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Jewelry Center

The Jewelry Center at 92NY, under the direction of Jonathan Wahl, is the place where artists and designers from the world of studio jewelry, fashion jewelry, and academia meet to create, teach, and connect. From its beginnings as a single metalworking class in 1930, the Center has grown to become the largest and most esteemed program of its kind in the nation, and the oldest open studios in New York City. Its stellar faculty span the worlds of production and art and foster a space where all aspects of jewelry design can be explored.

The Center serves more than 1,000 students a year through 55 weekly classes, weekend workshops, and visiting artists. The Center’s four fully equipped studios enable specialized training in such techniques as enameling, goldsmithing, silversmithing, stone setting, and wax carving. The wide variety of classes and levels allows students to pursue comprehensive courses of study, whether a basic introduction for the absolute beginner, or advanced workshops and studio time for pre-professionals and professionals refining their skills.

Director Jonathan Wahl hosts and ongoing series of virtual conversations with leading artists, gallerists, and journalists from across the global which can be viewed in our archive.

The Center’s community outreach includes Teen Gems which is a fully funded scholarship program for high school students in NYC. It provides jewelry education, mentorship and funded internships for students interested in the art and business of jewelry. The 2023 Teen Gems program is sponsored by De Beers Group and is conducted in collaboration with New York City Jewelry Week.

The Center hosts the only jeweler Artist in Residence program in New York City and is open to artists on an international scale. More information can be found here.

Truly multifaceted, the 92NY Jewelry Center is a New York City gem with an increasingly global profile.

Jewelry Open Studio

Students registered in in-person or online classes are invited to register for additional open studio hours.

Take advantage of our fully equipped studios to work independently on your own projects or to continue your assignments from class with monitor supervision.

All students must pre-register for a seat. Additional slots will be added monthly. By registering for one of these sessions, you understand that you must confirm that you are currently registered in an Art Center class and that you will abide by our existing studio rules.

92NY Jewelry Center Committee

The Jewelry Center Committee works closely with the leadership of the Center and is an important advisory and fundraising group for Jewelry Center staff. Members of the Committee serve as a sounding board for new ideas, function as ambassadors within the 92NY patron and larger New York cultural communities, and support the Jewelry Center in meaningful programmatic and financial ways. As cultural guardians and philanthropic leaders with a passionate interest in the arts, all members contribute to direct and indirect patron and financial development.

Denise V. Benmosche, Chair

Susan Brooks Ruskin
Jennifer Brownstone
Kathy A. Chazen
Hope Fitzgerald
Mary Freeman
Shirin Ghotbi
Sandra Leong
Margie Loeb
Stacey S. Mayrock
Amanda Megibow
Jacqueline Mirabel
Karen Putterman
Hila Rosen
Aline Shapiro
Janet Silverstein

92NY Art Center’s Jewelry Program receives major support from Denise V. Benmosche. Additional support is generously provided by Jennifer Brownstone, The Chazen and Chazen Miller Families, Christie’s, Hope Fitzgerald, Mary and Harvey Freeman, Sandra and Michael Hecht, Jeffrey J. Keenan, Michael and Margie Loeb, Stacey S. Mayrock, and Aline Shapiro.

Director, Jewelry Center

Jonathan Wahl

Jonathan Wahl

Jonathan Wahl has served as the Director of the Jewelry Center at The 92nd Street Y, New York since 1999 …

Faculty

Shuoyuan Bai

Shuoyuan Bai

Shuoyuan Bai is a studio jeweler whose work focuses on creating one-of-a-kind pieces inspired by culture and tradition. He graduated from Pratt Institute with his undergraduate degree and later rec ...

Susan Barth

Susan Barth

Susan Barth has professional training in jewelry making and design that spans back over the last thirty years. In the start of her career she apprenticed for five years at a jewelry firm in New Yor ...

Michele Berman

Michele Berman has thirty years of experience as a professional jeweler. She studied at various schools in New York City before working several years for renowned jewelry designer, Barry Kieselstein-Cord. She then became a freelance model maker for other companies before moving on to start her ow ...

David Butler

David Butler

David Butler's work has been included in several exhibits, including The Art of Gold, a traveling exhibit showing at many venues, including The Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Californ ...

Marsha Davis

Marsha Davis

Marsha Davis is a professional jewelry instructor with over 20 years of experience teaching beaded jewelry — ranging from pearl knotting and stringing, to seed beadwork, to macramé, crochet, ...

Borislav Goynatsky

Borislav Goynatsky

Borislav Goynatsky graduated from Moscow University of Chemical Technology majoring in engineering and minoring in industrial design. After 10 years of designing industrial equipment, decided to en ...

Janice Grzyb

Janice Grzyb has been a jewelry designer and fabricator of one of a kind pieces, limited editions and custom work for over 25 years. Her work encompasses a wide range of techniques using precious metals and a variety of precious and semi-precious gem stones. Often her pieces incorporate unusual e ...

Valerie Hall

Valerie Hall

Valerie Hall has worked with metals and precious stones for many years, but over the last 10 years she has worked with polymer clay and finds it to be another fascinating medium in making jewelry. ...

Jiwon Han

Jiwon Han, BFA, Parsons School of Design; exhibits nationally and internationally.

Amy Haskins

Amy Haskins

Bio coming soon.

Donna Herman

Donna Herman

Donna Herman is a native New Yorker and has been making jewelry since she was a child. She started with stringing beads, moved on to children’s ceramic jewelry kilns (no longer available for ...

Honey Jeanne Laber

Honey Jeanne Laber

Honey Jeanne Laber, MFA, University of Georgia; studied: Penland School, Parsons, Japan, China; exhibitions include American Craft Museum, Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian Museum, Neuberger Museu ...

Deborah Meyers

Deborah Meyers

Deborah Meyers is a goldsmith and studio jeweler based in New York City specializing in luxurious artisanal jewelry. Her fascination with gold and gems began as a child with the family lore about G ...

Mahmoud Muhawish

Mahmoud Muhawish

In the early 1980s Mahmoud Muhawish while working for Sheikh Nasser al Sabah, a member of Kuwait’s ruling family, Mahmoud was introduced to master goldsmith Claire Bersani who was working on ...

Ann Paly

Ann Paly

Ann Paly is a professional jeweler with over 20 years experience. She works and resides in NYC and has a diverse and loyal following. She received a BFA from SUNY at Buffalo in Fine Arts and Elemen ...

Lisa Spiros

Lisa Spiros was born in New York City, where she is currently teaching jewelry making at 92nd Street Y, as she has for the past fourteen years. Some of the schools she has taught at include Parsons School of Design, New School for Social Research, New York University and The State University of N ...

Alex Tapnio

Alex Tapnio

Alex Tapnio is a university professional and artist with over two decades of experience in arts and lifelong learning programs. Alex’s art across metals, enamels, ceramics, lithography, and e ...

William M. Vanaria

William Vanaria is a Massachusetts based artist with a penchant for oddball materials. His work utilizes traditional metalsmithing techniques and a wide verity of non-traditional materials to produce jewelry which both questions and comments on notions of romanticism, value, fakery, and the hiera ...

Elizabeth White-Pultz

Elizabeth White-Pultz

Elizabeth White-Pultz has been an enamelist/metalsmith and member of the 92NY community for over 20 years. Her background in painting and drawing informs her work. She has been included in the Enam ...

Katharine Wood

Katharine Wood

Katharine Wood received her BA from Boston University. She has taught at the Newark Museum, Craft Students League, Museum of Arts and Design, and Princeton University. Her work has been published i ...

Please note that all 92Y regularly scheduled in-person programs are suspended.