Jonathan G. Bonner (1947-2024)
Jonathan Graham Bonner, artist and sculptor, died on October 25, 2024 at age 76. Born in Princeton, New Jersey in 1947 to John Tyler Bonner and Ruth Anna Bonner (nee Graham), Bonner received a BFA at the Philadelphia College of Art and an MFA at Rhode Island School of Design.
After receiving his MFA in sculpture in 1973 he and his wife, Jacqueline Ott, set up a metal-smithing studio and started their company, Otner Botner. They designed and manufactured Jacqueline's line of jewelry and Jonathan's finger planes for luthiers. They married in 1979.
In the 1980's Bonner introduced weather-vanes as outdoor sculpture. He made almost 200 of these in wild variations. These works were collected and shown throughout the US and in New York City at the Heller Gallery and Convergence Gallery.
In the 1990's, he began a body of work based on mathematics and topology: Klein Bottles and Mobius Strips. These were large scale pieces formed and fabricated in copper using traditional metalsmithing techniques. These elegant sculptures straddled the worlds of high craft and fine art. The work was exhibited at the Peter Joseph Gallery in Manhattan.
In the late 1980's, Bonner began to take on large scale public art commissions. He placed many works in granite and metal across the United States. In Rhode Island, public artworks of note are: "The Holocaust Memorial" in Providence; "Mirth", Rhode Island School of Design Museum; "Gaze", Temple Beth El, Providence; "FollowingRuth", Seekonk MA; "Twin", Fidelity Investments, Smithfield,RI; "XYZ", Wolf School, East Providence; "Metamorphosis", Rhode Island College, Providence.
Bonner's work is in the collection of The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA, The DeCordova Museum, Lincoln, MA , The Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA , Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, NY, The Detroit Museum of Arts, Detroit, MI, Renwick Gallery, Smithsonian, Washington, DC , American Craft Museum, New York, NY, Museum of Arts and Design, New York, NY, RISD Museum of Art, Providence,RI.
Bonner's work was chronicled multiple times in Sculpture Magazine and Metalsmith Magazine. Adding to this bibliography is the book "Front Pockets".
The book was published to accompany the exhibition of the same name at the R.I.S.D. Museum in Providence in 2001. The exhibition was Bonner's first foray into video and performance and featured objects made with front pants pockets as their stage or site. The book chronicled how Bonner, with deadpan aplomb, performed simple acts of gravity, grace and humor, documented live in video, and in still photography. The exhibition was a generous invitation by Bonner for the public to view his unique sensibility at the peak of his career, and in full stride.
Trademark to all Bonner touched was his keen eye, wicked intelligence, unswerving workmanship and wry wit. Bonner will long be remembered for these qualities transferred to his sculpture, works on paper, and site-specific public commissions in cities across the United States
His family, friends, and those he touched in his professional life will remember his relentless energy, creativity, inventiveness, generosity and humor.
He is survived by his wife Jacqueline M. Ott, his daughter Ondine O. Bonner, brothers Jeremy and his wife Ann, Andrew and his wife Becky Reese, sister Rebecca Roberts and her husband Christopher Roberts.
