![SIC Gallery logo WHITE[1].png](https://static.wixstatic.com/media/6865ac_c3556e3621cc44aaae92a1e5b126aa5f~mv2.png/v1/fill/w_416,h_104,al_c,q_85,usm_0.66_1.00_0.01,enc_auto/SIC%20Gallery%20logo%20WHITE%5B1%5D.png)
Kim Keats, MFA
Adjunct Faculty, Studio Art for Non-Majors
Kim Keats holds a BFA from Augusta State University, pursued graduate studies in fibers at Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts and received an MFA from Georgia Southern University. Kim’s fiber works have been exhibited in museums including the Huntsville Museum of Art in Huntsville, AL, Gibbes Museum of Art in Charleston, SC, the Museum of York County in Rock Hill, SC, the South Carolina State Museum in Columbia, and the Wiregrass Museum of Art in Dothan, AL. She has received merit and best of show awards in a number of juried exhibitions and her works have been included in the traveling exhibits, Palmetto Hands, Craft of the Carolinas, and Material Objects. Keats’ sculptures are in the Mark B. Coplan Collection of Art at the South Carolina State Museum, City of North Charleston Public Art Collection and the Medical University of South Carolina’s Contemporary Carolina Collection at the Ashley River Tower. She is the recipient of the South Carolina Arts Commission 2010 Individual Artist Fellowship Award in Craft.
Artist Statement
The objects that I make are intended to honor or memorialize the origin of the materials from which they are made. I primarily use naturally sourced materials that include bark and twigs from a variety of highland trees along with driftwood and palmetto roots from coastal habitats. Harvesting bark and palmetto roots is a considerable part of the overall process and is seasonable and laborious. The bark is manipulated while wet and sewn together with waxed linen thread. Combined interlacing techniques are employed to weave the palmetto roots and waxed linen thread onto the bark or driftwood structures. Materials such as twigs, bones, and stones are added to create contrast. Objects are also constructed and incorporated to create areas of interest that support the visual concepts. Tree imagery continues to serve as a personal icon and my work reflects the influences of a number of indigenous cultures that have a tradition of using natural materials. Sharing in this celebration of materials, techniques and imagery has made me feel as though I am part of a universal heritage.
Selected Exhibitions
2020 The Red Clay Survey: 2020 Exhibition of Contemporary Southern Art, Huntsville Museum of Art, Huntsville, AL
2019 30th Anniversary Juried Exhibition, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC
Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Sea Island Center Gallery, Beaufort, SC
Foundations Faculty Exhibition, SCAD, Anderson Hall, Savannah, GA
Palmetto Hands, North Charleston Performing Arts and Convention Center, North Charleston, SC
2018 South Carolina Arts Commission 50th Anniversary SC Fellows Exhibition Part II, Henry Ponder Gallery, Benedict College, Columbia, SC
2017 Progression, Arthur Rose Museum, Claflin University, Orangeburg, SC
Foundations Faculty Exhibition, SCAD, Anderson Hall, Savannah, GA
Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Sea Island Center Gallery, Beaufort, SC
2016 Foundations Faculty Exhibition, SCAD, Anderson Hall, Savannah, GA
Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Center for the Arts, Beaufort, SC
2015 Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Sea Island Center Gallery, Beaufort, SC
2014 Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Sea Island Center Gallery, Beaufort, SC
Regional Art Leagues Exhibition, Bascom Center for the Arts, Highlands, NC
Materials Intertwined, River Gallery, Chattanooga, TN
2013 Faculty Art Exhibition, USCB, Sea Island Center Gallery, Beaufort, SC
Southern Appalachian Artist Guild National Juried Show, Blue Ridge, GA
2012 Organics: The Art of Nature, USCB Performing Arts Center, Beaufort, SC
2011 Interwoven: Contemporary Basketry by Southern Women Artists, Wiregrass Museum of Art,
Dothan, AL
Artisphere International Arts Festival, Greenville, SC
Telfair Museum Art Fair, Savannah, GA
2010 Interlacements, Hyman Fine Arts Center, Francis Marion University, Florence, SC
2009 Knots and Weavings, ARTworks, Arts Council of Beaufort County, Beaufort, SC
Intricate Interlacings, Monsanto Gallery, Lander University, Greenwood, SC
2008 Perspectives, Goodyear Gallery, Jekyll Island Arts Association, Jekyll Island, GA
Life on the May River, Coastal Discovery Museum, Hilton Head Island, SC
2007 Out on a Limb, Walter Greer Gallery, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Hilton Head Island, SC
2006 Palmetto Hands, North Charleston Performing Arts & Convention Center, N. Charleston, SC
2005 Construction Crew, Gallery 80808/Vista Studios, Columbia, SC
2004 Southern Hands, Walter Greer Gallery, Arts Center of Coastal Carolina, Hilton Head Island, SC
1998 Material Objects, South Carolina Arts Commission, NationsBank Plaza, Columbia, SC
1997 Arboreal Alphabet, Gallery 303, Georgia Southern University, Statesboro. GA
Artist of the Month, Piedmont Craftsman Gallery, Winston Salem, NC
1995 8th Annual Focus: American Baskets, Banaker Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1994 Evoking the Land, Gayle Willson Gallery, Southampton, NY
Primal Voices, Museum of York County, Rock Hill, SC
Craft of the Carolinas, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC; Clemson University, Clemson, SC
1993 Handmade: The Year of American Craft in South Carolina, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC
Awards
2010 South Carolina Arts Commission Individual Artist Fellowship Award in Craft
Public Collections Arrowmont School of Arts & Craft, Gatlinburg, TN Contemporary Carolina Collection, Ashley River Tower, Medical University of SC, Charleston, SC
Mark B. Coplan Collection of Art, South Carolina State Museum, Columbia, SC
City of North Charleston Public Art Collection, North Charleston, SC