Keri King is a cross-disciplinary artist, based in Providence, RI. She received her BFA in Illustration from the Rhode Island School of Design in 2005. Keri’s creative practice incorporates illustration, public art, storytelling and the occasional foray into performance. In 2016, Keri self-published her first narrative picture book, Spectacles & Spectators and was awarded a grant from Providence Art, Culture + Tourism to create a multi-site installation for PVDfest; she is currently engaged as Providence Public Library’s 2017 Creative Fellow. For the 2017 PAF, Keri King plans to create a multi-site installation of ephemeral paper works in celebration Pawtucket’s creative and sometimes quirky histories.

Inspired by research in the Betty Johnson Collection at Pawtucket Public Library and at Pawtucket Tourism, several of King’s wheat paste murals – packed with historic textures and illustrative detail, will offer spectators chance encounters with fascinating characters of Pawtucket lore.  At two more sites, King’s installations will shift focus, from past to present-day narratives; with open-ended characters that invite all members of the extended Blackstone Valley community to share their own stories and explore ways in which we all actively contribute to the creation of cultural legacy.

Keri King is a Providence-based illustrator, street artist, storyteller, researcher, and educator.  She is thrilled to present work to the city of Pawtucket for the first time and for the very special opportunity to get to know some of its residents past and present a little better this Summer – she hopes her work will welcome all audiences at the Pawtucket Arts Festival: to play, be curious, connect!