Clayton Salley is a U.S. Fulbright Scholar, contemporary art jeweler, metalsmith, and a current MFA candidate and instructor studying Jewelry and Metal Arts with Professor Kee-ho Yuen at the University of Iowa. Salley previously studied traditional metalsmithing processes and conceptual art jewelry history with Professor Robly Glover and Professor Nancy Slagle at Texas Tech University.

Salley was the Emerging Artist Presenter at the 2024 Texas Metals Symposium, where he also installed an electroforming tank and co-conducted an electroforming workshop with Professor Kee-ho Yuen (University of Iowa). His artwork was featured in the international exhibition, “Refined 2023,” juried by Frankie Flood. Beginning in June 2024, Salley’s artwork will be exhibit in the Dubuque Museum of Art’s, “Craft Invitational, 2024” exhibition. Salley has received a U.S. Fulbright Open Study/Research award to travel to Taiwan in September 2024 to undertake 10-month training in advanced traditional hollowware metalsmithing processes with Professor Amal Yung-huei Chao at the Tainan National University of the Arts. His project will result in interdisciplinary artworks that bridge ancient and modern metalsmithing crafts.