Internationally recognized painter and printmaker Debra Walker, who is also an LGBTQ activist and a Commissioner for the City of San Francisco, created the cover for this Pride 2023 issue of the San Francisco Bay Times. The image celebrates Women’s Music: music by, for, and about women. In particular, it focuses on the past fifty years of this genre.
Featured in the image are some of the most iconic and influential Women’s Music artists throughout this period: Margie Adam, Meg Christian, Barbara Higbie, Krissy Keefer and Dance Brigade, Holly Near, Vicki Randle, Linda Tillery, Cris Williamson, Julie Wolf, and others. In an exclusive piece for the Bay Times (see pages 6–7 of this issue), Margie Adam reflects on her life as a singer, songwriter, pianist, and activist. As she shares in the piece, she performed with Meg Christian, Holly Near, and Cris Williamson during a seminal 6-city, 9-concert tour. These four artists are therefore shown together on the cover.
The background of the image was inspired by the 650-acre woodland site of the Michigan Womyn’s Music Festival in Oceana County, Michigan. The music festival was founded by Lisa Vogel, her sister Kristie Vogel, and friend Mary Kindig. It was held annually from 1976 to 2015.
Walker has created other memorable covers for the Bay Times over the years. Regular readers of the paper may recall her artwork for the cover of the June 25, 2015, Pride issue. It too celebrated Women’s Music, which emerged as a musical expression of the second-wave feminist movement as well as the labor, civil rights, and peace movements.
About Our Cover
Published on June 22, 2023
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