After hurricane delay, St. Pete's SHINE Mural Festival lives on
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Kathryn hoists her bike in front of a SHINE mural at Studio@620 by Atlanta artist George F. Baker III, also known as GFB3. Photo: Courtesy of Mallory Arents
The hurricanes interrupted so much, including the 10th annual SHINE Mural Festival in St. Petersburg.
Why it matters: The festival — in which local, national and international artists paint murals over 10 days at various locations across the city — has added more than 160 murals to St. Pete and put the city on the map for public art.
State of play: After it was delayed a month due to the storms, SHINE started Nov. 8 and wrapped Sunday. It added more than a dozen new murals to the city at locations primarily downtown and in the Warehouse Arts District.
- If you missed it, don't worry! The nice thing about murals is that they stick around awhile.
👋 Kathryn here. On Sunday, I biked around the city to see the art for myself. I had a great guide in my friend (and Axios Tampa Bay reader) Mallory Arents, who has been biking the SHINE routes for years now.
- It was a great way to experience the murals at our own pace (with a stop for breakfast at Café Clementine).
- All you need is the map to do it yourself. It'd be a little tough to walk the entire route, but it's the perfect distance for biking. We also saw a few people who mural hopped by car.
- Star Trolley also offers guided tours, with dates coming up this Sunday and next month.
Here's some of what I saw:
This enigmatic woman by Canadian artist Emmanuel Jarus is SHINE's largest mural to date, per I Love the Burg. It was truly something to see her in person.
This is just one side of a mural painted on an entire building.
- Johnny Vitale of local mural company the Vitale Bros. and pro skateboarder Kris Markovich drew inspiration from the Tampa Bay Rays' City Connect uniforms for this wall at Anchor Skate Supply.
St. Pete artist Cristi López painted this beauty at Groovehaven off Fairfield Avenue South.
- She had just wrapped up painting when Mallory and I pulled up. That's a sweet benefit of SHINE: You can talk to the artists as they're painting.
These wild critters by France-based artist Abys were probably my favorites.
- Catch the gator on the southwest corner of the Modera St. Petersburg apartment complex and the crab on the back of Anchor Skate Supply.
The bottom line: There are so many more murals to see, and my photos hardly do them justice.
- Take advantage of the beautiful weather this weekend and check them out!