by anything in nature, tea, coffee, traveling, cameras, dancing, yoga, cupcakes and bicycles. -
Papier Mâché Light Fixtures
Scott Hunter | 14th & V, 450K
As a child, Scott Hunter spent endless hours using mud, sticks and rocks to build fantastical water dams. Scott did not realize it at the time, but he was fostering a love of three-dimensional expression and creating. At 28, he built his first papier-mâché pieces as gifts of gratitude for close friends-a curious pig, a wise elephant and a grinning cat. The reaction to the work was overwhelming and positive. From that point on, Scott used the medium of papier-mâché as the foundation to reach out in unique conversations with other through form and color. Professionally, he has exhibited in individual and group shows, delivered private commissions and taught art classes to students of all ages. In art and life, Scott seeks to celebrate the whimsy and magic of the world.
