Smithsonian Water/Ways exhibit in Louisiana, Mississippi

POLLOCK, La. – An LSU AgCenter facility is getting ready to host a travelling exhibit called Water/Ways, from the Smithsonian Museum on Main Street program.

Director Christine Bergeron says it’s the first such exhibit for the Grant Walker Educational Center in Pollock.

“We typically would have to travel to Washington, D.C., to visit the Smithsonian, but the travelling exhibits make these exciting programs far more accessible for the general public,” she said.

The exhibit examines water’s role as an essential component for life on the planet and its environmental, cultural and historical impacts. It looks at the effect of water on the environment and climate, its practical role in agriculture and economic planning, and its impact on culture and spirituality, art and music. At each stop, there are different local activities and events.

There are five copies. One of them is travelling through Louisiana and another through Mississippi.

The Louisiana copy is at the Schepis Museum in Columbia through Nov. 10. A study on the Ouachita River’s impact in Arkansas and Louisiana is to be presented there Nov. 1, and an Army Corps of Engineers program on water safety and recreation the following Thursday. It will be in Pollock from Nov. 17 through Dec. 29, moving from there to the Zigler Art Museum in Jennings (Jan. 5-Feb. 16) and the Jeanerette Museum from Feb. 23-April 6.

The one in Mississippi is at the Ocean Springs Municipal Library through Nov. 30. Numerous linked events will include a chance to visit an archaeological dig at the Twelve Oaks conservation area Sunday afternoon and a talk Tuesday evening at the University of Southern Mississippi’s Gulf Coast Research Lab’s Marine Education Center.

From there, it will go to the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum in Jackson and the Tennessee-Tombigbee Waterway Transportation Museum in Columbus. It will be in Jackson from Dec. 7-Jan. 19, and in Columbus from Jan. 25-March 8.

Centers that have hosted them in Louisiana include Phoenix High School in Braithwaite and the Old City Hall Museum in Denham Springs. Mississippi exhibits were held at the Pascagoula River Audubon Center in Moss Point, the Mississippi Industrial Heritage Museum in Meridian, and the Lower Mississippi River Foundation in Clarksdale.