David Swing was an engraver, painter, and muralist as well as an accomplished musician. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, he moved as an adult to California, where he served as president of the Los Angeles Engraving Company from 1905 until 1914, and maintained a studio in Pasadena. In 1917 Swing moved to Phoenix, Arizona, where he taught at Phoenix Junior College and participated in the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA), a program that ran from 1933 to 1935, to alleviate adult unemployment during the Great Depression. Swing painted murals, and many independent desert scenes. His work can be found in the Phoenix Public Library System and the Phoenix Masonic Temple.
