Rose Jones is a Staffordshire-based artist whose work is rooted in close observation, pattern and the quiet poetry of the natural and domestic world. Originally trained in printed and woven textiles, Rose began her creative career as a freelance surface pattern designer, and that sensitivity to decoration, rhythm, colour and detail continues to shape the way she sees and draws.
For this exhibition, Rose brings together a wide and exciting body of work, including garden studies, intricate drawings of unearthed china fragments, and many more pieces that reflect her fascination with pattern, place, memory and observed detail.
Her garden is an important source of inspiration, not only as a living space of plants, light and seasonal change, but also as a place of discovery. Fragments of old china found buried in the soil have become the starting point for some of her most delicate and intriguing works. These small pieces, once part of everyday domestic life, are transformed through drawing into studies of beauty, history and quiet significance.
Rose’s background in textile and surface pattern design gives the work a particular richness. She is drawn to repeated motifs, decorative borders, floral forms and the relationship between structure and softness. Whether drawing a garden view, a plant, a ceramic fragment or a found object, she brings the same patient attention to pattern, texture and form.
There is a lovely sense of connection running through this body of work: between garden and home, surface and memory, natural growth and human trace. A flower border, a broken piece of china, a gate, a leaf, a path or a decorative detail can all become part of Rose’s visual language. Her work asks us to look more closely at the things that surround us, and to recognise the beauty held in small, familiar or overlooked places.
Rose’s practice is grounded in observation. She prefers to draw from life whenever possible, allowing time to notice the subtleties of light, shape and atmosphere. Photographs may support the development of work in the studio, but the starting point remains careful looking. The resulting works balance precision with sensitivity, combining technical skill with a quiet emotional depth.
Her wider practice has received recognition beyond the region. Rose was selected as a Pod Artist on Sky Arts Landscape Artist of the Year, and her work has also been shown at venues including the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists and Mall Galleries, London. More recently, she was shortlisted for The John Ruskin Prize, reflecting her commitment to patient looking, truthful drawing and close attention to the world immediately around her.
This exhibition presents a rich selection of recent work by Rose Jones, bringing together garden, pattern, found fragments and observed detail. It is a celebration of an artist with an extraordinary eye for the beauty of ordinary things, and a reminder that gardens, objects and familiar places can hold deep layers of memory, history and meaning.
