"Cat. 6? Possibilities and Consequences"

Cat. 6? Possibilities and Consequences examines the effects of the global climate crisis on natural water resources in North and South Carolina. It is a 30-foot long, in-the-round, installation created from salvaged, foraged, and industrial waste materials. The project is led by me, Kim Keelor, a resident artist at the Cowee School Arts and Heritage Center, and includes contributions from local community members including Sarah Johnson, a naturalist-poet Nancy Pheasant, an indigenous engraver; George Taylor, a potter; Angela Martin, an ecotour guide and naturalist; Jesse Shafer and Fisher Wilson, professional composers and musicians from South Carolina; Dallas Shelp, a woodworker and part volunteer/part paid assistant; plus general community volunteers.

WHEN DID IT BEGIN AND WHY?

The environmental installation started with the collection of materials in late 2023. It will be ready to exhibit late in the summer of 2025. Final elements, such as the textile river on the floor, will be completed on site due to space constraints in my Cowee studio and our arts center.

The intention of Cat. 6? is to experientially support a greater understanding of and belief in the need for climate action immediately, and by all. It expresses the possibilities and consequences of climate-related decisions being made right now in the Carolinas, and around the world by industry, government, communities, and individuals. 

The focus on the climate transformation impacts on natural water sources in the Carolinas stems from my observations living in a national forest that is prone to drought-driven wildfires, where my new well went dry three years ago, and where raging waterfalls can dwindle to mere trickles. This is in western North Carolina, a region devastated by Hurricane Helene’s flooding, and at a time when hurricanes were almost upgraded to a Category 6 velocity for the first time in history. I was driven to research specifics. I discovered a federal Environmental Impact Statement report listing North Carolina as having spent more for recovery from natural disasters than 47 other states in a ten-year period, in terms of billions of dollars in damage. And that was prior to the Hurricane Helene calamity. Additionally, in March of 2025, the Commissioner of the North Carolina Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services told the state legislature that North Carolina is now the No. 1 state at risk for wildfires.

Those concerns were preceded by the spark for the initial project idea that occurred when I was the communications director for a college in Charleston, South Carolina. I helped launch a center for climate studies, advancing scientific research on the causes and impacts of climate change while working on a coastal campus frequently made inaccessible by sunny-day sea-level rise flooding. Additionally, a sizable portion of the undergraduate population, polled informally by professors, stated that they either did not believe in climate change or did not consider it a concern that would affect them within their lifetimes.

WHAT DOES IT INCLUDE?

It is 30-feet long, 9-feet high and 10-feet deep. It consists of five phases: River Nest, Dream State, Unwalled, Hard Lessons, and Seething Planet. Together, the phases devolve from the healthy environmental condition of a river nest to a hopeful, though transformed, verdant landscape, to worst-case scenarios. The installation was designed in ten pieces that will be disconnected in Franklin and reassembled in the Hive.

Visitors can begin by entering River Nest, a structure woven from foraged grape, willow, and kudzu vines. Inside they can peek into Seething Planet before exiting to wind around the verdant Dream State mountainside and fiber waterfall. The waterfall transitions into a textile stream, and then into Unwalled, which is a 7-foot tall felt-sculpted splash representing the unprecedented flooding in the Carolinas, and the lost property and lives. After Unwalled, visitors move to the Hard Lessons nook with hanging textile and map information bubbles about the positive and negative conditions in our current natural world. They will conclude by fully facing Seething Planet, an examination of humanity's contributions to the crisis and the real and existing consequences, depicted with Louise Nevelson-style relic boxes created from non-recyclable plastic detritus, plus a fiber forest fire. Each phase of Cat. 6? has an accompanying, original sound experience, created by Shafer and Wilson, who were commissioned by Keelor for this work with the help of a grant.

MATERIALS AND PROCESSES?

Processes employed in the creation of Cat. 6? are too numerous to list in entirety at this time. The processes and materials will all be listed, phase by phase, on the accompanying project specific Instagram site, @getitright_planet,  and here on this website, as well as at the exhibition sites. Examples include felt making, textile deconstruction, hand building clay, hand stitching and lashing, machine sewing, collage, and weaving. Approximately 85 percent of the materials were foraged, found, or salvaged or donated. Examples include big box store plastic plant trays; industrial waste merino wool from a South Carolina textile mill; donated eyeglass blanks that are normally thrown away; expired NCDOT road maps; donated, damaged vintage wool hats; and non-recyclable, plastic, daily use household items and toys.

WHERE CAN I LEARN MORE?

Work in progress videos, micro-view photographs and related resources can be found on the project-specific Instagram profile, @getitright_planet.
Contact me via this website's contact page for more information. Thank you for your interest!



The top of a portion of the "Dream State" phase of Cat. 6?.