SALEM – (Radio & Photos) Salem State University Professor Ken Reker has a passion for creating thought provoking public art as an artist and as a teacher leading his students. Reker has been instrumental in spearheading a variety of north shore based projects involving students of many ages. In a radio interview he shares his views on public art and details several examples of public art on the north shore. This summer he is teaching a course, Art 340 at SSU, that is set to open July 11 – July 19. There are just a few remaining slots for students for this summer’s course.
Ken Reker – Professor of Art and Design at Salem State University, with Bill Newell
Double Trouble 2016 – Gillette Dock, Harborside Walk in Boston open for public view through 9/15/2016
Concept Drawing (Above) for Double Trouble
His latest work of public art, Double Trouble 2016, was recently installed at the Gillette Dock on the Harborwalk in Boston, and will be on public view through September 15, 2016. The mixed-media/found object assemblage sculpture is comprised of what appear to be two shafts or torrents of water that gush from zinc pipes suspended above the dock and that spill into the canal. Upon closer inspection, the illusion of water dissolves into the reality that the shafts are constructed of hundreds of empty plastic water bottles. Double Trouble 2016 examines our titanic love affair with plastic and petroleum-based products.
Professor Reker’s sculpture was selected through a juried competition and is funded by Fund for the Arts, a public art program of the New England Foundation for the Arts. It appears under the auspices of the Fort Point Arts Community Inc.
At Salem State, Ken Reker teaches Form and Design and Sculpture-Mixed Media. His students’ sculptures have been exhibited in a number of outdoor venues in Salem. He recently installed a version of Double Trouble in Swampscott Middle School’s garden.
