Wearable Art: Designs by Kay Klose

Wearable Art: Designs by Kay Klose   

Tara A. Spears

Not only are the garments and hats that Kay Klose makes visually appealing but they invite you to touch them. It was her passion for nature that led Kay to explore nuno felting and encaustic art for her artistic medium. If you’re wondering how felting and encaustic art relates to clothes, come to the January 26 Women to Women Fashion Show to see it modeled! The Fashion Show is excited to have Kay Klose designs on the runway this year and also on display.

“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. She graduated from the California College of Arts and Crafts in 1983 and struck out for the wilds of Alaska with her photography gear. While growing up on a farm in northern 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.

Kay credits having grown up in a more romantic time as the impetus of her fashion flair. “People dressed so nice back then. I loved helping my mom dress up to go out, especially opening the hat box.” While hats in colder climates are utilitarian, in Kay’s hands they become gorgeous- beauty plus function.

“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. (center photo). 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. Notice the texture and colors in the following hats.

As with a true visionary, Kay is inspired by “travel, experiencing different cultures, found objects, nature, color, water, and the wind. I enjoy the unique in ordinary things.” She has lived the last three years on the Oregon, USA, coast and wintered in La Penita. “I need to live next to the ocean!”

Since 2013, Kay has pursued eco printing and encaustic art besides her nuno felting. She believes that fashion should be “Natural, elegant, textural, unique and durable.” Her work has been featured in several galleries and museums ranging from Alaska State Museum to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. Kay also is a member of the Pacific Artist Co-op. For more information visit her website www. kaykloseart.com or email her directly: kaycloseoink@gmail.com

You must see her garments firsthand to truly appreciate the depth and texture of each wearable art. Don’t miss her presentation at the Women to Women Fashion Show!

 

 

Hooray for the 2016 Fashion Show Sponsors:

Gold Sponsors:    

Hidden Paradise Real Estate-Jeanie Mintzmyer

La Penita Arte Studio- Deborah Drew

Norm & Caroline Maze

 

Silver Sponsors:

Comex

Costco

Victoria Paval

ReMax Jaltemba Bay Realty-

Rick Helberg & Chantal Camere, brokers

 

Bronze Sponsors:

Casa Contenta-Lin Chimes &Jim Stewart

Hotel Guayabitos/ Don Juan Pizza

Mick & Evelyn Nodwell

Mini Super Popin

Chris & Val Schrowe

 

Community Partners:

Scott Webb,

Ferreteria Muro,

Bungalow Maria Teresa

Hotel Association, Compostela,

Jaltemba Jalepeno.com ,

Coca Cola,

Sol Mexico News (solmexiconews.com)