As the crow flies

Artist finds inspiration in the ‘brazen’ birds

Thousands of glossy blue-black crows gathered in a pretty cove near Portland, Maine, doing God knows what. They were almost swaggering as they lined tree limbs, power lines and rooftops, much like they were ready to re-enact Alfred Hitchcock’s daylight attack in “The Birds.”

But artist Lissa Hunter was charmed and fascinated. When they suddenly took flight, her good-natured husband ran outside and snapped photos of the flocks soaring in the sky. And Hunter’s new artistic inspiration was born.

She knows most folklore and most writers, including Edgar Allen Poe and poet Wallace Stevens, regard crows as bad omens. But in her art they are beautiful.

“I love the way crows look as if they are carved out of coal and have a flamboyant unique way of flying,” Hunter says from her Maine home. “Their personalities are clever, brazen — they announce themselves and they are not cute or cuddly. I find that inspiring. In my paintings and ceramics, crows are not symbols of doom. They’re good companions.”

Chattanoogans can decide for themselves when they see a River Gallery exhibit showcasing her work with Tennessee landscape painter David Swanagin. Both artists will be at the gallery on Sept. 10 to meet the public and discuss their art. It will be Hunter’s first visit to Chattanooga.

Hunter worked in weaving and basketry for years but says, “I just got bored with the work and myself.

“Artists can get trapped into a medium that they’ve done for a long time. I was nervous about trying ceramics because so much of that art is out of my control — the time in the kiln, what a glaze might actually look like when it’s done. But I came to love it.”

Swanagin is a landscape painter known for the subtle and varied ways he handles light in his scenes with some skies heralding a storm or twilight or a glorious sunset. He’s traveled the world but finds much of his inspiration in Tennessee.

“Many of the paintings that will be at River Gallery depict a 20-mile loop that I know well in the Great Smokies,” he says.

Contact Lynda Edwards at 423-757-6391 or ledwards@ timesfreepress.com.

CONTRIBUTED PHOTOS Crows’ “personalities are clever, brazen,” artist Lissa Hunter says.

To many, crows are a symbol of darkness and danger, but Lissa Hunter finds them inspiring. When a flock of crows took flight from a tree near her Maine home, artist Lissa Hunter used a photo of them and turned it into this painting. “They announce...

David Swanagin is known for his landscapes with vast, luminous skies. He will be showcased in a September exhibit along with Lissa Hunter. Here, he depicts fields of lavender in full bloom.

David Swanagin captures the changing light of oncoming storms, twilight, cloudless summer days, crisp autumn air and, shown here, blazing sunsets.