You might say that artist Richard Metz likes to crow about his paintings and prints. That's because the Chestnut Hill resident has long been captivated by the soaring black birds with the unmistakable cawing sound that echoes from their beaks.

“They really fascinate me,” Metz told the Local. “They are very smart, very loud and very social, and they perform an essential service for humans because they eat dead things. They have been aligned with humans for centuries.”

On Saturday, Metz will discuss his new book “A Murder of Crows” in a book signing Saturday, Nov. 16, at Teens, Inc., behind Hilltop Books in Chestnut Hill where his artwork will be exhibited for several weeks. Metz will be joined at Hilltop that day by local poets Peter Murphy, Jason Gordon and Eli Goldblatt.

The book, a combination of poems and artwork, represents “both the daily observations of crows outside my window, and my extensive readings on the habits and behaviors of corvids,” Metz wrote about his recently released work published by Frayed Edge Press. The book also considers the stories and myths that have developed around crows over the centuries. The word “Murder” in the book’s title refers to the collective noun used for a group of crows - analogous to a gaggle of geese.

Metz has spent the last five years studying, painting and drawing crows and the new book is a product of that research. “I have made friends with crows,” Metz said. “I saw a 'murder' every day in the neighborhood when living in Erdenheim, and I developed an affection for them. There was a New York Times article just yesterday about crows. Research has shown that they hold grudges.”

Metz is also known for his tree paintings. For example, last summer he painted onto trees at Abington Art Center with the permission of center officials. He uses paint made with natural non-toxic pigments and eggs. “I do not want anyone to get the idea that the paint is hurting the trees,” Metz said. “The paintings gradually fade away in two to three years, depending on weather conditions.”

Metz, who earned a Master's in Fine Art from the Maine College of Art in 2000, has been showing his work in the Philadelphia and New York areas and beyond for more than 40 years. When he started creating tree paintings, Metz, who taught art at Abington High School for 29 years and Philadelphia schools for two years before retiring in 2019, snuck into the woods in eastern Montgomery County and used colors he mixed himself. 

His goal was to “get closer to the process” used by the old masters he had “read so much about in art history books.” So he began using substances like ground charcoal, indigo or the spice turmeric (for a yellow tint) with eggs to create a colored liquid substance that would bind to the rough barky surface.

Metz regards his work as anti-materialist and anti-consumerist and to some extent a compelling critique of the function of art as a commodity since it is not possible to own these works of art. You are not likely to find a more committed, passionate environmentalist. He has written letters to newspapers, made environmental art, marched in protests, donated money to environmental causes, signed petitions and attended community meetings in Springfield Township to speak out on the issues.

“But all of this has had little effect in stopping or slowing down the destruction machine that is eating up our forests and wild green spaces,” he said in an earlier interview. “There needs to be a moratorium on new construction for communities to pause and consider the best course forward. Local communities are at a loss because of the way permits, zoning laws and community input is constructed.

“The larger problem is community values versus the capitalist system,” he continued. “When wooded land can be bought and all the trees cut down, it's not a sustainable way forward. But who's to say how one's land can be used or whom it can be sold to? The community must be able to protect itself, but politicians are lobbied by the powerful construction industry and other anti-environmental corporations, and their money influences lawmakers to ignore community interests and pass laws to limit the power of local communities.”

Metz also laments the rabid cutting down of trees in forests that he said were once viewed as incapable of being depleted.  “But now, 350 years after a massive tree cutting began, we have new information,” he said. “The forests are necessary for human survival in that they provide oxygen, combat the effects of climate change, provide necessary ecosystems for wildlife and contribute to the physical and emotional well being for people.”

Metz’s environmental activism includes his role as the founder and co-chair of the three-year-old Southeastern PA Single Use Plastics Coalition, a group of 63 townships that are working to reduce plastic waste. So far, 28 have passed single-use plastic bag bans. They meet every other month through Zoom. Metz is also working with Clean Free Philly, a group focused on phasing out and eliminating gas-powered leaf blowers.

The author chat and poetry event at Hilltop Books starts at 4 p.m. Refreshments will be served. For more information, call Hilltop Books, 84 Bethlehem Pike, at 215-315-8588 or visit mistermetz.com. Len Lear can be reached at lenlear@chestnuthilllocal.com