Concrete Art by Tiffany Klein

When I think of decorative concrete, I think of counter tops and floors with really cool designs on them. Tiffany Klein has made me think of decorative concrete in a brand new way!

Tiffany is the owner of Klein Artistic Finishes located in Lansing, Michigan. She has been mixing products and slapping them on the wall since she was a little girl and first discovered crayons. Tiffany says she used to get in trouble with her mom when she would empty out the ink pens and "stain" a picture with her fingers behind the couch. She has dabbled into every bit of "crafty" venues you can think of from stained glass work, to jewelry making, ceramics, serging clothing and stitching cool designs on things, ink plotting reverse and relief work to experimenting with fiberglass and resins. You name it she has probably tried it!

So what got Tiffany started in the business? Tiffany says, "My mind never shuts off, if I have an idea to do something I figure out how what and why and then I try things until I finally accomplish it.

When I asked Tiffany how she got started with her concrete art pieces, she said; One experiment led to another and my Jezebel was born. Someone made me realize that everyone is so individualized that I wanted to bring that out into an art form, showing how beauty is in the eye of the beholder and in this case, it happens to be women. I think the 20's was such a beautiful era and it seems to get lost in the shuffle of "now a days" that I wanted to bring some of the hat wearing, full gown clothing back, but with a modern twist to it, and I always wanted to dabble in Dress Design... :)"

Tiffany got into working with concrete last year after taking an ICoat decorative concrete counter top class in Chicago. After working on several counter jobs Tiffany started playing around with the ICoat products and using them for decorative art pieces and kitchen accessories, including back splashes and range hoods. Tiffany says her inspiration/creativeness came mostly from a friend who sent her lots of colors in the glass for ICoat. Tiffany says she knew she couldn't use the beautiful red color anywhere particular so she started with the hats for her Painted Ladies collection.

For her Kitchen Creations, hoods and tile art pieces, Tiffany used all the same inspirations, plus she learned some great techniques from some instructors and she then expanded on them using stone for durability and perfected the "carving" technique for the hoods. Tiffany works with a local Kitchen shop to make the wood hood and then she finishes them with her artistic flair. She then adds accent tiles or custom splash pieces to match for behind the stove, which adds to her counter top resurfacing. Tiffany says "All in all I make sure there is "something" I can do in that house so by the time I leave I have the entire project! If you can do anything, then you will do something!"

So how long does it take to complete a work of art? "Depends on what I am doing, usually I spend a good week on any piece... I change things a lot and I rework things I don't like. So being fussy by nature, I allow myself time to do so."

Tiffany is passionate about what she does and says that you have one life here (at least one you can remember) so you are meant to do something special, if art is your passion, then art is what you are made to do. You have to find your nitch in life and once you are comfortable in your own skin doing what you love, then your passion will find you and one day you will wake up and actually WANT to create whatever pops up in your head, and amazingly it will turn out to be something beautiful.

Tiffany's Painted Ladies are currently being displayed and sold at DeRubies Gallery in Key West, Florida.

Updated September 2011


The type of art Tiffany focuses on is Multi-media relief sculptures, that actually is carved concrete stone, in many forms. Tiffany carves what she is thinking then she embellishes  with recycled stones, crystals and glass, until she is happy with it. Each piece has a story and each piece is original to its design. She can do custom pieces i.e. a daughter in her wedding gown, a new baby, women from generations, golfing series, jazz pieces, etc… any subject that she can make out an image, she can carve it.


Tiffany's latest project involved creating an art piece to be submitted to Art Prize, an art competition in Grand Rapids, Michigan.  Tiffany was unsure of what she was going to make until she saw some Civil War paintings, immediately she thought of   ”Gone With the Wind”. Still unsure of how she was going to accomplish that, she decided to “wing it” and just do whatever she was thinking at the time,  she found a few images of  Clark Gable as Rhett Butler and Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’Hara and she went from there. Tiffany has several videos to show the progress made by David Such and his team from Such Video (old town, Lansing)


http://www.kleinsartisticfinishes.com  Follow Tiffany on her blog.  http://tiffanysfineart.wordpress.com