Jon Route (Jack), has been a metalsmith for over 30 years working commercially, academically and independently.  Born in 1954, he received a BS in Art from the University of Wisconsin-Stout and an MFA from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Married in 1974, he has two children with his wife, Deborah.

Jon worked in an architectural metals firm and as a jeweler before striking out on his own as an independent craft-artist. Jon was a Guest Lecturer at U-W-Stout, and has given several workshops throughout his career on the technical and aesthetic aspects of his craft. Jon has exhibited his hand constructed vessel forms, wall pieces, and teapots at some of the best art/craft festival events in the United States including the Cherry Creek Arts Festival, the Ann Arbor Street Art Fair, the American Craft Expo in Evanston, the Philadelphia Craft Show, and the Smithsonian Craft Show.

Jon is a 1998 recipient of a Wisconsin Individual Artist Fellowship and featured in Metalsmith Magazine's 2001 "Exhibition in Print".  His work was chosen recently to be included at the American Craft Museum in New York in an exhibition entitled "Objects for Use: Handmade By Design", and the accompanying book by Paul Smith, Director Emeritus, American Craft Museum. In 2006, Jon was invited to participate in an exhibition honoring the 28 year teaching collaboration between Fred Fenster and Eleanor Moty of the University of Wisconsin, Madison Art Metals program, organized by the Chazen Museum of Art, U-W Madison, Wisconsin.

Jon has served as a Juror and Advisor to several fairs and festivals and two years as a Director on the board of the National Association of Independent Artists. He lives and maintains his studio in the rural countryside of northwestern Wisconsin.