The Psychedelic Arts and Culture Trust has launched ’60 Years of the Grateful Dead’, a landmark retrospective celebrating the original art and imagery that shaped the band’s identity across six decades. Opening December 6th and running through June 1st, 2026 at The Chambers Project Gallery in Grass Valley, California, the exhibition gathers many of the original works created for the Dead’s most iconic posters and album covers. Curated by Brian Chambers, the show features artists including Rick Griffin, Stanley Mouse, Alton Kelley, Victor Moscoso, Wes Wilson, Bill Walker, and Owsley “Bear” Stanley. “This is the most ambitious exhibition I have ever planned,” Chambers says. “To see all of this history gathered under one roof will be something truly special.”
Highlights include Rick Griffin’s original pen and ink Hawaiian Aoxomoxoa drawing, considered one of the finest works of psychedelic typography, alongside his acrylic circus paintings for ‘Without a Net’, the original Europe 90 tour poster, and his first major work, the 1967 “Pow-Wow” Human Be-In poster. Bill Walker’s ‘Anthem of the Sun’ mandala, created for the band’s second album and refined for decades after its use on the cover, captures the spirit of the late sixties and the creative impact of LSD on art. Walker will attend the opening to share stories alongside Tom Constanten, who performs in a special Grateful Dead supergroup on December 5th. Historic Acid Test posters designed by Paul Foster and hand colored by Owsley “Bear” Stanley include the first public use of the name “Grateful Dead” after the band’s early Warlocks era.
The exhibition marks the first time the original Skeleton Amidst Roses illustration by Victorian artist Edmund J. Sullivan has been displayed in a Grateful Dead show. Created in 1900 and published in the 1913 edition of ‘The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam’, the drawing was adapted by Mouse and Kelley for the Avalon Ballroom in 1966 and for the 1971 ‘Skull and Roses’ album. The retrospective also features limited edition posters and original works by legendary artists Rick Griffin and Dennis Larkins alongside contemporary poster artists AJ Masthay and Zoltron, who carry forward the counterculture tradition. A rock concert style merchandise booth offers brand new, officially licensed and extremely limited edition Grateful Dead gear designed and curated by Zoltron, available exclusively during the exhibition.
The December 5th concert event features White Lightning with Grahame Lesh, Peter Harris, Pete Sears, Barry Sless, John Molo, Elliot Peck, and George Michalski. The exhibition opens December 6th, two days after the anniversary of the band’s founding.