The Red Door gallery opened on Second Avenue and Willis near Wayne State University, in the summer of 1963. The Red Door was the first experimental and cooperative gallery leading to the formation of the Artists’ Workshop. The founding members of the Red Door were; Leni Sinclair, Harvey Columbus, Larry Weiner, Carl and Sheila Schurer, and George Tysh.

     The Red Door gallery was located next door to a car wash that was owned by Larry Weiner’s father. Larry's father donated the Red Door space as an "activity center" for his son and friends to use. After inspecting some of Larry's paintings, his father grew troubled and had him committed to a mental health facility. Red Door gallery friends remember springing him out of the "nut house" on many occasions.

     The name of the gallery was taken from the brightly painted red door visible from the street. The ground floor space was only several hundred square feet, and was a gathering place for artists, musicians, and poets. It was a practice studio, painting studio, performance and exhibition space. It would soon attain notoriety in the area over the summer of '63 and lead to the formation of the Detroit Artists’ Workshop about one year later. John Sinclair remembers the Red Door as "a kind of spooky and strange avant-garde space" in which he was too intimidated to even enter at the time.

     The Red Door gallery led a short but successful life. One of the most important exhibitions and collaborations they undertook was with the avant-garde Once Group from Ann Arbor, Michigan. Founded in 1961 and composed of University of Michigan professors; George Manupelli, Robert Ashely, Milton Cohen and Gordon Mumma, the Once Group combined experimental film, electronic-acoustic music, dance, sculpture and painting into one of America’s first multimedia collectives. The Once Group history has never been properly explored and was grossly overshadowed by the early happenings of Alan Kaprow, and the beginnings of Fluxus in New York City.

     The multimedia happenings at the Red Door Gallery would consist of experimental films shown over dancers, floor to ceiling drawing exhibitions, and interactions between performance artists. Once Group performances stimulated the resident artists and brought public attention to the Red Door space. This established a pattern of invitational performance, installation art and cross-cultural exchange among the avant-gardes of Detroit and other cities.

     Member George Tysh recalled the Once Group happenings: "The entire gallery was covered in paper bags – it was wrapped like a Christo sculpture. There were two giant cardboard boxes with people inside of each one-- there were holes in the boxes so arms could come out-- they had boxing gloves on and the boxes were "boxing" each other… who knew what it all meant…." Top