Marin County teenager James Lee, also known as Jamesey, finds joy in making art. Diagnosed with autism at age two, Lee has been drawing and painting since he was a young child, finding comfort in the colors he works with and in the gestures of painting on large canvases, which often gets him dancing as he paints.

A longtime student at Oak Hill School in San Anselmo, which serves students with autism spectrum disorders and other health impairments, Lee was forced to stay home when the school shut down due to the pandemic in March. So, he turned to art and started painting every day.

Soon after that, in June, the de Young Museum in San Francisco announced an open call for submissions from local artists for “The de Young Open” exhibition. Over 6,000 artists from nine Bay Area counties submitted over 11,000 works, including Lee’s mother, who submitted two works on behalf of her son under the name Jamesey.

Of those works, jurors selected Jamesey’s “Pandemic Blue #1” to display as part of “The de Young Open,” giving Lee his official debut as an exhibiting artist.

For de Young’s open exhibition, the jurors accepted less than 8-percent of all the works submitted, and each piece of art was reviewed anonymously, meaning the jurors had no idea that “Pandemic Blue #1” was the work of a teen with autism when they selected it.

“Pandemic Blue #1” can be seen now at the de Young Museum or on the museum’s website, which shares Lee’s story in the artist statement, writing that though Lee cannot verbally identify colors, he has an instinctive grasp of color theory. Painting a layer at a time, Lee varies his hue and tone, and he is now learning to “self-edit” his art by covering parts of the canvas in plastic, applying layers of paint over them, and removing the plastic to create shapes or structures. This process is repeated over and over until Lee declares that the canvas is “so beautiful.” Finally, he draws over the layered colors in Sharpie, adding symbols of swimming pools and lifesavers that have become his own personal iconography.

In addition to “Pandemic Blue #1,” Lee has over a dozen paintings in his ongoing pandemic series, and his family is generously donating his paintings for a virtual auction to benefit Oak Hill School, which has had to cancel its annual fundraiser that provides scholarships to students in need. To own a Jamesey piece of art and support Oak Hill School, visit the auction site airauctioneer.com/jamesey.

North Bay service industry workers, farm workers and students are all on the receiving end of three generous outings and offerings from local volunteer groups who want to help those in need this season.

In Napa County, nonprofit organization Celebration Nation is rolling out a major campaign to provide Thanksgiving dinner along with blankets, jackets and other winter essentials to over 3,000 farm workers and low-income families.

The newly unveiled #ThankYouFarmWorkers campaign will be in Calistoga today, Monday, Nov. 23 from 4pm to 7pm, to distribute free food and more at Calistoga Seventh Day Adventist Church located at 2102 Grant Street.

The drive-thru Thanksgiving distribution event is being helmed by Flor Martinez, an-immigrant rights activists who herself worked as a farm worker before she qualified for DACA. Since Martinez has multiple contacts in the agricultural community, she is also able to directly contact farm supervisors and arrange transportation vehicles to the farm sites for additional distribution by volunteers.

For today’s distribution event, farmworkers and their families can receive a turkey, a box of food items and other winter items, and gift cards. Celebration Nation is dedicated to supporting the Latino community throughout California, and this distribution event is one of many taking place in underserved communities in the state.

In Sonoma County, a newly formed organization, the Service Industry Relief Fund of Sonoma County, is joining forces with the Society of St. Vincent de Paul District Council of Sonoma County to launch a campaign to help service industry workers living in Sonoma County who have lost half or more of their income due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

The Service Industry Relief Fund of Sonoma County (SIRFSC) is offering $500 stipends to those workers who qualify, and the funds are made possible by local donors; meaning that this is an opportunity to directly support someone in Sonoma County through a donation that goes entirely to those in need.

“Sonoma County is home to more than 70,000 service industry workers, many of whom have lost part or all of their income to Covid-19, including me,” says Krista Williams, lead coordinator for SIRFSC, in a statement. “Most of us were already making less than the County’s median income before the pandemic struck, so it’s wonderful that those who can are helping those who desperately need assistance.”

“Our agency has found ways to provide help to those who need it in Sonoma County for more than 60 years,” says Jack Tibbetts, Executive Director of St. Vincent de Paul Sonoma County, in a statement. “We are proud that Krista and her team have created a way to address a new source of great need in our county, and we are equally proud to support their work.”

The Service Industry Relief Fund of Sonoma County is online now and accepting applications for stipends as well as donations at sirfsc.org.

