Wandering Among The Murals at the St Pete SHINE Mural Festival

St Pete is becoming a hot bed for emerging and established artists of all medium. We have a number of art districts now with studios and galleries of all types: glass works, pottery, sculpture, painting, crafts, jewelry art, and photography. One of the growing and most visible art forms in St Pete are the murals and street art popping up all over town. Hardly a month passes that there isn't a new mural sprouting on a wall somewhere in town. We're even attracting national attention.  The city was recently rated as one of the "Top 10 spots for Street Art" by Huffington Post. And Forbes Magazine published an article directing travelers to "Skip Miami and head to St Pete." 

I'm a huge fan of mural art everywhere we travel. and one of the best ways to experience this vibrant and thought provoking art form in St Pete is during the annual SHINE Mural Festival held around the first 10 days of September. The festival celebrates and illuminates the power of art in public spaces to revitalize neighborhoods and to inspire connections.

In the first two years of the festival, it has created dialogue and united the community,  shown a colorful light on St Pete's creative and vibrant spirit and gifted the City with over 30 new murals. In 2016, the annual festival brought 17 artist together from San Francisco to Philadelphia and Hong Kong to Italy and everywhere in between to create murals in St Pete that are at times whimsical, provocative, thought provoking and always eye-catching. My photos of the murals (many of them in progress) follows this text.

In addition to the spectacular murals that evolve over the course of the 10-day festival, there are opportunities to participate in mural paintings, bike tours, eclectic parties with local vendors, gatherings at the Dali museum, and a closing SHINE Live music festival. Residents of St Pete are proud of the ever-growing collection of street art in their town. During the festival you'll find us visiting murals over and over as they evolve from sketch to finished art. If you visit, stop and chat with the artists and mural art fans and share our love of art in the community.

For more information and photos check out the SHINE website at: SHINE On St Pete