Kay Klose

Kay is a fiber artist.

Kay Klose is a multidisciplinary fiber artist whose work is rooted in a lifelong fascination with texture, color, and the expressive possibilities of natural materials. Although she has worked in photography, painting, and wearable art throughout her career, wool has become her favorite medium—a material that allows her to sculpt, layer, and paint with fiber.

A graduate of the California College of Arts and Crafts, Kay's relationship with wool began long before she discovered felting. As a high school exchange student in New Zealand, she worked as a shepherd and learned to shear sheep, an experience that introduced her to the Merino wool she still uses today.

Living on the Oregon Coast has inspired Kay's desire to capture its breathtaking landscapes. Her miniature needle-felted scenes reflect the ever-changing shoreline—shifting light, ocean mist, rocky headlands, and expansive skies. Created as quiet studies of place, these intimate works are a relaxing meditation, translating moments of the coast into layered compositions of merino wool.
​
Kay is also recognized for her original nuno felt garments and hats, combining fine merino wool with silk and other natural fibers to create sculptural wearable art. Whether creating clothing or landscapes, she is inspired by travel, experiencing different cultures, found objects, nature, color, water, wind, and the beauty found in ordinary things.