Printmaking by the People celebrates America's 250th birthday with ode to Founding Fathers, Philadelphians
Philadelphia is known as the "Mural Capital of the World," so as America celebrates its 250th year, artists and the community are coming together to create another piece. This one is centered on printmaking and the Declaration of Independence.
"Printmaking by the People" is Philadelphia's largest community art project in 2026. Led by Mural Arts, it's more than two years in the making.
"From collage to stamps to monotypes to linocuts, all of it, you realize how accessible something so simple could be," muralist Phillip Adams said.
Adams is working alongside printmaker Rhonda Babb to turn hundreds of prints into a cohesive mural in the city. It's one part of the "Printmaking by the People" project. CBS News Philadelphia stopped by an Old City art studio to speak with them both late last year.
Printmaking, of course, is an ode to the Founding Fathers, and the people we're talking about are the community — those who live, work and make up Philadelphia.
"This is the hand of so many different people expressing what they want to see and what they believe," Adams said.
Organizers hosted printmaking workshops around the city, and community members were invited to share their input on two questions: What would the Declaration of Independence say today and share today's vision of "the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."
"I like to think of it as like a postcard to the country — of how we're feeling right now in this moment in history and what we're looking forward, going forward," Mural Arts Public Project Specialist Lindsey Rosenberg said.
More than 1,000 people participated in the project, creating some 500 prints.
"What I started to do was just sit down with a notepad and literally just write down the words that I was seeing," Babb said.
Babb quickly filled up several pages, color-coding and categorizing words and themes that echoed through the stacks of prints. Now it's time to translate what's on paper to the world.
"It's really something that allows for the voice of the people to shine through," Mural Arts Public Art Project Specialist Todd Bressi said.
Where the mural will live is still being decided, but installation begins over the summer, near the Fourth of July. Two hundred of the prints will also be featured in a free exhibition at the Parkway Central Library, opening April 16.
