September 16, 2009

PROVIDENCE — Kiki and Jim Latimer sat on the stone wall on the edge of the Providence River last October, enjoying WaterFire, their feet nearly touching the water, when they saw her.

The tiny, soft brown lady mallard alighted on the water, perhaps curious about what all the music and fire was about.

Kiki Latimer made the little brown duck her muse. Why not use the little duck to narrate the story of WaterFire?

She enlisted the help of Bunny Griffeth, a retired nurse from Cranston who is also a watercolor artist and illustrator who studied at Rhode Island School of Design. She worked with Barnaby Evans, the creator of WaterFire.

On Saturday, WaterFire will host the unveiling and signing of Latimer’s and Griffeth’s new children’s book, The WaterFire Duck. They will sign copies from 6 to 10 p.m.

Through Latimer’s words and Griffeth’s watercolors, The WaterFire Duck tells the story of Little Duck who journeys from her home in a marsh on Narragansett Bay to the heart of WaterFire on the river.

Latimer, a writer and storytelling coach from Hope Valley, says it’s a story in your soul where fire, water and music merge to fill you with an echo of something far greater than yourself. She graduated from the University of Rhode Island with a degree in the oral interpretation of literature.

“Rhode Island beaches are some of my favorite beaches. It seemed like a good place for a little duck to start her journey,” Latimer said.

Since WaterFire began in 1994, more than 10 million visitors (and thousands of ducks) have come to be part of Evan’s living artwork.

The Latimers go to WaterFire often to enjoy the atmosphere created when music, water and fire mix.

“When you are there, you see the families. You see the crowds. There is such an incredible sense of peace. Everybody is happy. People do find something special there,” Kiki Latimer said. “I wanted to sort of capture that through the idea of a little duck. She makes a journey that we all make.”