Jeff Kahn was born in Philadelphia, PA.
In 1971, Jeff began working on Jewelers Row in Philadelphia. By 1973, still working for professional jewelers, he set up his own studio and began designing, producing and selling his own line of custom jewelry.
From 1976 until 1980 he attended Philadelphia Academy of Fine Art. While attending art school he continued working with furniture design, jewelry and experimental sculpture.
Kahn’s interest in sculpture led to his experimentation with different mediums including wood, metal, glass and electronics. Over the next few years he worked in machine shops, jewelry shops, and furniture manufacturers, learning the tools and processes needed to design and engineer things.
In 1984, he began designing and building computer operated sculptures that would activate up to 5,000 light emitting diodes, thus imparting movement to the sculptures. These pieces were successful and led to the development of more types of kinetic sculptures.
During his career Kahn has continued to progress towards his ultimate goal of creating large kinetic outdoor pieces of sculpture. His present collection of work is titled “Unseen Forces”. Combining all the skills learned as a jeweler, machinist and wood worker these pieces explore a very delicate balance between hard metal, precious wood, tiny sapphire bearing surfaces and imperceptible currents of air to provide an unlimited range of movement and design.
His pieces are exhibited in private collections, corporate settings and museums.
Selected galleries and locations
Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA
Grounds for Sculpture, Hamilton, NJ
Hirshorne Museum, Washington, DC
Bloomingdales, New York, NY
Air and Space Museum, Washington, DC
Tyler Arboretum, Media, PA
Roche Bobis, Philadelphia, PA
Bill Nye “The Science Guy”, Seattle, WA
University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA
University of Pennsylvania, Reading, PA
Franklin Mint, Aston, PA
Jamestown APVA, Jamestown, VA