Jonathan Bonner

Jonathan Bonner started his career as an artist in the late 1960s, when he wandered into the Philadelphia College of Art and was attracted to the noises and smells of the woodshop. He graduated from the school in 1971 and went on to study woodworking and metalsmithing at the Rhode Island School of Design. He soldered other artists' jewelry for a living, but soon realized that he wasn't interested in the assembly line. Bonner has tried his hand at many different things, from making musical instruments to running a business that specializes in handmade planing tools. But he is best known for his large sundials and weather vanes crafted from stone, metal or wood. (McCreight, "Jonathan Bonner, Whimsy and Vision," Metalsmith, Spring 1984)