Bring Arlington Arts into your own home!
Get to know our programs and revisit past favorites with our at-home activities ranging from coloring pages to self-guided walking tours. Want to learn how to sew on a button? We have that, too!
Book Covers: Stories Told By Artists
Book Covers showcases artists and their creative processes, alongside the books and stories that inspire them. Recorded at home, or in the studio, these vignettes offer a glimpse behind the scenes into the working artist’s and performer’s private spaces, as well as each artist’s creative response to favorite books and stories. These three episodes feature visual artists Zofie King and Victor Ekpuk, and musician Carly Harvey. Presented in collaboration with the Arlington Public Library. Watch the interviews.
Greetings from Our Microbiome!
The work of Arlington artist Shelly Smith focuses on microscopic life found in water and soil. The artist has illustrated five postcards, featuring the diversity of microorganisms found in five different bodies of water in Arlington, including a bog, vernal pool, and stream.
Grab your favorite art supplies and join Arlington Art Truck program artist Shelly Smith for a fun drawing session featuring Arlington’s amazing microorganisms in the Science Sketch Along!
Arlington Art Truck Projects
Ties That Bind: Learn to Sew on a Button and Connect
by Lorenzo Cardim with Charlene Wallace and Angela Latson
Fall 2019
Download a Sewing Kit
Learn how to sew a button with this pocket-sized guide. There’s also space to stow a needle and thread!
Sewing Kit and Instruction Guide 8.5"x11"(PDF, 766KB)
Make your own sewing kit and follow along with this instructional video!
Music by Cinema Hearts. Video by Caroline Weinroth, Arlington Art Truck assistant and member of Cinema Hearts.
Instructions:
- Use cardstock, or copy paper.
- Print the PDF double-sided, and select “actual size”.
- Cut the corners and the marked notches.
- Fold vertically in half.
- Fold horizontally on each marked line.
- Once folded into a small rectangle, tuck in the top like an envelope.
Watch How to Sew a Button
Learn how to sew a button by following along with Arlington Art Truck assistant Caroline Weinroth.
About the Original Program
Photo (left) taken by Arlington resident, photographer and volunteer at the Arlington Art Truck, Will Reintzell.
Artists Lorenzo Cardim, Charlene Wallace, and Angela Latson taught participants how to sew a button while building community connections. Participants sewed fun colorful buttons of all shapes and sizes onto fabric shaped like Arlington civic associations or neighborhoods to create a map of Arlington. During this eight week activation, segments of the map filled up with colorful buttons which collectively represent the diversity of our community. Learn more about the project and artists.
Going Native: Flora and Fauna of Arlington, Virginia
by Kate Samworth
Download Coloring Pages
Explore your own backyard with coloring pages featuring the native plants and animals of Arlington.
Coloring Pages (8.5″x11″)(PDF, 1MB)
Instructions:
- When printing, select “Fit” in the printer dialogue box.
- Recommended paper: For watercolor, use cardstock. For coloring, use cardstock or copy paper.
Download Pocket Guides
This guide was originally a full color folded pocket guide that was given out at the Arlington Art Truck during Kate Samworth’s activations. It is now re-sized to fit on one sheet of 8.5 x 11” paper. You can choose it in full color or in black line art for coloring. The guide shows a few native plants grouped with some of the species they support from left to right.
Original version with full color artwork (8.5″x11″)(PDF, 3MB)
Black and white version for coloring (8.5"x11")(PDF, 615KB)
Instructions:
- When printing, select “Actual size”, “Print on both sides of paper”, and “Flip on short side” in the printer dialogue box.
- When folding, use an accordion fold, starting with the vertical folds first. Then fold into thirds so the title is on top.
- Recommended paper: copy paper
Interested in painting your own watercolor plants and flowers?
Watch artist Kate Samworth giving a quick instruction on a simple watercolor stroke using a flat brush.
