Ferguson resident, Darcy Edwin explained how she came up with her painting. "The idea for The Ferguson Tree came from Ferguson Optical's sign, which read: 'Stay Strong Ferguson. We Are A Family.' The overall point of this mural was to show that there is strength and beauty in our unity as a family. And to send hope for our community to come together through the tragedy, and mov forward and grow stronger." Darcy painted the tree in multi-colors to signify the beauty in diversi

COCA announces powerful community collaboration to kick off 30th anniversary season August 27 COCA (Center of Creative Arts) announces Outside In: Paint for Peace, an unprecedented collaborative community exhibition featuring a selection of the original murals painted on the boarded-up storefronts by amateur and professional artists in the days and weeks following the 2014 protests in Ferguson, Mo. The exhibition, opening August 27 at 10 a.m. at COCA, 524 Trinity Avenue, St.

In our newest book, Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages, we featured stories from some of the artists that contributed to the artwork that inspired our books. Today, we are sharing the story of AJ Rosenberg, who painted the iconic peace dove AJ came with her daughter and friends up to Ferguson to paint on the week end after Thanksgiving. Coming from a family of mixed cultures and religions AJ and her family have always tried to live in places and be around people

What started out with only local distribution and a small press run for the children's book Painting for Peace in Ferguson has turned into a much bigger year than anyone anticipated. Launched on February 21, 2015, not only was it selected to represent the state of Missouri at Library of Congress' National Book Festival, it also received an IPPY Outstanding Book of the Year award beating out more than 6,000 other entries. Appearing on the local, indie book best-seller list for

We were deeply honored to learn yesterday that "Painting for Peace in Ferguson" has been honored with a national gold-medal for being named one of only nine "Outstanding Books of the year for 2015" out of an application pool of 6,000 by the Independent Publisher, a journal dedicated to reviewing and recognizing the works of independent book houses around the country. Each year, the national organization releases the "IPPYs," honoring works in a variety of categories and Pain

Cristina Stoverink lives and works in Ferguson as a teacher at Central Elementary School, where she's led first-grade classes for six years. During this particularly challenging school year, she's struggled to find answers for her students when they asked why anyone would want to hurt the Little Caesar's pizza place on North Florissant — a favorite of theirs. They also wonder aloud why they couldn't make the 10-minute walk from their school to the Ferguson Fire Department for

This has been a big week for Painting for Peace in Ferguson. The support for the project has been amazing. Here's a rundown of what's happened in the past few days. St. Louis Public Library About 50 people joined us for our panel discussion Monday evening at the St. Louis County Library, which featured experts in art therapy and patient advocacy. We talked to Rebeccah Bennett, founder of St. Louis’ Emerging Wisdom LLC, who graciously served as our moderator for the discussion

Jade Bugett Hygrade tells it like it is in this short video clip with her mother, Janice Bugett Hygrade. You won't want to miss this charming little girl's animated description of her participation in the Paint for Peace project, which led to their artwork becoming part of the book, Painting for Peace in Ferguson. Do you have a story to tell about your participation, or seeing the artwork along the streets of Ferguson? We'd love to hear about it. Send an email to paintingforp