“Dog Years” by Maggie Vandewalle
“Twain (Dante & Beatrice)” by Anna Carll
“Ode to Abbott Thayer” by Maddin Corey
“The Light Within” by Verina BaxterIF YOU GO• What: Art.a.ma.jig, fundraiser for Southern Lit Alliance.• When: 6-9 p.m. Thursday.• Where: The Church on Main, 1601 Rossville Ave.• Admission: $75, buy them at https://secure.qgiv.com/for/sla/event/50298.• Information: southernlitalliance.org or 423-267-1218.
A pale, spooky baby wearing crooked, white, feathery wings turns a steel-blue-eyed stare on anyone approaching her as shreds of red-stained paper and pink Christmas tree balls whip about the darkness around her. A thin ribbon tied across her forehead blowing in the wind makes her look like an infant pirate.
The painting is titled “Ode to Abbott Thayer,” a brilliant portrait painter (Mark Twain hired him) and eccentric whose detailed nature drawings launched the craft of military camouflage. A fresh-air fanatic who forced his family to sleep outdoors, even in winter snow, he never recovered from the deaths of two of his children. He once constructed huge feathered white wings then nailed them to a barn wall, then posed his beautiful (living) daughter in front of the wings so he could paint her as an angel.
“Ode,” painted by Chattanooga artist Maddin Corey, makes a viewer crave clues to the story behind it, which makes it a perfect fit for Art.a.ma.jig, the annual fundraiser for the Southern Lit Alliance. More than 70 area artists have donated paintings for a silent auction whose theme is “Stories.” Author Clyde Edgerton donated a mysterious watery landscape and a quote from him graces the invitations.
“Stories give me the chance to change from the waiting chaos of the universe into something more comfortable,” Edgerton’s quote reads.