Wolves, coyotes, magpies, cougars, grizzly bears, a British Columbian ground squirrel, and an American bittern are the cast of characters in Lisa Zwerling's new paintings. Wolves are presented as both wise and weary, gentle and cunning, whether curled up beside a tree or striding across the picture a symbol of the human heart. The wolf inhabits eight of Zwerling's pictures.

"Music hath charms to soothe the savage breast, to soften rocks, or bend a knotted oak," William Congreve's words from "The Mourning Bride." In Zwerling's second series, playful coyotes, cougars, and bear respond to a child who conducts nature with violin and bow. In the tradition of Orpheus, she charms the beasts and soothes the bestial part of man with music. "Symphonic Variations" is a large oil painting in which the rocks and trees join a pantheon of animals in rhythmic response. In "Sonata," "Fugue," and "Scherzo," Zwerling plays with combinations of pastel and watercolor: densely colored figures and animals rendered in pastel are surrounded and enveloped in an atmosphere of translucent watercolor.

Lisa Zwerling's last show was in 2000 at the Frye Art Museum in Seattle. The museum exhibited 23 of the artist's paintings from the prior decade and published a catalogue with an essay by Robert Rosenblum.