Kailey Klein is a contemporary and multi passionate western artist working in a variety of mediums; she is the maker behind the brand Magpie West.
Klein was born in California in 1992 and raised in rural Southern Oregon. The artist became enamored with cowboy life in the Great Basin after meeting her now husband while she was studying art and agriculture at Oregon State University. From there, she spent the next decade working and creating art on ranches all over the west, from Montana to Nevada.
Her first love is traditional tooled leather with a modern twist. Klein spent over a decade painting vibrant acrylic
western scenes and iconography on the purses, wallets, and belts she hand tooled. These pieces are a blend of fine art and tough functionality. Her unique style of painting directly on the tooled leather put her brand, Magpie West, on the map in the world of western makers.
More recently, Kailey has branched out in a different direction as a fine art painter working in
watercolor, gouache, and oil; her aim is to portray today’s modern west from the female perspective.
Along with raising her two daughters and running a successful business and studio practice,
Kailey also teaches a leather tooling course with Be A Maker School, an online platform for
learning the western trades.
She resides on a large and remote ranch among the big sagebrush of
Nevada with her children and husband Cody; her inspiration stems from everyday ranch life
in the beautiful and rugged high desert west.