Celebrating 50 Years!
The 50th Anniversary Exhibition
was presented May 14-June 8, 2024!
Featuring the work of:
Leda Arensberg
Frederick Ballet
Ellen Bradshaw
Len DeLuca
Barbara Fracchia
David Hathaway
Lisa Ocasio Hirkaler
Sri Hunter
Ann Kraus
Joseph O'Neill
Carol Nussbaum
Mitchell Rodbell
Heather Stivison
Joyce Weidenaar
In the tumultuous late 1960s and early 1970s the art world was exploding with new ideas. During that time, a controversial idea was born: that artists could escape from the restraints of commercial galleries by joining together to create their own galleries. These new galleries made room for artists whose works were not being shown, including contemporary women artists and emerging artists with unfamiliar names. Cooperative galleries were liberated from the artistic limitations and prevailing styles featured by commercial galleries.
Pleiades Gallery, which opened its doors in 1974, was at the cutting edge of these changes. Pleiades was one of the original pioneers of the movement, becoming the headquarters for the Association of Artist Run Galleries (AARG), with some 25 member galleries nationwide.
A Controversial Beginning
AT RIGHT
The controversy about cooperative galleries spread from coast-to-coast, with critics taking opposing sides on the concept. A UPI article on the topic was picked up nationwide—shown here as it appeared in the Cincinnati Press, on November 17, 1976.
The article features eleven important cooperative galleries from San Francisco to Washington D.C. to New York City. The photograph features Pleiades artist, Joellen Bard is shown with her work in the Gallery. The article also references Pleiades Gallery’s outstanding multi-day symposium.
Cutting Edge Symposia
AT RIGHT
Pleiades Gallery’s fourth symposium "Time and Space Concepts in Environmental Art” was moderated by Harold Rosenberg, shown here in a photo taken during the event. Rosenberg was a writer, educator, and philosopher who was best known as the art critic for the New Yorker from 1967 to 1978.
AT RIGHT
The crowd overflowed the gallery when Pleiades presented "Time and Space Concepts in Environmental Art.” The symposium included John Cage, Christo, Merce Cunningham, and other luminaries of the creative arts.