Using earthenware clay and an array of vibrantly coloured glazes, Jenny Orchard brings to life her hybrid “creatures”, each one possessing a unique personality and exhibiting a complete defiance of convention.  Jenny explains that her creatures are all multispecies; they embody a multiplicity of forms without implying a hierarchy.  “Once laboratory discards and misfits they now visit me from a special place I call ‘Metempsychosia’, I recreate their forms for you so that they may tell their stories”.  Jenny’s  hybrids are at once plant and animal yet show signs of the technological exploitations and explorations that have created them.  They rejuvenate within us a child-like wonder of life on the planet, and conversely invite us to contemplate the darker notions of our meddling with it.  In her recent work, Jenny explores “our planet’s necessary obsession with food” and is inspired by Nick Cave’s ‘Cannibal’s Hymn’.  Her work hints at the complexities of human relationships, and “… the way we all devour each other”. 

Born in Turkey, Jenny grew up in Zimbabwe and emigrated to Australia in 1976.  She studied at the College of Fine Arts in Sydney, receiving her BA in 1980.  Jenny has exhibited widely in Australia and has participated in shows in Japan, Germany, Italy and the USA.  Her work has been extensively acquired and is represented, amongst others, in the collections of the National Gallery of Australia, Powerhouse Museum, Sydney, Queensland Art Gallery, Art Gallery of South Australia and the National Gallery of Victoria.