Jonathan Bonner received a BFA at the Philadelphia College of Art and an MFA at Rhode Island School of Design. In 1973, he received an MFA in sculpture. Bonner started a metal smithing company with his wife that made jewelry his wife designed and Bonner's finger planes for luthiers.

In the 1980s Bonner started making weather vanes as a form of outdoor sculpture, and made almost 200 variations. He also started to take on large public art commissions. In the 1990s. Bonner started on work focused on Klein Bottles and Mobius Strips, and were large scale pieces made with traditional metalsmithing techniques.