[3] In 1962 Slemmons enrolled in Scripps College in Claremont, California for comparative literature, but left shortly for the Sorbonne in Paris, France in 1963.
[4] She completed her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968 at the University of Iowa and later attended an eight-week metals program in Japan through Parsons The New School for Design in 1983.
[4] Since 2000, Slemmons has been recognized for her work with Mexican artists making and designing paper jewelry, resulting in colorful and intricate pieces using traditional bead-making techniques and dyes from indigenous plants.
[5] Her own work includes historical and literary references, incorporating selected found objects, generally non-precious materials, which she fabricates into detailed pieces with silver and other metals.
[7] In her exhibition The Thought of Things, Slemmons made jewelry that used parts of aged photographs, rulers, typewriters, and other found objects in order to elicit a direct personal response.