The Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS) was an art exhibition at the Woman's Building (a feminist art center) in

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with associated events in other locations. It ran from 3–31 May 1980. The Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Community Services Center also supported the exhibit.

Structure

The GALAS consisted of an "invitational" event, a curated exhibition of the work of ten selected artists, and many "regional" or "sister" exhibitions in multiple cities across the

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. These locations included New York City,

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, Bozeman, Winter Park, Lawrence,

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, and

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among "over 200 shows and events." According to Margo Hobbs Thompson, the art displayed constituted "a critique of contemporary gender norms." It was described by Terry Wolverton, one of the organizers, as "a year-long project to bring national recognition to lesbian art and artists." All of the invited artists lived in either Los Angeles or New York. GALAS was curated by the GALAS Collective including: Terry Wolverton, Bia Lowe, Jody Isanna Palmer, Tyaga, and Louise Moore.

Artists invited

The artists invited to participate in the curated exhibit were: * Lula Mae Blocton * Tee Corinne * Betsy Damon * Louise Fishman * Nancy Fried * Harmony Hammond *Debbie Jones * Lili Lakich * Gloria Longval *

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(although she identified as bisexual, not lesbian)

Origins

Planning for the GALAS started in the spring of 1979. The organizing group, known as the GALAS Collective, was separate from the Lesbian Art Project, which also met at the Woman's Building, although there was some overlap of membership.

Reactions

Tyaga, one of the event curators, was quoted by the

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while the exhibition was running as saying: "Just having the name 'Great American Lesbian Art Show' says a lot. It helps overcome fear. Art is non-threatening--it hangs on the wall and people look. It's the label that's the threat." Harmony Hammond, writing in the ''Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures'' said that GALAS was "noteworthy for its innovative curatorial structure" and that it "marked the first time that lesbians of color participated in a major exhibition of lesbian art." Christopher Reed described GALAS as "poorly documented" but said that it showed "a greater interest in figuration among lesbian artists outside New York." Simon LeVay wrote about the art displayed at GALAS and another exhibition of roughly the same time: "For the first time a wide range of artists were willing to be public about being lesbians, although some of them still kept lesbian content as a suggestion rather than an overt statement in their art." Sarah L. Stifler wrote of the "variety of media" in GALAS, but said that it did not include the "blatant references to sexuality" that were featured in the 1990 exhibition "All but the Obvious" (ABO). Stifler also wrote that "Much of my research has focused on" GALAS and ABO.

Notes

{{reflist , refs= {{cite journal, journal=Journal of Lesbian Studies, title=DIY Identity Kit: The Great American Lesbian Art Show, doi=10.1080/10894160903196558, pmid=20408014, date=20 April 2010, pages=260–282, volume=14, issue = 2–3, first=Margo Hobbs , last=Thompson, s2cid=34404439{{cite web, url=http://womansbuilding.org/timeline.htm, title=Timeline, work=Woman's Building web site, accessdate=1 February 2014, url-status=dead, archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20111125014956/http://www.womansbuilding.org/timeline.htm, archivedate=25 November 2011 {{cite book, title=Live Art in LA: Performance in Southern California, 1970 - 1983, first=Peggy , last=Phelan, isbn=9781136467059, year=2012, publisher=Taylor & Francis, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hSVl3jGtu3YC&dq=The+Great+American+Lesbian+Art+Show&pg=PT354, accessdate=1 February 2014 {{cite web, url=http://collections.otis.edu/u?/wb,546, title=Poster for "Great American Lesbian Art Show" , year=1979, first=Bia , last=Lowe, work=Woman's Building Slide Archive {{cite news, title=Art from Closet to Gallery, date=May 27, 1980, first=Diane, last=Elvenstar, pages=G1–G2, quote="Just having the name 'Great American Lesbian Art Show' says a lot. It helps overcome fear," says the exhibit curator with the single name, Tyaga. "Art is non-threatening--it hangs on the wall and people look. It's the label that's the threat.", work=

{{cite book, title=Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building, first=Terry , last=Wolverton, page
91
��2, isbn=978-0872864030, url=https://archive.org/details/insurgentmuselif0000wolv, url-access=registration, quote=The Great American Lesbian Art Show., publisher=City Lights Publishers, year=2002 {{cite book, title=Art of Engagement: Visual Politics in California and Beyond, editor-first=Susan , editor-last=Landauer, page=210, publisher=University of California Press, isbn=978-0520240520, year=2006, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nBIM6iKsaoEC&dq=The+Great+American+Lesbian+Art+Show&pg=PA218, accessdate=1 February 2014 {{cite book, title=Encyclopedia of Lesbian and Gay Histories and Cultures, chapter=Art, Contemporary North American, first=Harmony , last=Hammond, editor1-first=Bonnie , editor1-last=Zimmerman , editor2-first=George E. , editor2-last=Haggerty, publisher=Taylor & Francis, year=2000, pages=64–5, isbn=9780815333548, chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nvt8el4QtPwC&dq=The+Great+American+Lesbian+Art+Show&pg=PA64, accessdate=1 February 2014 {{cite book, first=Christopher, last=Reed, title=Art and Homosexuality: A History of Ideas, page=194, publisher=

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

, year=2011, isbn=978-0195399073, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FXZAkTaNuHYC&dq=The+Great+American+Lesbian+Art+Show&pg=PA194, accessdate=1 February 2014 {{cite book, title=City of Friends: A Portrait of the Gay and Lesbian Community in America, first=Simon , last=LeVay, page=346, publisher=MIT Press, isbn=978-0262621137, year=1997, url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cl-4yFFql8gC&dq=The+Great+American+Lesbian+Art+Show&pg=PA345, accessdate=1 February 2014 {{cite journal, title=Slippery When Wet: An Exhibition Dossier, first=Sarah L. , last=Stifler, journal=GLQ: A Journal of Lesbian and Gay Studies , volume=8, issue=1–2, year=2002, pages=241–249, doi=10.1215/10642684-8-1-2-241 , s2cid=143684542 , url=http://muse.jhu.edu/journals/glq/summary/v008/8.1stifler.html, accessdate=1 February 2014, url-access=subscription

Structure

Artists invited

Origins

Reactions

Notes

See also