EXPO ‘KIFF SLEMMONS – on and off the wall’- Sienna Gallery, Lenox (USA) – 8 Juill.-7 Aout 2011

July 8 – August 7
KIFF SLEMMONS – on and off the wall

In many cultures, paper is considered precious and this is not more true than in the hands of Kiff Slemmons. Working for the past ten years in collaboration with the artisans at Arte Papel in Oaxaca Mexico, the paper is cut, folded, inked, and wrapped to make jewelry. The majority of materials used in creating the paper jewelry are regionally grown in Mexico. Local plant dyes are extracted for the natural colors and man-made dyes produce the vivid colors. Cactus juice is used to size the paper and the forms are all hand made by local artisans. The jewelry is abstract and structural, like bones; with a skin of natural and dyed colors, it is sensual and tactile. Slemmons original designs began with a few basic forms; she has now repeated, recombined, enlarged, reduced and re-contextualized these elements in myriad variations. Paper is the site of poetry, the site of drawing, and in this jewelry, the unexpected site of both.

 

Kiff Slemmons was born in 1944 in Maxton, North Carolina and was raised in Adel, Iowa. In 1968, she received a BA in art and French from the University of Iowa, where her undergraduate studies included a year at the Sorbonne in Paris. She has been influenced by the chance and transformation of Dada and Surrealist theory and the focus on materials and structure in Constructivism. Equally important to her is the love of language, tools, and the printed word that she acquired from her father, a newspaper publisher and editor. A self-taught metalsmith who has been exhibiting for more than 30 years. The daughter of a newspaper publisher and editor, language and the written word have important roles in her work. Her work can be found in permanent collections around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Mint Museum, North Carolina; Contemporary Museum, Hawaii; and the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington.

 

 

Sienna Gallery
80 Main Street
Lenox, MA 01240
T [413] 637-8386
[e-mail]
www.siennagallery.com

Kiff Slemmons – Beach found objects jewelry

Kiff Slemmons is a self-taught metalsmith who has been exhibiting for more than 30 years. The daughter of a newspaper publisher and editor, language and the written word have important roles in her work. In 2007 she completed the project Re:Pair and Imperfection, in which she transformed unfinished, unwanted, or otherwise discarded works from selected artists, a traveling exhibition which originated at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2006. More recently she has worked in Oaxaca, Mexico with local artisans to produce paper jewelry. In November 2007 she was interviewed for the Smithsonian’s Archives of American Art. Her work can be found in permanent collections around the world, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, London; the Mint Museum, North Carolina; Contemporary Museum, Hawaii; and the Tacoma Art Museum, Washington. Kiff Slemmons currently lives and works in Chicago.

Kiff Slemmons – « Starfish Memory » Necklace

 

Kiff Slemmons -  « Twist » Brooch 

Kiff Slemmons – Puako Pallette » Brooch

Kiff Slemmons – « Vase » Brooch

Kiff Slemmons -  « Bib (mounted piece) (& detail)

Kiff Slemmons – « Pebbles » Necklace

Kiff Slemmons – « Anthozoans » Necklace

Among these works in non-precious materials and found objects are the artists « Insectopedia » series, which is a collection of metal pins fusing insects with typography. She’s also known for working with found objects like shells, stones and bones as in her work “Atoll Necklace” and “Mouse Bones.” The work “Atoll Necklace” came out of the collaborative beach combings of Slemmon’s and fellow artist, Kay Sekimachi in Puako, Hawaii.

Kiff Slemmons, Atoll necklace, mixed media. (Photograph courtesy of Science blog Bioephemera)

Kiff Slemmons -  « Petals » Brooch

Kiff Slemmons -  « tochtli » Brooch

Kiff Slemmons -  « Tangle » Necklace

Kiff Slemmons -  « Spine » Necklace (all images Velvet da Vinci gallery)

Kiff Slemmons : « Pride of Paper: Not Just Another Collection of Paper Jewelry »

Kiff Slemmons  « Pride of Paper/Orgullo en Papel: Arte Papel Oaxaca & Kiff Slemmons »

exhibition which is taking place until July 3rd 2010 at the Chicago Cultural Center.