About the Original Program
Summer 2018
Going Native: Flora and Fauna of Arlington, Virginia, created and illustrated by artist Kate Samworth, is a folding, pocket-sized manual of some of Arlington’s native plant, mammal, and insect species. Using her artwork as a reference, participants enjoyed a quick hands-on art project examining and recreating the shapes and patterns found on selected species of plants, insects, and butterflies by using collage, watercolor and drawing. Learn more about the project and artist.
Color Your Future Garden
by Marcella Kriebel
Download Coloring Pages
Learn about the gardens that grow in Arlington County with coloring pages of a map of local community gardens and seasonal seed planting charts.
All pages: 8.5″x11″(PDF, 10MB) | 11″x17″(PDF, 22MB)
Instructions:
- When printing, select “Fit” in the printer dialogue box.
- Recommended paper: For watercolor, use cardstock. For coloring, use cardstock or copy paper.
About the Original Program
Summer 2018
Marcella provided five different black line illustrations for participants to choose to watercolor in their own way: Arlington seed planting charts that reveal the diversity of the County through a broad selection of vegetables grown in our community gardens in one of the four seasons, or a map of the Arlington Community Gardens. Learn more about the project and the artist.
Let’s Go to the Park
by Hannah Churn
February 2019 – present
Download Activity Sheets and Coloring Book
Celebrate active transportation and show kids how easy it is to bike and walk places – like the park! – with the “Let’s Go to the Park” coloring book and activity sheets.
“Let’s Go to the Park” Coloring Book(PDF, 5MB) | “Vamos al parque” Libro para colorear(PDF, 7MB)
Word Search(PDF, 2MB) | Sopa le letras(PDF, 2MB)
Spot the Difference(PDF, 4MB) | Encuentra las diferencias(PDF, 4MB)
Instructions:
- When printing, select “Fit” in the printer dialogue box.
- Recommended paper: Copy paper.
About the Original Program
“Let’s Go to the Park” illustrations inside one Art bus that circulated on different routes in Arlington 2020-2021.
This project was a collaboration with Arlington Arts, Arlington Transit and WalkArlington. These fun walk and bike safety illustrations were rendered for both the Art on the ART bus and for WalkArlington’s coloring book project, Let’s Go to the Park. Can you identify some of the distinct Arlington neighborhoods and parks in these illustrations? Hannah Churn is a Washington, DC based animator, illustrator and art director in both the non-profit and commercial fields. The creator of a comic called Palindrome, in her spare time, the artist is an avid doodler of cats. Learn more about the project and the artist.
About Art on the ART Bus
Art on the ART Bus is a mobile gallery on one of Arlington County’s ART public transit buses. This unique bus features original works of art, and it rotates throughout the different routes available to ART bus passengers.
Learn more about the Art on the ART Bus program
Discover Arlington’s award-winning Public Art Collection from home or when taking time to get some fresh air. With over 60 permanent works of public art and numerous temporary projects, there is so much to explore!
Learn more about Arlington Public Art.
Tour Guides
Check out a variety of tour guides available on our website – from driving tours to walking and biking tours.
- Public Art Collection Map
- Rosslyn-Ballston Corridor Public Art Tour
- Virginia Square-Pentagon City-Route 1-Shirlington-Columbia Pike Public Art Tour
- One Pager Tour Maps of Rosslyn-Ballston and Virginia Square-Pentagon City-Route 1-Shirlington-Columbia Pike
- Visual Art Bike Tour: A 14 mile cycling tour of 21 public art projects throughout the Ballston-Rosslyn Corridor.
- Walking Tour of Rosslyn’s Public Art
- Video: Public Art Tour of Arlington: Public art tour with Arlington Cultural Affairs Public Art staff, May 2008
Sidewalk Tour 
Incorporate public art on your next stroll with a new self-guided walking tour! Join Arlington County Public Artist in Residence Graham Coreil-Allen virtually on a walk through Rosslyn’s celebrated public art collection. The tour is available on Sidewalk, a free app for self-guided walks. Visit WalkArlington’s website to learn more!