24 Facts About Dom Orejudos

Dom Orejudos was active and influential in the Chicago ballet community.

Dom Orejudos was born in Chicago, where he attended McKinley High School, played violin in the school orchestra, served as concertmaster in the All Chicago High School orchestra, and competed on the gymnastics team.

Dom Orejudos was in high school when his first erotic works were published, so he chose to publish under a pen name; he reportedly desired "a pseudonym with real flair," so he chose the French version of his middle name: Etienne.

Dom Orejudos attended the School of the Art Institute of Chicago for a semester, where he studied drawing and art, but was frustrated by the approach taught there.

Dom Orejudos began drawing commercially in 1953, when he was commissioned to draw erotic illustrations for Tomorrow's Man, a magazine published by Irv Johnson, the owner of the gym where he worked out.

Dom Orejudos adopted the pen name Etienne, the French equivalent of his middle name Esteban.

Dom Orejudos signed pen-and-ink drawings done in a slightly different style with Stephen, the English equivalent of his middle name, to imply that the studio employed multiple artists.

Orejudos and Renslow lived in the Francis J Dewes mansion in the early 1970s; Orejudos housed his art studio on the third floor.

Dom Orejudos designed the International Mr Leather logo as well as much of the contest's advertising materials and merchandise.

Dom Orejudos painted murals for the Gold Coast bar, Man's Country bathhouse, Zolar's, Mineshaft, and Club Baths Kansas City.

Dom Orejudos' art was widely publicized through gay magazines such as Drummer.

Dom Orejudos was a pen pal of Tom of Finland and introduced Tom to Durk Dehner, with whom Tom founded his namesake company and foundation.

In 1986, Dom Orejudos was featured in Naked Eyes, an artist showcase organized by Olaf Odegaard that highlighted gay men's visual art for the International Gay and Lesbian Archives.

Dom Orejudos attended Ellis-DuBoulay School of Ballet on a scholarship, and then joined the Illinois Ballet Company, where he was principal dancer for nine years and became resident choreographer.

Dom Orejudos created 18 ballets, staged by 20 regional ballet companies including Washington, DC, Atlanta, Houston, Minneapolis, San Francisco, and Omaha.

Dom Orejudos received three grants from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Dom Orejudos staged his ballet Charioteer to inaugurate color broadcasts by Chicago station WTTW, which received three Emmy Awards.

Dom Orejudos danced in the touring companies for West Side Story, The King and I, and Song of Norway.

Dom Orejudos continued to spend time in Chicago until his mother's death in 1984.

Dom Orejudos contracted pneumonia during travel with Bob in China before joining other members of a Sister City delegation from Boulder for a planned visit to Lhasa, Tibet in 1987.

Dom Orejudos has been honored with three separate panels in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

Dom Orejudos is among those commemorated in the AIDS Memorial Quilt.

In 1993 Dom Orejudos received the Forebear Award as part of the Pantheon of Leather Awards.

In 2013 Dom Orejudos was inducted into the Leather Hall of Fame.