Kay Klose’s Wearable Art

Want to be noticed? Wear one of textile artist Kay Klose’s sensuous nuno felt garments. They are so beautiful yet durable and functional. Kay has spent years perfecting her felt cloth from wool: it’s a complicated and fascinating process to sculpt the fabric but the result speaks for itself!
Kay credits having grown up in a more romantic time as the impetus of her fashion flair. “People dressed so nice back then (in the 1950s). I loved helping my mom dress up to go out, especially opening the hat box.”
“Art has always been in my life. It is my meditation. I have worked in many mediums for expression and enjoyed all of them,” explains Kay.  While growing up on a farm in north-ern California, Kay was selected for a work study abroad program in New Zealand for a year while in high school. It was in New Zealand that Kay worked as a shepherd and learned to shear sheep. This was her first contact with the merino wool which she uses today to make her original wearable art.
“Nuno felting is a fiber sculpting process that uses fine merino wool, natural fibers, soap, water, and friction to get the wool to travel through cloth,” said Kay. The wool and other natural fibers are bonded together permanently via this process. It takes a lot of time to produce just one section of cloth; the final size is less than a third of the starting size.  You really need to touch the fabric to fully appreciate the unique characteristics besides the wonderful visual appeal.
As with any true visionary, Kay is inspired by “travel, experiencing different cultures, found objects, nature, color, water, and wind. I enjoy the unique in ordinary things.” She has lived the last six years on the Oregon, USA, coast and has wintered in La Penita Mexico. “I need to live next to the ocean!”
Kay believes that fashion should be “Natural, elegant, textural, unique and durable.”  She graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1983. Her work has been featured in several galleries and museums including the Alaska State Museum, the Corcoran Gallery, and the Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Kay also is a member of the Pacific Artist Co-op.

Kay Klose Art    907 952 0659  (USA)  kaykloseoink@gmail.com / kaykloseart.com

Showings and fittings by appointment only.      La Penita

Edited from original article by Tara Spears