Independent Arts News Reporting 
Pictured Above: Artist, Jennifer Hansen RolliPhoto Credit: Contributed.
Innate Impressionism: Artist Jennifer Hansen Rolli, Capturing Land, Light, and Love
By: Chrysa Smith
From childhood painting trips along the backroads of Bucks County to recognition at Phillips’ Mill, artist Jennifer Hansen Rolli has followed a creative path shaped by nature, family and an instinctive connection to Impressionism. Chrysa Smith explores the artist’s winding journey—and the land, light and love that continue to inspire her work.
Jennifer Hansen Rolli’s career path has had a few twists and turns, but for three constants: Her love of art. Her love of nature. And the love for her children. Right from the start, she remembers loving the crayon remnants left to her by her four older siblings. The canoeing and camping trips with her family. The time spent outdoors. And her life as mother of three, trying to combine it all into a cohesive, productive unit.
“I like being productive,” Jennifer says. When you hear her story, it shows. Creativity pulses through her veins in every aspect of her life—from the time she spent in Philly as a graphic designer to now, being honored for a large impressionistic landscape at Phillips Mill, —home to the Impressionism movement in the region. “Art was always an interest of mine. My dad taught me to paint at a young age. He was a casual painter but saw how much I loved it. At nine years old, he bought me a pro painter’s box.” She says she would go out and set up on farm roads in Washington Crossing. “It was significant. It mattered,” she says of her time with her dad. And so the path began.
Pictured Above: by artist, Jennifer Hansen Rolli. Photo Credit: Contributed.
But art wasn’t the only interest. She and her husband are avid bikers, hikers—the kind of people who truly love the outdoors. In fact, she told me as a child, her family trips never consisted of staying in hotels. And, when asked if her love of nature; of setting up easels on friends’ farms, of capturing the interesting outdoor sun angles, the changing seasons, weather, off the beaten path places has influenced her work, she most definitely will say yes. While mostly a studio painter, the love of nature and the outdoors ultimately led her to her Newtown studio, where she cranks the music up and paints, stroke by stroke.
As a young adult, Jennifer studied graphic design at Kutztown University. “They have a great communication arts program there,” she adds. She found herself with a successful design studio in Philly, serving commercial clients until she found herself in Maryland, due to her husband’s job. Living there for a couple years, as the graphic arts business became more digitized and less human-designed, she tinkered with the idea of painting. Eventually moving back to Bucks County, her husband surprised her one day with an easel. And the path continued.
Pictured Above: by artist, Jennifer Hansen Rolli. Photo Credit: Contributed.
“I had two babies at home. So, I used my graphic design skills to make postcards. I pitched galleries,” she says, being incredibly inventive, so she could mix her creative artistry as both designer and mom, and work from a home base.
“I was always attracted to French Impressionists. But I felt I was a graphic designer, not a painter. I wasn’t studying painting then. But I started researching, going to galleries and ultimately to Phillips Mill. It was there I learned about the New Hope Impressionists.” Jennifer will tell you that she believes impressionism is just what’s in her. “That’s just the way I painted anyway, even as a child. Impressionism is a gamut of styles. There is no cut and dry era to painting. It’s just what came out of me.” And the path winds again.
Pictured Above: Artist, Jennifer Hansen RolliPhoto Credit: Contributed.
One year into her painting, it was clear that it was a full-time career. “I sold my first painting to the Bucks County Gallery of Fine Art, as part of a show,” she says. “I wasn’t even sure what to do, so I dropped off four paintings that night, and three of them sold. I’m always amazed that someone is choosing to live with my creations. All kinds of people come in, including a memorable cleaning woman who left, came back and said she just wanted one of my paintings.”
Establishing a name for herself came with perks, and her energy and need to be ‘productive’ comes through loud and clear as she wrote and illustrated four children’s books for top publishing houses. Those came out of experiences with her children, as they always asked, Just One More.” I did put it on the back burner during Covid, while during the fifth book in a series. I haven’t picked it up again, but I am going on a hiatus to France for a picture book getaway with several other children’s authors and illustrators.” She will be the first to tell you that although her children are now grown, there are still a few stories she must tell.
And then, when Bucks County Magazine lost their long-time cover designer due to a move, they called on Jennifer. I’ve always admired these interpretations of places I know or want to. Vibrant, colorful, they come from both her choosing or a location important to the magazine.
All along, Jennifer’s been painting—regularly and well enough to be honored at this year’s Phillips Mill 97th Annual Juried Art Exhibition. Her featured painting will be a 30 x 40-inch oil painting called New Hope Hills. The artist, who never went to school to paint says, “I’m attracted to both light and dark, something subtle, an expression or the way something is sitting.” In New Hope Hills, it may be the looming clouds reflecting off the light shining above and behind them above the fields in New Hope. Back to the area she would take trips to as a teen. “I take lots of imagery, then go back to my studio and look at it. Sometimes I’ll go back 12 years, and it will capture my attention once again.” She sees things in shapes, she says, which is why Impressionism comes so naturally to her.
Being on exhibit at the Mill is an honor. What makes this even sweeter is her previous involvement with the Mill in the early 2000’s. As a new mom, working from a home-based studio, the need for interaction with others—other artists and art enthusiasts. That’s where she found it. “That experience cemented me in the artistic community,” she says. “It’s an amazing cauldron of all the arts.”
So, what’s next for Jennifer? She’ll continue producing somewhere between 40-50 new paintings per year, many which can be found at The Silverman Gallery. She has her trip planned to France with other authors and artists and will even be teaching a class there.
When asked about one of her favorite pieces, turns out, it isn’t a landscape at all. The subject is her daughter. “It’s called ‘Looking for Pockets,” Jennifer explains. “She was standing on the steps of the Wrightstown Library, dressed in a red coat with a black tam, looking for her pockets.” It’s personal, meaningful and another aspect of this versatile painter.
If you’d like to catch her work at the Mill, it will be on exhibit through November 1st. Gallery hours are daily 1-5pm. Phillips Mill is located at 2619 River Road in New Hope.
