by Gail Rose
For Jennifer Hansen Rolli, being named Honored Artist for the 97th Annual Juried Art Show at Phillips’ Mill, widely recognized as the birthplace of Pennsylvania Impressionism, is more than a career milestone—"This is something I had hoped to achieve in this lifetime,” she says.
“There is no other recognition like it for a painter in this area, and it feels really good to have that. As a Bucks County girl, it is everything wrapped into one.”
“This honor means a lot to me,” she continues. “Just to be able to paint here where the great Impressionists of the region once painted, doing what all of those painters were doing, seeing what they saw and asking myself, ‘How do I paint this?’ I can see why so many artists are attracted to the region and why they want to paint here.”
That sense of place—of belonging to the landscape, history and artistic legacy of Bucks County—has shaped Jennifer’s life and work from the very beginning.
As a longtime painter of the Bucks County landscape, Jennifer is working in a tradition more than a century old. The canals, the Delaware River, river towns, weathered farmhouses and rolling hills that inspired the Pennsylvania Impressionists continue to inspire her today. Among those early masters, William Lathrop remains her favorite.
Jennifer’s own paintings reflect a lifelong devotion to observing nature. Her work is deeply rooted in plein air painting and in an emotional response to the rhythms of the natural world.
“My work is impressionistic—sunlight, weather, the natural rhythms of the land itself,” she says. “Taking time to sense a place and explore my surroundings has always been essential to my painting.”
Jennifer’s love of nature began in childhood. Born in Indiana and raised in Yardley as the youngest of five children, she grew up in a close, creative family that encouraged exploration and self-expression. Family camping trips took them throughout Bucks County and into New England, fostering an early connection to the outdoors.
“In my younger years, I was always in nature,” she recalls. She loves being outdoors—hiking, biking, working in her garden, playing in the woods.
Her father was her first and most influential teacher. At age nine, Jennifer would tag along with him on painting outings, carrying her own paint box and learning by observation. More important than technique, her father instilled a confidence in Jennifer that allowed her to take chances and pursue her dreams.
“There were no rules—no idea that girls couldn’t do what boys could do,” she says. “You can be whatever you want.”
Jennifer says she was never discouraged—not by her family, not by her professors at Kutztown University, where she earned her BFA in Communication Design.
After college, Jennifer built a successful design career, founding and running a Philadelphia-based studio for 15 years. Her illustration and design work appeared in major trade publications, and she later wrote and illustrated children’s books, with four published titles and several new projects in the works.
Jennifer also broadened her artistic perspective through travel, including a formative artist residency at Château d’Orquevaux in France in 2025, where she immersed herself in a new landscape and artistic community.
As she built her own family, she also focused on building her career as a fine artist. Today, Jennifer is a full-time career artist whose paintings are collected nationally and internationally and represented by respected regional galleries, including Silverman Gallery, where she is one of its original “Core Four” artists. She is also the cover artist for Bucks County Magazine.
Jennifer has been part of the Phillips’ Mill community for more than 15 years, though her connection stretches even further back. She first discovered the Mill roughly 25 years ago, attending juried shows and educating herself about the region’s artistic heritage.
Today, as the 2026 Honored Artist, she is now a part of that legacy. She is not only being recognized for her extraordinary paintings, but also for her participation and service to the Phillips‘ Mill art community over the years.
Yet, in many ways, Jennifer is still doing what she did as a child: stepping outside, immersing herself in the beauty of nature and translating its wonder into art.
At Phillips’ Mill—one of the birthplaces of American art—Jennifer Hansen Rolli is not only honoring tradition. She is helping carry it forward.
For more about Jennifer Hansen Rolli's art, visit https://www.jenniferhansenrolli.com