The North Carolina Humanities Council created a coloring book to accompany the Water/Ways exhibit tour through North Carolina. The coloring book features images and stories from the six organizations hosting Water/Ways in North Carolina. These stories illustrate the human experience, the power, the tragedy, and the beauty of water in their communities. The images come from North Carolina artists, photographers, and historical collections and were transformed into black and white illustrations. The coloring book also features an essay on North Carolina waters by renowned environmental writer Bland Simpson.
The Wake Forest Historical Museum contributed a photograph of the Old Well, a Wake Forest landmark. A well served as the main water source for students, faculty, and staff of Wake Forest College until the campus installed a water system in 1895. In 1911, the graduating class donated a decorative marble fountain to replace the old well’s metal hand pump, and over twenty years later the Class of 1934 gifted the iconic gazebo shelter designed by New York architect Frank Perkins. The Old Well’s history reveals how technological innovations have transformed how we access fresh drinking water and attests to water’s ability to inspire human creativity and art.
The coloring book features waterways from across North Carolina. A photograph submitted by the Fontana Regional Library System in Franklin, NC shows a kayaker on Cullasaje River in Macon County. An image submitted by Alamance Community College features the Simon Dixon Mill on Cane Creek in Alamance County, a community gathering site for members of the eighteenth-century Regulator movement. The North Carolina Estuarium submitted a photograph from the 1960s of three trawlers setting out off the coast of North Carolina to search for shrimp.
Visitors to the Wake Forest Historical Museum can pick up a copy of the free coloring book at the front desk. You can also download a printable version of the coloring book.
Artists of all ages (with their guardian’s approval) can share photos of their artwork on social media using #MyWaterStory. Be sure to mention @WakeForestMuseum on Instagram and Facebook or @WakeForestMus on Twitter.