Jill Platner was born in 1969 in Norwell, Massachusetts and received her BFA from Parsons School of Design, NY. Since 1993 her jewelry designs have been sold at Barneys New York, Twist, Portland, Oregon and other retailers worldwide. In 1998, Jill opened up her store on Crosby Street, NYC — where she continues to fabricate and showcase her jewelry and large scale sculptures. Jill Platner lives and works in New York City.

“As a jewelry designer I have been making what are essentially wearable sculptures for over 20 years now, so designing and building on a larger scale is a very natural progression for me. It always felt inevitable that I would be making full scale sculpture.

“Working on such a large scale I am able to explore, with an entirely new perspective, movement- which has been amazing and fascinating for me. It is often one of my goals to have mobility in a piece- an element of engagement that encourages the viewer to physically interact with the sculpture. Not that one necessarily has to, but I love that there is that possibility and that it doesn’t necessarily have to be a passive experience. Even if you are not touching it I definitely strive that the work feel “alive” in some way, which is why I especially love outdoor installations. I make the work thinking about how it will move in the wind and how it will weather in the elements.

“For my most recent sculptures I combine the processes of casting and forging to create the shapes and finishes that I want. The original models were forged because I wanted to capture the beautiful textures that the heating and hammering of metal creates. I choose bronze as my main material because of it’s warm color and also because it stands up so well outside — allowing the sculptures to be installed inside or outside.”

Jonathan Wahl has served as the Director of the Jewelry Center at the 92nd Street Y since 1999 and has guided the Center’s growth to become that largest program of its kind in the nation and the oldest open studio in NYC. He is responsible for developing and overseeing a curriculum that has more than 55 classes weekly and 15 visiting artists yearly, 25 faculty members, maintaining four state-of-the-art jewelry and metalsmithing studios, and promoting the department locally and nationally as a jewelry resource center. Wahl founded the only Jewelry residency in New York city for a Jeweler and a scholarship based High School Jewelry Program-Teen Gems. Additionally, Wahl oversees and hosts an active lecture program with notables from the Jewelry and Design worlds at 92Y. Biennially he organizes international trips to visit contemporary jewelers and historical collections across the globe.

Jonathan Wahl’s artwork ranges from drawing and sculpture to the decorative arts. His work is in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the MFA Boston, the Houston Museum of Fine and the Museum of Arts of Arts and Design in NYC. It has been featured or reviewed in publications as diverse as The New York Times, Art in America, The New Yorker, Architectural Digest, Oprah Magazine, W Jewelry, the Philadelphia Inquirer, Metalsmith Magazine, Harper’s Bazaar, the Aventurine and the Advocate, among others. Wahl has been awarded the Louis Comfort Tiffany Emerging Artist Fellowship from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation, two New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowships one for Craft and one for Drawing and the Pennsylvania Society of Goldsmiths Award for "Outstanding Achievement." he was named one of the top-10 jewelers to watch by W Jewelry in 2006. Wahl’s work is exhibited both nationally and internationally.