Anthems in Color and Paper
Susan Bennerstrom and Kiff Slemmons 
i.e. gallery
October 2nd - October 26th, 2025
Artist Reception : Saturday, October 4th, 3-5 pm
Chat with Artists : Sunday, Oct 5th, 12 pm



Patricia McDonnell
Director Emerita, Wichita Art Museum 


Color seduces and conveys. It shouts and it also whispers. Paper absorbs and transmits. It is pliant and it breathes. In the compelling exhibition Anthems in Color and Paper, two masterful artists work with paper to reimagine the possibilities of color. The art on view reveals nuance with powerful sophistication as we see two artists test and reinvent their exceptional skill. 

Bennerstrom is a representational painter for whom a particular character of light dominates. Working with watercolor, ink, monotype, colored pencil, and oil pastel on paper, the artist takes on abstraction. She imaginatively invents with pattern, repetition, and form. Color, however, and its mutable values—vivid red here, soft amber there—preoccupies her focus with paper. These small gems by Bennerstrom offer surprise by their creative inventiveness. 

Slemmons worked with metal, embedding thoughtful content into extraordinary jewelry art. Two decades ago, the artist started a partnership with Taller Arte Papel in Oaxaca, Mexico, a paper-making collaborative. This turn to paper provides Slemmons with new avenues for innovation not possible in metal. In particular, color fascinates Slemmons as individual paper beads bristle with dynamic hues. In combination—bead upon bead— Slemmons’ color is visually arresting.
Susan Bennerstrom and Kiff Slemmons are prize-winning, accomplished artists, and they are longtime friends. Based in Bellingham, Bennerstrom is a leading painter with strong regional reach and West Coast presence. Based in Chicago, Slemmons is a jewelry artist well known in the Pacific Northwest and recognized internationally. Both are well represented in museum collections and honored with distinguished awards. Anthems in Color and Paper reunites this pair in an exhibition that places their consummate abilities on view for all to discover and savor.