Suellen Rocca was an artist as well as instructor, collector in addition to curator. Her distinctive compositional arrangements and initially loose mark-making set her art production apart from her peers, a generation of artists colloquially known as the Chicago Imagists. Likewise, she taught in schools and colleges in and around Chicago for a range of age groups from diverse backgrounds, including students at The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), The Jane Addams Hull House, and Elmhurst College, among others. Rocca’s personal collection included the present cache of prized works created by her friends and fellow artists— often obtained through trades and purchases made amongst them— and she stewarded these works just as she dutifully attended to Elmhurst College’s art collection, where she served as Curator and Director of Exhibitions since 2006. Boasting over 150 works, Elmhurst’s collection echoes Rocca’s own, since its growth is, in part, a result of donations and gifts made directly by artists.

Suellen and her husband Dennis bought Camera Girl at an auction to support the legal costs of The Chicago Seven in 1969. The late sixties were a turbulent and exciting time in the city of Chicago, socially, politically and artistically. Many artists who had participated in the demonstrations against the Vietnam War also donated artwork to the cause. Suellen felt the excitement of the times and actively engaged with the exhilarating events of the era. Besides her generosity at the auction, she bought tickets for Christina [Ramberg] and I to see the musical Hair, another sixties moment that had especially moved her and that we could never have afforded, allowing us to share in the experience. 

Phillip Hanson, member of The False Image