Red Door Gallery – 1964
Archie Shepp: “On November 1st, the Detroit Artist’s Workshop, now defunct, celebrated its tenth anniversary. Not exactly an earth-shattering event, this anniversary, but one with great significance for those of us whose daily cultural practice sterns largely from that which developed during the post -beat, pre-hippie days of the early 1960s. Back before the 1967 Summer of Love/mass cultural explosion, which forever changed the face of this nation, there were only a few meccas of alternative consciousness in the midst of Ike Easyhower America. Most EVERYBODY back then was straight, immersed in the P.R. of Bob Hope and JFK, using Brylcreem, and certain that what was good for General Motors was good for the USA. Being a freek back then was REALLY being an oddity, the object of mixed amusement, scorn and often dangerous hostility. There weren’t any gathering places for those like yourself, you couldn’t cop marijuana in your high school lunchroom (if you had ever even heard of the weed), there was no In Concert to watch on tv, no anti-war demonstrations, and nobody had hair longer than John Wayne’s (except some women, most of whom spent life working to emulate Liz Taylor). But even in the midst of all that conformity the seeds had been sewn for the culture that has become so widespread, so accepted, and in some cases so co-opted today in 1974. Seeds like Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac, Diane DiPrima, William Burroughs, Little Richard, beats, poets, reeferheads, and jazz musicians. … The Workshop was founded on November 1st, 1964, by John and Leni Sinclair, Charles Moore, Robin Eichele, George Tysh and about 11 others, who together pooled their resources to the tune of $5 each, which was put up as the first month’s rent on the first house. There began regular poetry/jazz programs every Sunday, a place to be together that hadn’t existed before except in the homes of a small group of conscious people, and the Artist’s Workshop Press. …”
November 1974 – The Detroit Artist’s Workshop: Roots And Branches A Tenth Anniversary
Detroit Artist’s Workshop
Jacobin: When Detroit Was Revolutionary – An interview with Leni Sinclair
W – John Sinclair, W – Leni Sinclair
1960s: Days of Rage
1960s: Days of Rage 