Artwork copyright Kiff Slemmons. Photo courtesy of Washington State Arts Commission.

Artwork copyright Kiff Slemmons. Photo courtesy of the artist.

Measuring Up: To the World, 1991

Kiff Slemmons
(American, born 1944)

Location: Federal Way High School, Federal Way

ABOUT THE ARTWORK

Artist Kiff Slemmons describes her work as dedicated to "the power of small." She explores identity and community in her mixed-media sculpture Measuring Up: To the World . This artwork is part of a series of sculptures created in shape of a hand. Each one incorporates small found objects and rulers as symbols for growing up and being evaluated.

This artwork is part of a series created by Kiff Slemmons for the collection "Who We Are: Autobiographies in Art." The series was commissioned by the Washington State Arts Commission in partnership with the Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction in 1990.

This artwork was acquired for the State Art Collection in partnership with Who We Are: Autobiographies in Art Collection.

ABOUT THE ARTIST

Kiff Slemmons is an artist and metalsmith. She creates sculptural art jewelry that focuses on ideas, found objects, and non-precious materials. Her jewelry contains layers of meaning, historical and literary references, and sometimes uses visual puns.

Slemmons studied French language and art at the University of Iowa. She later attended the Sorbonne in Paris and studied metalsmithing in Japan. In 2000, she began to collaborate with a handmade paper workshop in Oaxaca, Mexico. Together with these craftspeople, she designs and creates paper jewelry and sculptures made from local plants and natural dyes. Slemmons was a longtime resident of Seattle and has lived in Chicago, Illinois since 2002. The Palo Alto Art Center in California organized a retrospective exhibition "The Thought of Things: Jewelry by Kiff Slemmons" in 2000. Her artworks are in many collections including Tacoma Art Museum; Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington D.C.; The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; and Victoria and Albert Museum in England.