Joel Perlman learned to weld by taking off-campus adult education classes while pursuing a BFA degree at Cornell University. He has an MA degree from the University of California, Berkley and has been an instructor at the School of Visual Arts in New York City since 1973. His sculptures have been the subject of numerous solo and group exhibitions including those at the Whitney Museum of Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, NY. His public commissions can be seen across the United States, in London, and at the Hara Open-Air Museum in Japan.