Rachel Waldrop (née Reese) is Director and Curator of the Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) at UTC since 2020. The ICA Chattanooga is the first ICA in the state of TN, and since opening to the public in 2021, she has led the ICA’s branding and strategic planning along with its ambitious exhibition schedule including projects with Ilana Harris-Babou (2021), Terry Adkins (2021), Kristine Potter (2022), Jamie Isenstein (2022), Stacy Kranitz (2023), Kevin McNamee-Tweed (2023), Becky Suss (2024), Adam Parker Smith (2024) and Reginald Sylvester II (2024). Waldrop additionally teaches in the Department of Art and Honors College at UTC.
From 2015-2019, Reese served as Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art at Telfair Museums in Savannah, GA where she organized over 20 special exhibitions, including the retrospective and accompanying catalogue for Suzanne Jackson: Five Decades (Telfair Books, 2019). Reese held prior positions at Atlanta Contemporary in Atlanta where she curated Pratfall Tramps (Atlanta Contemporary, 2015) with accompanying catalogue; Fleisher/Ollman Gallery in Philadelphia; and Deitch Projects, Petzel Gallery and Andrew Kreps Gallery in New York. Reese is an alumna of Independent Curators International; was a former editor of Burnaway magazine in Atlanta.
Her most recent publication includes lead essay for Painter’s Refuge: A Way of Life on the work of Reginald Sylvester II (Pacific, New York, 2022).
