Jeana Eve Klein’s studio practice explores the broad theme of value: how society in general assigns value (or worthlessness) to objects, and how the art world, specifically, assigns value to works of art, craft and design. These ideas are made tangible through large mixed media quilts and tiny obsessive embroideries. In her latest project—begun after the inauguration of Donald Trump—Klein is considering the false sense of participation, the ineffective activism, and the echo chamber of social media via text-based works constructed of hand-cut recycled fabric.

Klein (b. 1975, Ypsilanti, MI) earned her undergraduate degree from North Carolina State University and MFA from Arizona State University. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including recent solo exhibitions at OZ Arts (Nashville, TN), Charleston Heights Arts Center (Las Vegas, NV) and ArtSpace (Raleigh, NC). Images of her work have appeared in American Craft and several volumes of Surface Design Journal. She is a 2014 recipient of the North Carolina Arts Council Individual Artist Fellowship. Klein lives and works in Boone, North Carolina, where she is Professor of Fibers and Assistant Chair in the Art Department.