In Marin County, an all-volunteer parent group is stepping up to support Marin students by giving over $100,000 in pandemic relief grants. The group, Dedication to Special Education, typically focuses on those students with special needs; though the group is now opening its funds to all students in Marin who are navigating the Covid-19 pandemic.

“Adults aren’t the only ones struggling with the changes in our lives; kids are really struggling as well,” says Jenny Novack, co-chair of the organization, in a statement. “It’s all about access to educational opportunities and, during the pandemic, it is about having a plan to support individual student’s needs whether they have an IEP (Individual Education Plan) or not.”

Dedication to Special Education’s pandemic relief grants will allow the Marin County Office of Education to contract with companies to provide literacy support for students struggling to work with new technology, and the group is also committed to supporting students with social-emotional learning challenges.

“It is clear the current need for our kids isn’t only academic. Addressing social-
emotional learning goes hand in hand with academic learning,” says Novack.

Several Marin school districts are currently rolling out these programs within their individual schools and the county intends to have all tools in place by the end of the year.

“This is an extraordinary contribution for, not only the over 4,000 children in special education, but approximately 40,000 public school students and its impact throughout Marin is significant,” says Mary Jane Burke, Marin County Superintendent of Schools, in a statement. “The parent volunteers of Dedication to Special Education work hard throughout the year to raise money for the grants program. With the pandemic, they saw an opportunity to help with distance learning for all students. I don’t know of any other effort quite like it. We are truly blessed to have them as partners.”

Two decades into its endeavor to share the American art form of Jazz with North Bay audiences through live concerts and educational programs, Healdsburg Jazz is having one of its busiest years in 2020.

Even with its annual summer festival canceled and live events on hold due to Covid-19, Healdsburg Jazz became one the first North Bay arts organizations to take its programming online with music history classes and virtual concerts.

In addition, Healdsburg Jazz founder and longtime artistic director Jessica Felix announced her retirement in September, and acclaimed composer and bandleader Marcus Shelby took over duties as the festival’s new artistic director in October.

Shelby recently laid out his vision for the future at Healdsburg Jazz’s virtual Gala earlier this month, which also featured performances by several popular artists and words from other honorees and community leaders.

With so much going on, it’s easy to miss the fact that Healdsburg Jazz is hosting anther eye-opening and ear-pleasing virtual presentation this weekend, as world-renowned jazz organist Joey DeFrancesco offers the “Evolution of Jazz Organ” on Sunday, Nov. 22, at 5pm.

DeFrancesco will discuss his 30-plus years on the jazz scene and will take an extensive look into Jazz Organ, and it’s impact on the music. Along with DeFrancesco, the presentation will feature guest artists such as drummer Billy Hart and tenor saxophonist Jerry Weldon, both of whom are longtime collaborators with DeFrancesco as well as Healdsburg Jazz favorites.

Raised in Philadelphia, DeFrancesco’s musical emergence in the 1980s marked the onset of a Jazz renaissance. While jazz musicians such as Duke Ellington and Fats Waller originally adopted the Hammond organ in the early days of the scene, the organ had all but gone into hibernation in the jazz world from the mid-’70s to the mid-’80s until DeFrancesco reignited the flame with his vintage Hammond organ and Leslie speaker cabinet.

The son of “Papa” John DeFrancesco, an organist himself, the younger DeFrancesco remembers playing as early as four-years-old. Soon after, his father began bringing him to gigs in Philadelphia, sitting in with legendary players like Hank Mobley and Philly Joe Jones, who quickly recognized his talent and enthusiasm.

With a natural gift for music, DeFrancesco also swiftly picked up on the trumpet after a touring stint with Miles Davis as one of the two youngest players ever recruited for any of Davis’ ensembles.

DeFrancesco’s musical relationship with drummer Billy Hart dates back to 1989, and the two players have shared recording duties on several releases over the years, including Grammy-nominated releases. DeFrancesco and Jerry Weldon have shared five recording sessions and the bandstand countless times over the years as well.

All three musicians have an extensive history on the jazz scene, collectively performing or recording with just about every musician with a connection to the pioneers of jazz. DeFrancesco invited both Hart and Weldon to join him for this zoom event to share their experiences performing together and their extensive music history with a specific focus on Organ Jazz.

‘Evolution of Jazz Organ’ streams online Sunday, Nov. 22, at 5pm. Free, registration required. Healdsburgjazz.org.