Jonna was born in Pennsylvania and grew up in a town a stone's throw away from the home of one of one of her favorite artist, Andrew Wyeth, whose work and life inspired her throughout her youth.

 

Her fascination with art came forth in her late teens. She would spend hours in her room experimenting with all types of mediums, including acrylic and watercolor paints, pastels, clay and inks. Her interest in photography as an art medium bloomed when she received her first Cannon film camera, as a hand-me-down from her brother. Jonna spent hours alone with her camera, photographing the nature that surrounded her. She took particular interest in the corn fields that laid behind her home and the adjacent wooded pathways, as they became the initial subjects in her first rounds of photographic experimentation.

 

Today Jonna works in several mediums as she exclaims that she finds it difficult to place herself within the boundaries of a single medium. She believes that her creativity is streamed from a higher source and uses multiple mediums to allow for the expression of "this constant force."  "I feel compelled to create constantly," says Jonna. "Creating to me is akin to breathing. I must create in order to truly live.”

 

Of her work that is not literal, Jonna explains that she tries to increase the dynamic between audience and author by objectifying emotions and investigating the duality that develops through different interpretations. With a conceptual approach, she creates intense personal moments masterfully wrought by means of rules as well as omissions, acceptance as well as refusal; taking the viewer down a path where meaning is often shifted and possible interpretation becomes multifaceted, as a reflection of one's own psyche.

 

Within the realm of abstraction, she tries to approach a wide range of subjects in a multi-layered way. Her works are often based on formal associations which open a unique poetic vein. Images are purposely created in which the fragility and instability of our seemingly certain reality is questioned, prodding the viewer to ponder the possibility of a higher purpose for mankind.

 

Jonna works out of her studio in New York City

 

Her favorite artists to study include: Jean Michele Basquiat, WIllem de Kooning, Louise Nevelson, Pablo Picasso, Christopher Beane, Irving Penn, Michelangelo, Bottecelli, Andrew Wyeth, Franz Kline and Gerhard Richter.

 

Jonna is an artist, photographer and silversmith who studied Metalsmthing at the Parsons School of Design and the Art Students League In New York City. She went on to study Jewelry rendering, drawing, Fashion Design and photography at the Fashion Institute of Technology where she also completed a program in couture design, tailoring and design draping.

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At left: Solar Rain from Project Max GO 

and Tulips Blush from Jonna Gill: Flowers GO