An award-winning novel is the inspiration for an art exhibition that the Institute of Contemporary Art, housed in the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Fine Arts Center, is bringing to campus.
A solo exhibition of new paintings by Becky Suss, inspired by Pulitzer Prize-finalist Ann Patchett’s 2019 novel “The Dutch House,” will be held from Jan. 16 to March 16 at ICA Chattanooga, accessed through the lobby of the Fine Arts Center.
The Fine Arts Center is located at the intersection of Dr. Roland Carter Street (formerly known as Vine Street) and Palmetto Street. Parking is available in adjacent UTC lots.
As part of the show, an opening conversation featuring Suss and Patchett will take place from 2-3 p.m. EST on Saturday, Jan. 20, in UTC’s Benwood Auditorium, located across the street from the Fine Arts Center in the Engineering and Computer Science Building (735 Vine St.). The event is free and open to the public, and no registration is required. The auditorium seats 300 people.
An official exhibition opening reception will follow in the ICA and Fine Arts Center lobby until 5 p.m., with Patchett and Suss in attendance. Following the conversation, pre-signed copies of Patchett’s recent titles and Suss’ monograph will be available for sale in the lobby through The Book and Cover, a local Chattanooga bookshop and event partner.
“It is a huge honor to host this exhibition of monumental new paintings by Becky Suss, with the largest at 15 feet wide, made in the past year for the ICA Chattanooga,” said ICA Director and Curator Rachel Waldrop. “Suss’ painting practice is deeply informed by architecture and memory, two central themes in Patchett’s ‘The Dutch House.’ Even if you have not read the novel, you will delight in the details of these grand paintings, which underscore the role that visual art plays in storytelling.”
Patchett is the author of nine novels and five nonfiction books; her works have been translated into more than 30 languages. She has received the PEN/Faulkner Award and the Orange Prize for Fiction and was named one of Time Magazine’s 100 most influential people in the world in 2012. “The Dutch House” was a finalist for the 2020 Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Patchett is also the proprietor of independent bookseller Parnassus Books in Nashville.
Although Patchett hails from Tennessee, “The Dutch House” centers on a fictional mansion in the Philadelphia suburbs—where Suss was raised.
Suss was awarded the prestigious Pew Fellowship by the Pew Center for Arts & Heritage in Philadelphia in 2020. Two years ago, a comprehensive monograph on her practice, “Becky Suss,” was released in partnership with Skira Publishing with essays by Michelle Millar Fisher and Peter L’Official and a conversation with Helen Molesworth. Her work has been featured in ICA locations in Boston and Philadelphia, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston and the Princeton University Art Museum.
ICA Chattanooga supports a year-round exhibition schedule, including temporary special exhibitions with visiting regional and national contemporary artists and exhibitions featuring works from UTC’s permanent fine art collection. The exhibition schedule also offers UTC Department of Art majors opportunities to present their work in a professional setting.
To learn more about the exhibition and opening event, visit the ICA Chattanooga website or email hello@icachatt.org.