THE DIRECTOR'S CORNER...

Our thanks go out to all of you who have responded to our appeal for financial support. It is good to know you are there; we appreciate every red cent that helps us build the George Dudley Archives and pay the bills to maintain the galleries.

Also, we want to thank the many artists and their collectors for gifts-in-king; an "Acquisitions" exhibition will soon be a regular feature of the Leslie-Lohman Gay Art Foundation season.

In this premiere issue of "The Archive" we want especially to note the gifts-in-kind from Jonathan Fagin and William Leight. Their contributions of photographs by New York artist Bruce Cratsley now number nearly a hundred works. Thanks very much.

-- Robert Jones

THE VOLUNTEERS

As a non-profit organization, the survival and growth of the Foundation would be threatened without the support of many wonderful and dedicated volunteers. This month LLGAF is featuring a volunteer whose work has been instrumental in the Foundation's ongoing success.

Wayne Snellen...  

"It's a really beautiful thing that they are doing and that's why I'm here." This statement sums up why Wayne has been here for two years, spending many evenings and most Saturdays at Leslie-Lohman preparing mailing lists, hanging shows, and organizing the archive. A native Missourian, Wayne came to New York in 1977 to pursue some of his passions. One of those passions is painting. In fact, a recent homoerotic work, "Red Cocks," was displayed at LLGAF. "I had been in the habit of adhering pieces of material to my canvases. For my first really homoerotic piece, I adhered stuffed swim suits to canvas and painted them. Of course, it's not meant to be a very serious piece, it's more fun, playful." Wayne acknowledges that he had never considered himself a homoerotic artist, but he has been affected by his association with the Foundaiton. "The Foundation has made me re-think what it is I really want to paint. I now want to be more sexually explicit, more gay, because that's where I'm at." Wayne is presently completing another painting, "Apotheosis To The Queens," to be displayed in a June exhibition at the Multi-Media Gallery in Soho.

Besides artistic interest, Wayne shares some key values with the Foundation. He observes, "Censorship of gay art is changing so gradually, this place is absolutely necessary; it [gay art] will need protection for years to come." To help in this preservation, Wayne has become one of the key players in the organization of the Foundation's archive. His skills in word processing and computers are invaluable: thousands of mailings are completed, labels are produced for all works on display, and the production of this newsletter was realized. Thanks Wayne from all of your friends at Leslie-Lohman!