Jacque Rochester attended Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture in 1972. In 1976, she received her BFA and then her MFA in 1978 from Slade School of Art in London, England. Rochester studied with artists such as William Coldstream, Lucien Freud, Leon Kossoff and Euan Uglow. Currently, her studio space and home are located in Jersey City, New Jersey.

In the past, Rochester has taught at the New York Studio School in New York City, and Waterfall Arts in Montville, Maine. With exhibitions from NewYork City to San Francisco, Rochester has participated in over 50 group shows, 11 solo shows and has work in public collections both nationally and internationally. Over the course of her career, she was awarded the MacDowell Fellowship in 1983 and the Charles Fox Purchase Prize from the Fransworth Museum in Rockland, Maine.