Patrick Tobin | The Crow’s Nest
By Jacob Wilson and Manuel Vicente Lalande
A wave of community, strength and joy rolled through the city of St. Petersburg last week as artists both local and international gathered to canvas the town in mural paintings.
Four national artists, five international artists and 25 local artists made their final touches on the city Oct. 18 and were invited to a concluding celebration the following night to commemorate the fifth successful SHINE festival.
All it takes is one drive down St. Petersburg’s Central Avenue to notice the many walls — and even street intersections — that have been illustrated with massive works of art.
The power of art is used alongside these public spaces to reflect the creative, artistic and dynamic personality the city has grown into. Within each of the murals lies a different story, promoting a message personal to the artists behind them. During the SHINE Mural Festival, these stories begin to come together, as many artists begin their painting process for everybody to see.
The participants at SHINE have chosen mural designs that help convey themes of positivity and endurance.
Ricardo Delgado, or “reda3sb,” has been working since Oct. 18 on a surrealist mural that portrays a woman’s face, glowing with blue light and surrounded by planets and stars of many colors. The message of this piece is that all people are able to come together in knowing that we are capable of love.
“It’s about reminding people that they don’t need to be afraid of how they feel, because all our feelings, our sadness and our fear, they’re all universal,” Delgado said.
Delgado, who only speaks Spanish, said that while there was a clear language barrier that made his participation more difficult, everyone at SHINE was eager to help him participate and succeed in any way they could.
Princess Smith, a painter and muralist, is a Los Angeles native who relocated to the Tampa Bay area and graduated from the University of Tampa in 2012 with a bachelor’s of fine arts. For the festival, she created the mural version of her painting “Stay Gold.” Smith says the community makes her want to stay more and more each year. She utilized warm yellow tones to portray her daughter flexing her muscles..
“It’s strength,” Smith said. “It’s the divine feminine.”
For more information on the artists that have participated in this SHINE festival, or for information on upcoming SHINE festivals, https://stpeteartsalliance.org/shine-mural-festival/.
