PALO ALTO, CA.- The Palo Alto Art Center (PAAC) explores the power and values associated with the objects in our lives in two exhibitions, Kiff Slemmons: Re-Pair and Imperfection and The First Illusion: The Transitional Object, through December 22, 2006. The exhibitions encourage the viewer to consider the accumulation of meaning in objects in the cycle of life. The exhibition, Re-Pair and Imperfection, presents Kiff Slemmons, a conceptually-based art jeweler based in Chicago, IL, who has created a fascinating series of pieces from “broken, incomplete, or inconclusive fragments” given to her by prominent metal artists. The word “re-pair” pays homage to the imaginative collaborations in which Slemmons fused her own aesthetic with that of artists to create new works. The exhibition features 29 pieces, as well as photographs of the original fragments by various artists. The provocative theme of the second exhibition, The Transitional Object, has multiple artists looking back to an earlier time in their personal lives, or conceiving of a transitional object for their time, or future. This exhibition invites further contemplation by the viewer on the power of objects in our lives.

Kiff Slemmons: Re-Pair & Imperfection - This exhibition presents and explores the work of Kiff Slemmons, a conceptually-based art jeweler based in Chicago, IL. The exhibition features photographs of fragments contributed by 18 colleagues and considered by the artists as ‘imperfect, broken, or no longer usable,’ along with the final works created by Slemmons that were conceived with consideration of the mature stylistic direction, or concepts, of the contributing artists. Additionally, representative works by contributing artists are featured. The viewer is thus given a rich experience in thinking about the process of the artist in the transition of the fragments to the newly-conceived hybrid-pieces. The dual lives and accumulated meaning of the fragments are consistent with Susan Hiller’s definition of an art object as “events extended over time.”

The exhibition features original works by contributing artists Bettina Dittlman, Sandra Enterline, Thomas Gentile, Lisa Gralnick, Gary Griffin, Daniel Jocz, Esther Knobel, Keith Lewis, Otto Künzli, Bruce Metcalf, Myra Mimlitsch-Gray, Ramona Solberg, June Schwarcz, Joyce Scott, Rachelle Thiewes, Terry Turrell, J. Fred Woell, and Joe Wood. The Palo Alto Art Center presentation follows the inaugural exhibition of Kiff Slemmons: Re-Pair and Imperfection at the Chicago Cultural Center (March 25 to May 28, 2006) and will feature the 64-page, illustrated catalogue with an essay by Tacey Rosolowski and the catalogue, The Thought of Things, Jewelry by Kiff Slemmons. The Kiff Slemmons: Re-Pair and Imperfection catalogue and the inaugural exhibition produced by the Chicago Cultural Center were generously supported by a grant from the Rotasa Foundation.

The First Illusion: The Transitional Object - First coined by the psychologist D.W, Winnicott, The Transitional Object refers to the first "Not-Me" object favored by young children that empowers and comforts, ultimately transitioning the child into a next stage of growth and development.

The anthropomorphic, ‘security’ blanket that accompanies Linus in the comic strip Peanuts is a commonly-associated ‘real’ transitional object. Exhibition artists have created transitional objects for their time, or future, or pieces referencing an object to which they invested such powers during transitional times in their life.

The exhibition pieces with artist statements invite further contemplation by the viewer on the power of objects in our lives. They bring forward, as well, questions on the very roots of art and religion. Exhibition artists include: Chester Arnold; Deborah Barrett, Timothy Berry, Robert Brady, Jim Campbell, Dominic Di Mare, David French, Lucy Gaylord-Lindholm, Scott Greene, Lisa Kokin, Lisa Lockhart, Susan Magnus, Kenna Moser, Maria Porges, Kay Sekimachi, Kiff Slemmons, Larry Thomas, and Theodora Varnay Jones.