The Great American Lesbian Art Show (GALAS) was an art exhibition at the

Woman's Building The Woman's Building was a non-profit arts and education center located in Los Angeles, California. The Woman's Building focused on feminist art and served as a venue for the women's movement and was spearheaded by artist Judy Chicago, graphic de ...

(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

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. These locations included New York City,

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, Bozeman, Winter Park,

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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 Terry Wolverton (born 1954) is an American novelist, memoirist, poet, and editor. Her boo''Insurgent Muse: Life and Art at the Woman's Building'' a memoir published in 2002 by City Lights Books, was named one of the "Best Books of 2002" by the Lo ...

, 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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

. 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 Tee A. Corinne (November 3, 1943 – August 27, 2006) was an American photographer, author, and editor notable for the portrayal of sexuality in her artwork. According to ''Completely Queer: The Gay and Lesbian Encyclopedia'', "Corinne is one of ...

Betsy Damon Betsy Damon (born 1940) is an American artist whose work has been influenced by her activism in women's, gay, and environmental rights. Early life and Family Damon was born in 1940 to George Huntington Damon and Harriet Atkins. Damon is an aun ...

* Louise Fishman * Nancy Fried *

Harmony Hammond Harmony Hammond (born February 8, 1944 in Hometown, Illinois) is an American artist, activist, curator, and writer. She was a prominent figure in the founding of the feminist art movement in 1970's New York. Early life and education Harmony ...

*Debbie Jones *

Lili Lakich Liliana Diane Lakich (born June 4, 1944) is an American artist, best known for her work in neon sculpture. As a child, she had been fascinated by neon advertising, and she built her career around illuminated art, with its special emotional power ...

Gloria Longval Gloria may refer to: Arts and entertainment Music Christian liturgy and music * Gloria in excelsis Deo, the Greater Doxology, a hymn of praise * Gloria Patri, the Lesser Doxology, a short hymn of praise ** Gloria (Handel) ** Gloria (Jenkin ...

Kate Millett Katherine Murray Millett (September 14, 1934 – September 6, 2017) was an American feminist writer, educator, artist, and activist. She attended Oxford University and was the first American woman to be awarded a degree with first-class honor ...

(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 Lesbian Art Project (1977 – 1979) was a participatory art movement founded by Terry Wolverton and Arlene Raven at the Woman's Building in Los Angeles. The pioneering project focused on giving a platform to lesbian and feminist perspectives ...

, 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

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' (abbreviated as ''LA Times'') is a daily newspaper that started publishing in Los Angeles in 1881. Based in the LA-adjacent suburb of El Segundo since 2018, it is the sixth-largest newspaper by circulation in the Un ...

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."

, 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 university press of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world, and its printing history dates back to the 1480s. Having been 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

Structure

Artists invited

Origins

Reactions

Notes

See also