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PETER MAYS BIOGRAPHY 


  PETER MAYS  
  Lives in Santa Monica
 
1961 BA, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1963 MA, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1964 Founded Art Department Film Society
1966-1968 Taught photography, Mount St. Mary's College, Art Department, Los Angeles
1968-1973 Founding member, Single Wing Turquoise Bird light show (SWTB)
1975-1978 Curated independent film exhibition, Fox Venice theater
1982-present Produced and directed history videos distributed by Discovery Education
 
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2006 "Art in Los Angeles, 1955-1985," Centre Pompidou, Paris (catalogue only), of film "Death of the Gorilla"
2005 "Visual Music," Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles of SWTB light show
2005 "Visual Music," Hirshhorn Museum, Washington DC, of SWTB light show
1977 "The Early Sixties at UCLA," Wright Art Gallery, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA)
1961 "Arts of Southern California--VIII: Drawings," Long Beach Museum of Art
 
SELECTED FILM SCREENINGS
2001 Retrospective, Anthology Film Archives, New York
1975 Fox Venice Theater Premiere, "Sister Midnight"
1970 San Francisco Film Festival, "The Star Curtain Tantra"
1966 Ann Arbor Film Festival, prize, "Death of the Gorilla"
 
SELECTED PERFORMANCES (LIGHT SHOW)
1969 Santa Barbara Museum of Art, Santa Barbara
1968 Many rock concerts with the Who, Grateful Dead, Velvet Underground, etc., at the Shrine Exposition Hall, Los Angeles
 
AWARDS
1960 Temple Award, UCLA Art Council
1959 Third Prize, Graphics, Barnsdall Park, Los Angeles

BIBLIOGRAPHY
David James "Expanded Cinema in Los Angeles: The Single Wing Turquoise Bird," Millenium Film Journal, Nos 43/44, Summer/Fall 2005, pp. 9-31.
David James Section on Peter Mays in "The Most Typical Avant-Garde," 2005, pp. 390-391.
Gene Youngblood Section on SWTB in "Expanded Cinema," 1970, pp. 392-396.
Willian Mortitz "A Weekend in LA," Weekly Planet, Jan 24, 1969, pp. 4-5, on SWTB.