Kiff Slemmons, self-taught in metalsmithing, is an American artist of international repute. Known for her work with non-precious materials, her jewelry contains multiple layers of both substance and meaning, sometimes manifested by witty visual puns. Informed by Surrealist and Dada concepts and iconography, Constructivist structure and composition, and the evocative musings of German writer W. G. Sebald, she possesses a remarkable intelligence, along with, as she puts it, “obsessive observation,” clearly manifested in the cultural relevance of her output. Slemmons holds a BA from University of Iowa, where she majored in art and French, studying for a year at the Sorbonne in Paris. In 2000 she enjoyed a mid-career retrospective, The Thought of Things: Jewelry by Kiff Slemmons, organized by the Palo Alto Art Center in California.

Slemmons is represented in numerous museum collections including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Arts and Design in New York; Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas: Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Tacoma Art Museum; Mint Museum, Charlotte; Honolulu Museum of Art Spalding House; and Victoria and Albert Museum, London.

Majahua Indigo. Necklace, 2018-2019, cast and inked paper

Four Squares Collar. Breastplate, 2018-2019, inked paper, leather

Split. Breastplate, 2018-2019, inked paper, leather

Honor the Chickens. Breastplate, 2018-2019, inked paper, painted chicken bones, silver leather

Necklace, drawer handle pull, chicken bones, paint, silver