Joni Mitchell Becomes U.S. Citizen at 81, Announces Painting Book NEWS

By Elena Vasquez

Joni Mitchell became a dual citizen of the United States and Canada on Tuesday, 62 years after she first moved to the States. "I became a citizen so I could vote," Mitchell told Rolling Stone. "I'm a proud Canerican like Neil Young."

Young, her longtime friend, took the same path in 2020 — 54 years after he crossed the U.S. border illegally in a Pontiac hearse.

Mitchell marked the moment with an announcement. On Nov. 4, three days before her 83rd birthday, she will release NEWS, a book of 23 paintings confronting the 24-hour news cycle. A lifelong painter, Mitchell conceived, executed and designed the project herself, pairing song lyrics, imagery and slogans.

Why painting, and why now?

Mitchell frames the book as the end of one career and the return to a first love. "Recently I retired from music in order to pursue my first love, painting," the back cover of NEWS reads. "When [George] Bush was president and the Twin Towers in New York were attacked, I did a series of political paintings. In the current climate, I felt a need to express my concern. It is an artist's duty to speak up."

She places the work in a direct lineage of political art. "Picasso created 'Guernica' to protest the Spanish Civil War. Charlie Chaplin's film The Great Dictator ridiculed Hitler. Mel Brooks' comedy The Producers also took a poke at that mad man with Springtime for Hitler," Mitchell said. "NEWS is my protest song — a song not for the ears, but for the eyes. I hope that you will not be offended by the truth of it. This is not fake news!"

The takeaway: Mitchell has traded the microphone for the brush, but she has not stopped protesting.

How can buyers get it?

The book will ship in two formats:

• A standard edition.
• 500 hand-numbered and signed editions, sold through Mitchell's website and Julien's Publishing, with preorders opening Oct. 15 at 10 a.m. ET.

Julien's will also run NEWS: Numbered, Signed & Personalized, an auction of book numbers one through 10, from Oct. 15 through Oct. 29. All proceeds go to four charities: the ACLU, St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, Save The Children and the ASPCA.

Five hundred signed copies for a global fanbase means the collectible edition will sell through fast. The charity auction gives that scarcity a public price test inside two weeks.

Where can the paintings be seen?

The original works will hang at L.A. Louver in Venice, California, on Oct. 29 and 30 — a two-day window for a 23-painting show.

NEWS is Mitchell's second art book. It follows 2019's Morning Glory on the Vine, a volume of watercolors, handwritten lyrics and poems titled after a line from Young's "Motion Pictures (For Carrie)," from the On the Beach era.

Next month also brings the 50th anniversary of Hejira, her landmark 1976 album. With a citizenship date, a book launch and a half-century milestone inside a single season, Mitchell has turned a private milestone into a public schedule.