NICKI ROLLS
News: Current/upcoming exhibitions
Threshold
The Lock House, Richmond Lock and Weir
For the past two years, I have been working on an art residency at Northcote Nature Reserve and the tidal section of the River Crane, in collaboration with the reserve’s architect and designer, Astronaut Kawada. It is part of an ongoing ecology and community project of habitat enhancement and urban intervention that is unique not just locally but nationally.
A selection of works from this project will be presented in the remarkable Lock House at Richmond Lock and Weir, the design studio of Astronaut Kawada. This collaboration is part of an evolving and diverse series of integrated work and collaborative discourse, steered by Astronaut Kawada, that looks to question the balance of influence, awareness and potential within the habitats that we share.
Appointments for viewing the work or for attendance at related discussions at the Lock House, will be available during May. Full details to follow.
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Drawing on Ham Lands: Art and Interdependence
Ham Library
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I am thrilled to be exhibiting together with stone sculptor, Amanda Randall, and Kew botanical artist and illustrator, Lucy Smith, in Ham Library from 12 June to 9 July. The work is in response to the plants of Ham Lands, a nature reserve adjacent to the River Thames between Richmond and Kingston, exploring their interdependence with other plants, humans and animals.
Supported by Richmond Arts & Ideas Festival 2025​​
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Time and Tide
One Paved Court, Richmond
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Time & Tide is a broader exhibition of work from my residency at Northcote Nature Reserve and on the tidal River Crane, responding to their unique habitat. ​The works presented, including drawings, paintings, sculpture, audio and video, explore the resilience of nature while acknowledging its vulnerability and fragility.
It is hoped that the exhibition provokes audiences to consider the old adage ‘Time and tide wait for no man’ and how time passes regardless and important tasks should not be delayed. We must do whatever can be done now to avert pending biodiversity and climate crises which will not slow down or wait for us to get prepared.
In conjunction with the exhibition there will also be a charcoal drawing workshop at Northcote Nature Reserve and artist's talk at One Paved Court.
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The exhibition runs from 3 September - 28 September 2025
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RuptureXIBIT, London, Carbon and Cellulose, solo exhibition 2023
​One Paved Court, London, Nothing is Small in Nature, solo exhibition 2022
​One Paved Court, London, Nothing is Small in Nature, solo exhibition 2022
About
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​BIO
Nicki Rolls is a contemporary artist based at Redlees Studios in Isleworth. Her drawings and paintings of wild flowers and weeds explore the fragility of the natural world. She has exhibited widely, both nationally and internationally. Her solo exhibitions include Carbon and Cellulose, RupturEXIBIT, Hampton Wick, 2023, Nothing is Small in Nature, One Paved Court, Richmond, 2022 and On and On, Concrete Cafe, Hayward Gallery, London, 2012. She was shortlisted for the Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize in 2023 and gained first prize (Student Award) at Jerwood Drawing Prize in 2011. She runs workshops with community groups has run life drawing workshops for many years.
She studied at UAL, Central Saint Martins College (BA), and UAL Wimbledon (MA).
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CV
Awards
Shortlisted for Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize, 2023
First Prize, Diana Armfield Drawing from Observation Award, London, 2023
First Prize Jerwood Drawing Prize, Student Award, 2011
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Solo Exhibitions
RuptureXIBIT, London, 27 May - 1 June, Carbon and Cellulose, 2023
One Paved Court, London, Oct 19 - Nov 6, Nothing is Small in Nature, 2022
Hayward Gallery's Concrete Cafe, London, 27 March - 3 June, On and On, 2012
Selected Group Exhibitions
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Turner's House garden, Twickenham, London, Friends of Our Earth, 2024
Pensychnant Conservation Centre, Nature, Environment and Conservation, Conwy, Wales 2024
Trinity Buoy Wharf, London, Trinity Buoy Wharf Drawing Prize 2023
Redlees Gallery, London, Everything glowed with a gleam; Yet we were looking away!, 2023
Mall Galleries, London, Pastel Society of Annual Exhibition, 2023
Mall Galleries, London, Royal Society of British Artists Annual Exhibition, 2022
​Air Gallery, Altrincham, Manchester, Merry-Go-Round Broke Down, 2018
​Filter4, Basel, Switzerland, Searching the Line, 2017
Palazzo Flangini, Venice, Italy, Contemporary Venice 2016/7
A.P.T Gallery, London, 17 March - 4 April, Colliderscape, 2016
​Bargehouse, London, 5-8 Nov, We all Draw @ UAL, 2015
Tate Britain, 7 February, Late at Tate Britain 1840s GIF Party, 2014
Espacio Gallery, Bethnal Green Road, 23 May - 3 June, Second Nature, 2014
Jerwood Space, London, 13 September, Jerwood Drawing Prize, 2011
Arthouse, Deptford, 24 September, Deptford X, 2010
St Pancras Church Crypt, London, Life cycles, 2007
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​​​​​CONTACT
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If you have any enquiries, please contact njrolls@hotmail.com