Clayton Salley is a contemporary art jeweler and metalsmith, and a current MFA candidate and instructor of Studio Art: Jewelry and Metal Arts, at the University of Iowa. In 2025, Salley completed a 10-month Fulbright Fellowship in Taiwan, hosted by Tainan National University of the Arts in the Graduate Institute of Applied Arts, Jewelry and Metalsmithing Department. Salley previously received an MA in Studio Arts: Jewelry and Metal Arts from the University of Iowa in 2024, and a BFA in Studio Arts: Jewelry Design and Metalsmithing from Texas Tech University in 2022.
Salley’s artwork is regularly exhibited nationally, including in the CraftForms 2024 exhibition (as the first artwork ever featured in their new “3D” category, highlighting craft created using computer-aided design processes), CraftForms 2025, the Kentucky Museum, the Dubuque Museum of Art, the SNAG x San Diego conference, and internationally at the New Taipei City Arts Center in Taiwan.
As part of his combined studio and education practice, Salley lectures publicly and has recently presented on his field and artistic practice at Taiwan National University of the Arts in Banqiao, Taiwan; Tainan National University of the Arts in Tainan, Taiwan; the 2024 Texas Metals Symposium at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas; and virtually at the Hubei Institute of Fine Arts in Hubei, China.
