Rural Futures

Rural Futures Overview

The mural project at Western Piedmont Community College (WPCC) focuses on the theme of "Rural Futures: Pathways to Thriving," symbolizing the importance of foundational learning and career success in Burke County. Catherine Kaleel serves as the lead artist, with mentorship from Greta McLean of the Community Mural Institute. The mural aims to depict the transformational power of education in crafting pathways to thriving in rural communities. 

Imagery

The mural design is divided into many vignettes, aligning with the shape of the wall. The central vignette can be seen from all angles of WPCC’s grass quad and features blueprints, symbolizing different career pathways offered at WPCC, such as first responders and trade skills. The blueprint color is designed to complement the color palette of the entire mural with Carolina blues, dark blue hues, and accents of burnt oranges, red iron oxides, and antique green.

On the right side of the blueprints, active learning scenes show students of all ages engaged in hands-on education, such as constructing a cinder block foundation. On the left side of the blueprints a view of the school’s surrounding mountains and trees which are depicted as pine, birch and walnut inlay wood and includes the word “future” engraved by a CNC machine, which celebrates traditional and new ways of woodworking used in the community. 

As one continues past the quad towards the H building entrance more of the mural is revealed with a welder, a cornerstone in many trades. The composition continues on with a student getting their associates degree looking to transfer to a four year program. Stages of the life cycle of a butterfly symbolize transformation are seen throughout the design, with flourish shapes, gears and abstract scaffolding illustrating the strong foundation that WPCC provides to its students.

The Artist

Catherine Kaleel is a professional painter with 20 years of experience both as a studio painter showing work in galleries and museums and more recently as a muralist, currently resides in Black Mountain, NC. She holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) and a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) in painting from renowned colleges in California. Kaleel's work is celebrated for its visual narrative storytelling and realism style. Her career has included the Stroke Art Fair in Munich Germany, a tour shirt design for Father John Misty and the Navasota Art Residency in Texas.

Public Input Design Process

The mural design reflects significant input from community members and stakeholders, gathered through community input sessions and discussions. Over 50 people contributed ideas during a community dinner, and Kaleel worked diligently to synthesize this feedback into a cohesive mural design. Community meetings emphasized the importance of representing WPCC's role in providing educational and career opportunities that empower local residents. Themes such as construction, industrial systems, mechanical engineering, transfer students and inclusion of all students using symbols were central to the input received, guiding the mural's development.

The design process involved close collaboration between Kaleel, Greta, and WPCC leadership, and the Industrial Commons with regular check-ins to ensure alignment with project goals. Catherine Kaleel focused on incorporating community feedback into the design, gathering reference images, historical data, and other visual assets to create an accurate representation of the community's vision. The mural sketches underwent several iterations, with an emphasis on balancing creativity and practicality. 

Notes on the Design 

We hope this project will be the first of many that celebrate and honor rural communities. One project can not account for all the rich history and all the incredible people who deserve to be honored. This is just a start! As a next step, we would like to encourage community members in the trades from Burke County to share their story so we can publicly celebrate the variety of people and experiences in our community. You can see an example of how we’ve archived our interviews online, here. Please reach out and we can schedule your interview: kathryn@tosstudio.org

Photos

Paint Party

Studio Refinement