Bill Yates
Bill Yates is a Southern photographer best known for his body of work documenting a roadside roller rink in Florida. He received his Master of Fine Arts degree in photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1975, studying under the likes of Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskand. In 1972, fresh after purchasing a medium-format camera, Yates was driving along and stumbled upon the Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink. He returned to this spot nearly every weekend for over seven months, making more than 800 photographs, resulting in a monograph of the same name—Sweetheart Roller Skating Rink.
Highlights of Yates’ career entail inclusion in the 1975 Artists’ Biennial Exhibition at the New Orleans Museum of Art; receiving a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts; acting as a curatorial consultant for the Corcoran Gallery; and serving as the Director of the University Gallery at New Mexico State University. His photographs can be found in the collections of the Corcoran Gallery of Art (Washington, DC); the Ogden Museum of Southern Art (New Orleans); the Davis Museum at Wellesley College (Wellesley, MA); the High Museum of Art (Atlanta), and more.