Bob Santoro writes: “After Joni and Chuck Mitchell split up, she left in their apartment on Ferry Street in Detroit a vanity that she painted. These were painted on the back of the two closed mirror panels. Chuck Mitchell gave my wife and I these gems, which he assured us was Joni's artwork.

An interesting sideline, an old woman, Madam Joneal (probably spelled wrong) (a teacher) who lived across the hall of this 5-story walk-up remembered Chuck and Joni living there. She told us that Buffy St. Marie and Gordon Lightfoot used to visit them and play cards. Also, Joni painted one of the rooms with a large bay window, all red. She used it as her music room; which I also did when we moved in. I am also a musician and artist, so I was thrilled to share the space where Joni may have composed some of her music while living with Chuck.

We were the third couple to sublet the apartment from Chuck Mitchell. He was looking for artist types to take over the sub-lease; both my wife Chris and I are artists, so I think that helped us get the apartment. We moved into the apartment in 1971. We baby-sat some of Chuck's furniture, until he came back a few years later to reclaim it. That is when he gave us the Joni Mitchell hand-painted vanity table with mirror doors. Each panel is 12x24 inches.

Photos courtesy of Bob Santoro.