Jenni grew up in Eltham where she studied at Montsalvat  prior to attending Phillip Institute, now RMIT, with majors in painting and printmaking.  She also has a Master of Visual Arts from Monash University.

She works in a range of mediums including oil, watercolour, acrylic, gouache, printmaking, photography and silversmithing.  She has worked as an artist-in-residence aboard ice-breaker vessels in the Antarctic and High Arctic Norway painting the polar landscape and seas.

Jenni relocated from Eltham to Hamilton in 2016 where she has set up a studio, gallery and picture framing workshop with her husband, Mervyn Hannan, at their historic bluestone property, Petschel House, in Petschels Lane.