We wanted to let you know how our Painting for Peace book fund is going. We're excited to share that, because of your purchase of one or both of our books, we're able to give funding toward some great organizations including PAKT, Ferguson-Florissant School District, Ferguson Youth Initiative and more. We also worked closely with COCA to display dozens of the painted boards to several galleries around the St. Louis region during the fall of 2016. Thank you for your continued

Outside In: Paint for Peace exhibits opened around the St. Louis community on August 27 at COCA, an exhibit outside Gallery 210 and the second floor at Missouri History Museum and will run through the end of October. More exhibits opened at Vaughn Cultural Center, Ferguson Youth Initiative and Touhill Performing Arts Center on September 2. And yet one more is set to open at The Sheldon on October 7 and end on November 19. Part of the unique aspect of this exhibit is the colla

Artists Liza Fishbone & Carly Jacobs' painting "An Eye for An Eye Makes the World Blind" symbolizes hopes for an end to violence, lasting peace. Painted on South Grand in the Tower Grove neighborhood in St. Louis, this piece represents two figures of different colors bringing flowers and peace offerings to each other. Their large eyes symbolize that the figures have moved past retaliation as described in the title. Their bodies lean toward each other to echo the shape of the

Ferguson painting "St. Martin de Porres" inspired by Catholicism and Buddhism, highlights racial harmony "St. Martin de Porres was actually inspired by the niche on the building on which it was painting," explained artist Darcy Edwin. "It reminded me of the decorative niches in Florence, which are adorned by saints. I chose St. Martin de Porres as the subject, primarily because he is the Patron Saint of Racial Harmony, but also because he faced discrimination because he was o

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.

The concept behind The Tree of Life, which was painted on the doors in the center of Ferguson City Hall, is that the leaves represent the necessary elements for a community to be whole - brotherhood, respect, hope, opportunity, equality, and education to name a few. Stylistically, the leaves then move outward in swirls on the rest of the boarded windows of City Hall, and are similar ot a Van Gogh painting spreading their wishes to the community as a whole. Sheri Goldsmith, wh

Mary Krummenacher's father, Karl, had owned a camera store across the street from where she and Karen Bult painting their design. The painting depicts a hand in a peace gesture, and is covered with colorful peace signs. The caption - Shalom - is a Hebrew word, which means peace and completeness. Mary's father had been a fixture in the Ferguson business district from the early 1990's and had worked hard to bring businesses and growth the the area. "I met owners on that block w

GREAT NEWS! Thanks to YOU GUYSPainting for Peace: A Coloring Book for All Ages made the Publisher's Weekly list of Bestselling Books in St. Louis in TWO categories - adult and children's books! Now we're hoping to spread sales of this book well beyond St. Louis so that we canmake a bigger impact in Ferguson and nearby communities. To do this, we need your help! The more books we sell, the more money we can invest in youth, arts, and small business programs in Ferguson and sur

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

In celebration of our book launch (in stores nationwide by June 21 - available on Amazon & BN.com now!), we are giving away a few copies of the new coloring book - Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for all ages on Amazon.com Giveaways! Enter now through June 22, 2016 on Amazon.com! #amazongiveaway #coloringbookgiveaway #coloringbook #freecoloringbook #coloringpage #paintingforpeace

On Tuesday May 24, we launched Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book for all ages where it all began, in Ferguson. Thank you to the more than 100 attendees that came out to celebrate, and to our gracious hosts at Almost Picasso: A Paint & Sip Studio. We were thankful to celebrate with artists and community members - and to have the chance to support local businesses Cose Dolci, Ferguson Brewing Company, and Natalie's Cakes & More! Did you miss the event? Click here to see where

Preorder the book now We are thrilled to announce the next chapter for Painting for Peace! Painting for Peace: A Coloring Book written by Carol Swartout Klein and illustrated by Robert O’Neil, the author and illustrator of Painting for Peace in Ferguson will be available for purchase at retailers across the US starting May 24, 2016. The 52-page coloring book is available for pre-order through Amazon and Barnes and Noble. The book, now in final design phase, includes more than

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

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

Susan Shelton knows a little something about using children’s literature to help students cope with overwhelming turmoil. The Hazelwood School District elementary school teacher used a book written by first graders, in the years following the 9/11 attacks in 2001. The book was called September 12th: We Knew Everything Would Be All Right, a picture story that reassured children after the terrorist attacks, written by Darlene Robertson’s first-grade students in Kennett, Mo. The

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

We're excited to share that Painting for Peace in Ferguson has been featured prominently in media nationwide, and grateful for the response we've received to the book. We were even fortunate enough to have been asked by Arianna Huffington and the Huffington Post to contribute to their "Impact: What's Working" column. Paperbacks are flying off the shelves, hardbacks are in stores now and we are in the process of printing a second edition already! We also had the great honor of

WOW! We have done a lot of digging and we have found more than 150 people who took part in the painting efforts in Ferguson and South Grand. See the names below. We need your help! We have done our best to compile names of artists to credit in the book. Please review this list and let us know who is missing, who doesn't belong or who may be misspelled. If you have been credited inaccurately or simply don't want your name shared, please email us at paintingforpeace.book@gmail.

BIG NEWS! Today, the book moves into production! We hope to have printed copies in hand and out for delivery in Feb. 100% of the proceeds will be donated to youth, arts & small business recovery in North St. Louis County. In the meantime, here's a sneak peek of Page 9! Watch for details to come on a big event in a few months that we want you all to be a part of, since this is your project too! -Carol #book #carolklein #carolswartoutklein #children #childrensbook #paintingforp