Joan Baez in her studio. Courtesy image.
Donna Seager and Suzanne Gray had long wanted to host an exhibit at their downtown Mill Valley gallery that centered around human rights and social change, and Baez delivered with portraits that served as a reaction to the collapse of decency and moral standards which is currently being made obscenely evident in our government and its supporters,” she said at the time. “In stark contrast, the ‘Mischief Makers’ are people who are willing to accept suffering, but never inflict it, to die for their cause, but never kill for it, and keep a sense of mischief through it all.”
The paintings spanned a veritable who’s who of activists who brought about social change through nonviolent action, including Martin Luther King Jr., Malala Yousafzai, Bob Dylan, the now late Congressman John Lewis, farm worker heroine Dolores Huerta and many more. All of the exhibit’s paintings sold out immediately, a boon to all involved, particularly Carecen SF, the organization to which Baez is donating a portion of the proceeds.
Now Baez is back with Mischief Makers 2, a follow up that features acrylic portraits of the likes of incoming Vice President Kamala Harris, Dr. Anthony Fauci, the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Greta Thunberg, Michael Moore, Colin Kaepernick, Emma Gonzalez, Wavy Gravy and Alice Walker, among others. Baez’s portrait of Harris went viral earlier this year when she posted it with the word “badass.”
The virtual show opens January 6 and runs through February 14 at Seager Gray Gallery. In celebration of her 80th birthday, a virtual reception will be streamed at 5:30pm PT January 9 with an interview, a virtual tour of the show and other festivities and “mischief” to mark this milestone occasion. Tix are $15 in advance at https://bit.ly/JoanBaezLiveStream