SHINE Mural Festival Shines in 2021 By Gabrielle Reeder International, national and local artists alike grab spraypaint and hop on scaffoldings to create poetic, inspirational, and masterful murals for St. Petersburg’s SHINE Mural Festival every year. The seventh annual SHINE festival occurred between Oct. 15th and Oct. 24th, and this year, it truly shined. “Weather interferes every single year! This has actually been the first time we haven’t had rain. But typically, there’s a tropical storm or hurricane during SHINE. We always tell the artists to plan on losing at least a whole day of painting to rain,” Jenee Priebe, Associate Director of the SHINE Mural Festival said. A passion project of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance, the SHINE Mural Festival was born in 2015. Sixteen artists are annually selected by a curation team and assigned a wall across eleven districts in St. Pete and Gulfport.
Artists “We are looking for a diverse group of artists with an established voice or message in their work,” Priebe said. Bakpak Durden, an artist originally from Detroit, shared their inspiration
Left: Mural in progress by Bakpak Durden at 919 1st Ave N. Right: Mural by Greg Mike at 915 1st Ave N. Photos by Gabrielle Reeder
behind their mural on the east wall of The Bends (919 1st Ave N.). “I started painting murals four years ago as an assistant, and then I started creating my own maybe two- two-and-a-half years ago,” Durden said. “Gonna basically be how I feel, but very vague and cryptic so that I’m not influencing other people’s emotions.” At the time of interview, Bakpak Durden’s project was untitled, but in its initial stages of creation phrases such as ‘I should have lost it by now, truly lost it’, ‘Strange’, ‘Bakpak was here’ and various symbols accentuated the yellow outlines and black background.
Community Engagement In addition to producing new murals every year, SHINE hosts events to engage and involve other community members. “We also produce a small series of ‘Bright Spot’ mural projects that involve community volunteers. The artists and the walls change year to year but the concept stays the same!” Priebe said. Alejandro Quintero, owner of d-gallerie (234 Dr M.L.K. Jr St N Unit C) hosted the first annual d-railed, a train-art exhibition to bring viewers back to the origin of street art. Over 30 10-inch and 20-inch designed trains were displayed. “It’s a form of street art, so what we decided to do was kind of take street art to the beginning. To take the collectors to memory lane. Basically cities back in the 80s, like New York, L.A., Chicago where you would see all of these subway trains, or even cargo trains with graffiti on the side. Even if you didn’t live in those cities, you’ve always seen it in movies and TV,” Quintero said.
Audience Priebe hopes that those who might not have much interest in the museum or art gallery experience can find themselves entertained by the murals and form a closer bond with St. Pete. “I believe the murals can be a launching point for people of all ages to be inspired by art and begin to appreciate its impact on individuals and on whole communities,” Priebe said. “SHINE draws such a diverse crowd of people. It seems the edgy-ness of it draws a younger, more alternative crowd but the accessibility of the art pulls in a range of ages”. To read more about the artists and see a map this year’s murals, visit https://stpeteartsalliance.org/experience-arts/shine-mural-festival.
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GREENBENCHMONTHLY.COM / NOVEMBER 2021