These pieces were designed by American artist Kiff Slemmons along with the Mexican organization Arte Papel Oaxaca, which seeks to revive the pre-Columbian tradition of making paper from indigenous natural fibers

 

All the pieces are made from artisan paper produced with native plants such as majahua, chichicatzli and pochote, while the dyes come also from natural sources such as indigo (the photos here show the pieces before the dye process). This, of course, makes the pieces biodegradable

 

 

 

Chicago Cultural Center
78 E. Washington St.
Chicago, IL 60602

CAGNES-sur-MER (FR) – Espace SOLIDOR – Collection permanente – Musée

Labellisée «Ville Métiers d’Art», Cagnes-sur-Mer s’investit, depuis plus de dix ans maintenant, dans la promotion du bijou contemporain. Les expositions se succèdent ainsi régulièrement à l’Espace Solidor, au pied du Château Grimaldi et accueillent de nombreux artistes français et étrangers de renommée internationale.

Aujourd’hui, le fonds permanent constitué d’œuvres originales acquises au fil de ces événements culturels, offre un regard unique sur le bijou et la création contemporaine. Composé d’or, de pierres précieuses, de métaux divers, de matières composites, de bois et même de papier, le bijou contemporain illustre la maîtrise et le talent des artistes qui le façonnent, au gré de leur inspiration, de leur culture et de leur sensibilité.

Récemment, la collection s’est enrichie avec les dernières acquisitions de Kadri Mälk, Tanel Veenre et Piret Hirv de l’exposition «Regard sur l’Estonie» (juin 2007).

Tanel Veenre – broche
Kadri Mälk – brooch -’the order of garter’ Cork, silver, synthetic sapphires , smoked quartz, ebony
Piret Hirv – broche ‘two’ – or

Ces bijoux, qui dépassent la simple fonction esthétique d’ornement du corps sont à eux-seuls de véritables porteurs de message, aux formes surprenantes et aux matériaux insolites.

Artistes représentés :
Christel Balez – Robert Baines – Gijs Bakker – Arlette Baron – Iris Bodemer – Frédéric Braham – Christophe Burger – Joaquim Capdevila – Faust Cardinali – Françoise et Claude Chavent – Cathy Chotard – Costanza – Xavier Doménech – Gabriele Dziuba – Eva Eisler – Denis Essayie – Joël Faivre-Chalon – Karl Fritsch – Kyoko Fukuchi – Henri Gargat – Esty Grossman – Sophie Hanagarth – Mari Ishikawa – Gilles Jonemann – Mila Kalnitzkaya – Kepa Karmona – Michaela Kirchner – Elisabeth Krampe – Florence Lehmann – Patricia Lemaire – Benjamin Lignel – Nel Linssen – Michail Maslennikow – Paul McClure – Amandine Meunier – Astrid Meyer – Ted Noten – Ritsuko Ogura – Suzanne Otwell-Negre – Claude Pelletier – Ramon Puig-Cuyas – Anna Raigorodskaya – Gerd Rothmann – Julie Rouault – Agathe Saint-Girons – Kiff Slemmons – Janna Syvänoja – Torun – Christophe Verot – Wabé – Annamaria Zanella – Christoph Zellweger

Wabé broche papier maché – 2002 (bon, pas au musée, c’est la mienne !)
Mari Ishikawa – Necklace-Blooming Red-2004- japanese kozo paper
Cathy Chotard

Espace SOLIDOR
Place du Château, Haut-de-Cagnes
06800 – Cagnes-sur-Mer
France
Telephone: [phone]
Fax: [phone]
M. Roland Constant
mail: [e-mail]

chaque exposition qui a lieu à l’Espace Solidor est mise en ligne sur le site de la ville :
www.cagnes-sur-mer.fr/  onglet “culture”. (merci de cette précision donnée par l’Espace Solidor )