Art on Consignment, 1959-1962, undated

Dorothy Yepez owned the Dorothy Yepez Galleries (DYG), also known as the Dorothy Yepez Gallery, the Dorothy Yepez Art Center, Inc. and “Happy Manor” Art Gallery. DYG was located on Bloomingdale Road (Route 3 and 365) and five miles from Saranac Lake in New York. The purpose of the galleries was “to promote education and culture in art, by means of exhibitions, lectures, classes, radio, television, cinema, discussions, and any other media current at the time. Its goal involved better understanding among nations and people through the international exchange of art,” according to the Galleries’ brochure. Established in 1953, DYG operated like a museum without permanent collections, a “gallery without walls.” The gallery opened during the summer to offer educational programs for youth, loan shows from private collectors and museums, and hold annual arts festivals, film festivals, workshops and other international competitive art shows. Files in this series are arranged alphabetically by subjects related to the Dorothy Yepez Art Gallery, with business correspondence organized first.

The bulk of the series are business files from Dorothy Yepez Art Galleries including an extensive amount of business correspondence. Yepez wrote letters to local and international art museums to request information about traveling exhibitions. Other business correspondence are artists’ requests to submit entry cards to annual art shows held at the gallery; the cards include their biographical information and photographs. (Photographs of artists exhibiting their work at the gallery were transferred to the photograph series for preservation purposes.) Additional letters address Yepez’s advertisement and publicity for the galleries, along with requests for support and funding for expenses.

A significant portion of the series are the Exhibition files which consist of correspondence, programs, exhibition schedules, biographical sketches of artists who exhibited at the DYG, and advertisements and publicity notices of hosted events from exhibitions held at the galleries. During the 1962 season, the galleries hosted a series of art exhibitions, including the 9th Adirondack Annual Open Show; 4th National Competitive Show for Youth; an invitation show titled “Salute to America”; 4th Annual Musical Festival; music clinics and workshops; and the popular Photography Magazine international prize winners in color and black and white prints.

The Adirondack Annual Exhibition files (1955-1965) contain biographical sketches, catalogs of exhibition paintings, entry cards from artists, and award ribbons for top winners of the show. The annual exhibition promoted Adirondack artists and craftsmen, in particular, along with several international artists, and provided a place to showcase their work at DYG. Of note within the files are items documenting a contemporary Latin American art exhibit held during the 1957 Adirondack show. The contemporary Latin American art consisted of paintings from the collection of Luis de Hoyos.

DYG received support from the New York State Council on the Arts to hold four musical attractions in collaboration with local exhibitions and international performers called the All Star Celebrity Series. The All Star Celebrity Series files document this program and performances of the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Texas Boys Choir, New York Opera and the André Eglevsky Ballet (1963-1965). Included within the files are correspondence, flyers, programs, schedules of events and standard information forms for musical artists.

Of interest are the “Gateway to Freedom” exhibition files (August 1966). Included within the files are invitations to the opening event, correspondence, programs and receipts. “Gateway to Freedom,” an exhibition of 100 black and white photographs by Warren Marr II, captured images of life on the ten American Missionary Association (AMA) founded college campuses. Each picture identifies the college where it was taken.

As an artist, Yepez exhibited her work of batik paintings, an Indonesian method of hand-printing textiles with coated wax. In 1973, Yepez presented her artwork at DYG, the East River Savings Bank and the Empire Savings Bank in New York. Within the Dorothy Yepez Batik Paintings files are programs, handscript notes, a flyer and an article with batik instructions. An interesting item within the file is a letter addressed to Yepez from the WKBS-TV news station program manager to confirm her appearance on Black America: What Now?, a recorded broadcast concerning community affairs (May 3, 1973).

Other exhibitions and festivals represented in this series are the Museum of New Mexico Indian Painting Exhibit (1959-1960); Saranac Lake Spring Arts Festival (1964); Serigraphs by Pat Vaccaro (1963); Wedgwood (1964); Youth Arts Festival (1959-1971); and a film festival (July 19-25, 1964).

The DYG series concludes with financial records, ephemera and other items representing daily business operations such as brochures, Yepez’s business card, programs and invitations, questionnaires and a purpose statement for the gallery. Financial records mainly contain financial notes and receipts, invoices, and check stubs and money orders for freight and postal rates in receiving and delivering of items for exhibits. Of note is a small 1966 financial ledger documenting business expenses.