Archive
Anacostia Murals Fest
Community Coloring Books
Volumes I & II | Washington, DC
The Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book is a collaborative publication that transforms participating artists' mural designs into black-and-white coloring pages alongside their own reflections on what community means to them.
Created as both a coloring book and public art guide, the project offers another point of access to the festival's public art. A mural becomes a coloring page + public art guide, allowing the artwork, artists' perspectives, and opportunities for creative participation to reach people beyond the mural sites and festival dates.
This is Creativity That Continues.
Explore the Books
AMF26
Volume II | 2026
42 Participating Muralists
Volume II brings together coloring pages inspired by murals created for Anacostia Murals Fest 2026 alongside each artist's reflection on what community means to them.
For its second year, Anacostia Murals Fest expanded beyond the fence surrounding Capital Hill Boys Club at 1603 Marion Barry Ave SE, bringing new murals into neighborhoods throughout DC's Wards 7 and 8.
You can use this book as a public art guide to discover the murals in the community: each artist's reflection page includes the mural location, along with links to the artist's website and social media when available, making it easy to continue exploring their work beyond the book.
To explore all contributing artists from this volume, search “AMF26” in the Artist Directory.
Publication Details
Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book, Volume II
Washington, DC (2026)
92 pages | 8.5 × 11 in. | black & white | Digital PDF
AMF25
Volume I | 2025
10 Participating Artists
Volume I is the inaugural edition of the Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book, created for the first festival in 2025. It brings together coloring pages contributed by participating muralists and local artists, alongside their reflections on what community means to them.
The inaugural Anacostia Murals Fest centered around the fence surrounding Capital Hill Boys Club at 1603 Marion Barry Ave SE, where participating muralists created new public artwork during the festival. Unlike Volume II, not every coloring page in this edition corresponds to a festival mural; some were contributed by local artists participating in the Community Coloring Book project.
Archive Note: Murals created for AMF25 remained on view until they were replaced with new murals during Anacostia Murals Fest 2026.
To explore all contributing artists from this volume, search “AMF25” in the Artist Directory.
Publication Details
Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book, Volume I
Washington, DC (2025)
25 pages | 8.5 × 11 in. | black & white | Digital PDF
A UNIQUE PUBLIC ART RESOURCE
Anacostia Murals Fest is the only public art festival in Washington, DC with a collaborative coloring book authored by festival artists that also serves as a public art guide.This is Creativity That Continues.
The Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book was created and developed by muralist Tammy Barnes as a collaborative publication that gives participating artists another way to share their work, their perspectives, and the ideas behind their murals while transforming the festival into a lasting public art resource.
The book is built through an intentional, artist-led submission process. Participating artists choose to opt in and are invited to transform their mural designs into black-and-white coloring pages. A guided submission process developed specifically for the publication gathers the artwork, artist information, mural locations, and links to each artist's broader creative practice.
Every participating artist is also asked one shared question: “What does community mean to you?”
Their responses become an important part of the publication. Rather than speaking about the artists or interpreting their work for them, the book creates space for artists to describe their work and its relationship to community in their own words. Editorial changes are intentionally minimal, primarily addressing spelling, punctuation, and formatting so that each artist's individual voice and perspective remain intact.
Placed alongside the coloring pages, these artist reflections create another way to experience the murals. Readers can encounter the artwork, learn something about the person who created it, locate the original mural, discover more of the artist's work, and then respond to the design with their own creativity.
The Community Coloring Book itself is a volunteer initiative. From developing the original concept and coordinating artist participation to editorial direction, publication design, and production, Tammy has facilitated the publication on a volunteer basis. After creating Volume I for the inaugural festival in 2025, they returned in 2026 as a participating muralist and volunteer member of the AMF26 Organizing Committee to lead the development of Volume II.
With the support and enthusiasm of participating artists, the project grew from 10 contributors in Volume I (2025) to 42 in Volume II (2026), more than quadrupling participation and expanding the number of artists, perspectives, and works of public art represented in the archive.
The Approach
How the Community Coloring Book Is Created
Keeping this book free.
The Anacostia Murals Fest Community Coloring Book will always be offered as a free community resource and will never be sold commercially.
Digital editions are preserved here so that anyone can access the books beyond the festival itself. Physical copies extend that access even further, placing the resource directly into the hands of residents, families, educators, students, visitors, and community organizations.
As the publication grows, so do the resources required to print and distribute it. The long-term goal is to place free copies throughout neighborhoods east of the Anacostia River, as well as in DC Public Schools, DC Public Libraries, recreation centers, art centers, and other community spaces. The possibilities are endless.
Print production is made possible through Capital Hill Boys Club and private contributors, as well as sponsors and community partners who help underwrite these costs so that receiving the book never requires purchasing it.
If you or your organization would like to support the printing and distribution of future editions of the Community Coloring Book, please contact:
Tammy Barnes at info @tbarnescreates.com.
