Jacqueline Rolls’ “Interventions” explore site-responsive and intuitive approaches to three-dimensional form. Rather than directly copying her subjects, these works emerge through a loose, physical engagement with specific places, environments, and objects.
Her practice relies on deep observation and immersion within a space to uncover its hidden narratives. Through a process of slowing down and absorbing the surroundings, she uses photography as her primary tool for visual discovery. The camera lens allows her to capture, isolate, and document the fleeting textures, shadows, contours, and physical lines unique to that environment. These photographs exist as an independent visual archive of her immersive experience.
In tandem, she creates separate, abstract sculptures using willow, bark, rush and recycled materials as well as gathering some of the materials from the garden.
Taking inspiration directly from the surfaces, contours, and ambient structures documented in her photography, she bypasses literal representation. Instead, she allows the organic tension and raw texture of the materials to guide her hands in real time, uncovering unexpected, emergent forms that physically embody the essence of the space.
Past projects and residencies, including at Tudor House Museum (supported by Arts Council England) and a-space arts at Furzey Gardens, highlight this experimental approach. These opportunities allowed for an extended immersion into the history and landscape of each site, using photography and direct observation to inform the resulting sculptural work.
Projects & Residencies
Artist in Residence: Tudor House Museum and Gardens
September 2021 – June 2022
Supported by Arts Council England: Developing Your Creative Practice funding.
This residency was dedicated to deep site immersion. Using photography and close observation to explore the unique textures, history, and atmosphere of the museum environment, she created a series of separate, abstract natural structures. [1]
View further details and project images here.
a-space arts Residency: Furzey Gardens
2019 – Spring 2020
Supported by a Talent Development Grant from ‘a space’ arts.
A period of tactile, intuitive work rooted in the New Forest landscape. Photography was used to capture the intricate contours, surfaces, and lighting of the gardens, guiding the loose, physical creation of organic woven forms. [1]
View further details and the project blog here.
Aspex Aspire Programme: “Traces of Being”
Autumn 2024 – March 2025
In partnership with Aspex Portsmouth.
This professional development residency focused entirely on challenging existing practices and experimenting with new ways of working. Engaging once a month with a diverse cohort of creatives from entirely different backgrounds, this period of open experimentation directly informed a collaborative group exhibition entitled “Traces of Being” in March 2025. It marked a vital shift toward looking at form, dialogue, and space from fresh perspectives.
Read the full project journal and details here.
Current Research & Collaborations
Upcoming Gallery Exhibition (In Development)
A new, unannounced collaborative initiative.
Building directly on the experimental momentum of recent residencies, Jacqueline’s practice is expanding further into deep, focused collaboration. She is currently immersed in a new, private body of work alongside a contemporary artist from a completely different discipline.
This project brings her immersive, site-responsive approach and natural material practice into direct dialogue with a contrasting way of working—pushing her loose, shape-finding methods into entirely new physical territory. This developing body of work is being created for an upcoming gallery exhibition, with full details and locations to be announced soon.
Upcoming Gallery Project (In Development)
A new, unannounced collaborative initiative.
Jacqueline’s current practice is expanding into deep, interdisciplinary collaboration. She is currently immersed in a body of work alongside other contemporary artist from a variety of disciplines
This project brings her site-responsive, natural material practice into dialogue with a contrasting way of working, pushing her loose, shape-finding methods into new physical territory. This developing body of work is being created for an upcoming gallery exhibition, with full details to be announced.
Jacqueline Rolls’ “Interventions” explore site-responsive and process-led approaches to making, often emerging through direct engagement with place, material, and environment.
These works are shaped by observation, collection, and response, using found, natural, and discarded materials to create temporary or evolving outcomes. The work is often influenced by the history, function, and atmosphere of a location, as well as its overlooked or transitional elements.
Through these interventions, materials are reinterpreted and recontextualised, allowing new relationships between form, texture, and space to emerge.
Projects have included residencies and research-based work developed at Tudor House Museum in Southampton and Furzey Gardens in the New Forest, where experimentation with site-specific materials and processes formed a key part of the work.
Projects & Residencies
Artist in Residence Tudor House Museum and Gardens September 2021 -June 2022
Supported by The Arts Council? National Lottery Developing your Creative Practise funding
My project ‘Investigating new ways of creating with natural and recycled materials in a historical environment’ enabled me to take time out from my normal work to focus on experimenting and challenging myself as an artist
a-space arts 2019 -Spring 2020
Residency: Furzey Gardens, New Forest
Focus: experimentation with found and discarded natural materials