The Shine Mural Festival Lights-Up St. Petersburg

The Shine mural festival is in its second year featuring 16 international and local artists as well as several satellite events. Some of the artists included in the festival this year were Alex Pardee, Apexer, Caratoes, Dasic Fernandez, Michael Reeder, Nosego and Pixel Pancho.

We hadn’t been to St. Pete in a few years about 5 or so. The last time we were there it seemed different, a little older not as hip and there wasn’t any street art. Maybe we didn’t venture out to the right places so who knows? I do think that the city has changed and the Shine mural festival probably has a lot to do with it. St. Pete has become a pretty hip city complete with cool cafes, tattoo shops, craft beer and chic boutiques. The city already had an artsy vibe but now it’s definitely up there with Wynwood and other art-centric cities.

Bridge entering St. Pete

Huge Murals All Over Town

We easily saw numerous huge murals throughout the city. St. Pete lends itself well to muralists since it has a number of large walls to offer. The streets weren’t too crowded and there wasn’t much traffic which was great for viewing. It was an exceptionally hot weekend in Florida though, I give props to the artists for working in the extreme heat.

Mike Reeder

Dasic Fernandez

Dasic Fernandez

Apexer

Apexer talking to Craig from Kondoit

Apexer painting

Apexer mural

We had the pleasure of meeting a few of the talented artists in our time there including Mike Reeder and Apexer, both of whom were super cool.  It’s always enlightening to speak to artists about their work and get their insight on what the work means. This makes exceptional art even better, taking things to a higher level.

Caratoes

Caratoes mural in St. Pete

Pixel Pancho

Pixel Pancho

Nosego

Jade Rivera

Jade Rivera (not completed when this pic was taken)

Tes One

Alex Pardee

Alex Pardee

Arlin

Mark Gmehling

Hangin-out in St. Pete

We went to a couple of events that centered around art during the weekend. One was at a local place named Bloom with huge wall murals and an outdoor space. It had a chill vibe with a DJ spinning jazzy tunes in a relaxed atmosphere. There were a couple of artist studios there too. A few nice canvases were on display although I’m not sure if they were for sale since some weren’t marked.

We decided to explore the bar scene afterward and consequently it wasn’t bad. As we walked around we found a really cool place called Cask and Ale offering well priced handcrafted cocktails. Another place with a rooftop area where a DJ was spinning some good house music was pretty chill.

Bloom

Bloom Art Gallery

Bloom Art Gallery

Bloom Art Gallery

Bloom Art Gallery

Bloom Art Gallery

DJ at Bloom

Cask and Ale

Shine Mural Festival Block Party

The weekend and the mural festival culminated with the Shine Live block party. It was a fun event with the participating artists in attendance. This made it easy if you wanted to meet and chat with your favorite muralist.

The festivities included live painting, a few food trucks, an indie craft fair section, some pretty good musical entertainment and great cocktails made by The Mandarin Hide (need to check out this place next time). I got a dress from an awesome boutique in an airstream called Feathers, Fate, Steel. The next day we had an amazing Sunday brunch at The Mill which offers nouveau, southern cuisine.

Lounge at Shine Block Party

Live muralists

We had an amazing time! The huge murals blew us away and the curation of artists was quite superb. It was awesome to interact with some of the artists as well as with the friendly locals. It’s thrilling to see that St. Petersberg, once a city that I would only visit for the Dali Museum, is now a place I would consider living in. Let’s thank the art for that.

Gregg Mike mural from Shine 2015

At the Shine Block Party with Evoca mural from 2015 in the background

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