Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell is turning her attention to politics and the 24-hour news cycle with NEWS, a new book collecting 23 of her paintings that will arrive on Nov. 4.
The hardcover book was conceived, created and designed entirely by Mitchell, who has maintained a visual art practice throughout her career and was trained at the Alberta College of Art. Published by Julien’s Publishing, NEWS incorporates slogans, song lyrics and imagery to address the political climate.
“In the current climate, I felt a need to express my concern,” Mitchell said in the announcement. “It is an artist’s duty to speak up. NEWS is my protest song - a song not for the ears but for the eyes,” she said. “This is not fake news!”
The book is a new opportunity to explore Mitchell’s work as a visual artist, a side of her creative life that has often taken a back seat to her music and that she has gotten back to after retiring from music. Across a career spanning more than six decades, the Fort Macleod-born icon has established herself as one of the most influential singer-songwriters of her generation, releasing albums including Blue and Court and Spark. The book follows Morning Glory on the Vine: Early Songs and Drawings, which came out in 2019 and collected her watercolor paintings, handwritten lyrics and poems.
NEWS will be available in a standard hardcover edition priced at US$65. A limited edition of 500 signed and numbered copies was also announced at US$250 each. Both editions are listed through Mitchell’s official online store, although the store currently marks them as sold out.
The paintings will be exhibited publicly at L.A. Louver in Venice, California, on Oct. 29 and 30, ahead of the book’s release. An auction of the first 10 signed and numbered copies, running through Oct. 28, will benefit the ACLU, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, Save the Children and the ASPCA.
