Prints

Patti Smith, 2022

archival pigment print on Moab Entrada Natural 290 paper  
22 x 15.25 in

We are happy to announce the release of Joan Baez' print of her friend and fellow singer/activist, Patti Smith. The print is 22 x 15” unframed and is in an edition of 100, signed and numbered by the artist. The portrait was inspired by a photograph by Laura Stevens.

“Patti Smith is wise and sweet and funny and humble,” says Joan Baez. “And a friend.”

That friendship was cemented in 2015 when Smith presented Joan with Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award in Berlin where Baez was honored alongside international artist Ai Weiwei.

In her introduction, Smith said: “If the 16th century had Joan of Arc, we have Joan Baez.” She described Baez’s legacy as one of “solitary fierceness” that has been “a vehicle for social protest, a comfort and a ray of hope for people.”

Smith’s activism is primarily centered around the environment. A big supporter of Greta Thunberg, another of Joan’s Mischief Makers. Smith spoke of Joan in a 2018 LA Times interview.

“I did a concert in Cologne and Joan Baez joined me. We sang “A Hard Rain’s A-Gonna Fall” together, and we were both in tears singing because a lot of these concerns are within the lyrics of that song. And Joan Baez is fearless. To hear her really that worried about our future environmentally — we were confiding in each other, really, that we both are concerned with our grandchildren.”

The original painting of Patti Smith was donated to water[shed}, an exhibition in Tasmania, Australia that raised money for the restoration of the natural habitat of Lake Pedder and the exploration of restoring natural habitats everywhere.

The print is available for $1700 unframed plus shipping.