Why are there so many murals in St. Petersburg? A brief history

ST. PETERSBURG — The Sunshine City boasts an eclectic art scene. But residents no longer have to visit popular downtown spots like the Dalí Museum or the Museum of Fine Arts to appreciate visual masterpieces. With more than 500 public murals, St. Petersburg has become an explosion of spray paint.

Street art wasn’t always appreciated. It was often associated with graffiti, which is illegal, whereas murals are commissioned with owners’ approval. The 21st-century mural movement is an outgrowth of and response to graffiti.

“Taggers almost never would tag a mural artist’s work,” said John Collins, the former executive director of the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance.

These days, there hardly seems to be a bare brick around Central Avenue.

St. Pete’s public art renaissance blossomed in the early 2010s. At a time when the city wasn’t as developed and was considered relatively affordable, local artists gravitated toward the historic 600 block of Central. It proved to be an ideal spot for up-and-coming creatives.

Most of the buildings on that block were going to be demolished to make way for new development, but former City Council member Leslie Curran worked to provide inexpensive studio spaces for creators instead.

“We put artists in there for five years at $5 a square foot,” said Curran.

From there, murals began spilling onto the back alleys. The spray paint had a snowball effect. Murals started decorating storefronts, brightening side walls and cobblestone paths.

“With the 600 block, all credit is truly due to two artists, in my opinion. That’s Derek Donnelly and Sebastian Coolidge,” said artist and lifelong St. Petersburg resident Laura “Miss Crit” Spencer. “They are truly the grandfathers of our mural scene in St. Pete.”

Spencer gives walking mural tours throughout downtown. Of the 30-plus displays along her route in the Central Arts District, “I talk about no less than seven of (Donnelly’s) pieces... and that’s in a three-block radius,” she said.

One of his designs, on the east side of the Morean Arts Center, is a grinning Tyrannosaurus rex with a fishing pole, which is meant to represent St. Pete’s retirees enjoying life to the fullest. Two blocks down, on the rear wall of Florida CraftArt, Donnelly and Coolidge collaborated on a towering figure awash in fluorescent blues and purples.

Around the same time as the 600 block’s resurgence, Pat Jennings began stocking his art supplies store, originally called Central Art Supply Company, with vital materials. Later renamed the Arts Supply Store, creators mourned the closing of the 2429 Central Ave. shop in 2017.

“Pat was the first person to start selling spray paint in the city of St. Pete,” said Spencer, who also used to work there. If he liked artists’ mural ideas, he would provide them with paint to decorate the side of his store. “That was kind of the first wall that we started seeing, people ... throw something up. It would stay up for maybe six months or a year, and then another artist would (repaint).”

One of the first commissioned murals in St. Pete was painted on the rear wall of what was then the State Theater, now called The Floridian Social, at 687 Central Ave. N. The Vitale Brothers, Tes One and Pale Horse designed an electrifying teal-and-orange image to help visiting bands spot the back door from the road.

Another reason St. Pete has become a sprawling outdoor gallery is the Shine St. Petersburg Mural Festival, presented by the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance. Since 2015, the annual festival has invited local, national and international artists to transform bare walls into massive works of art. Nearly 170 murals throughout downtown and the surrounding art districts are a result of the festival.

“(St. Petersburg) is funky. You can feel the creativity here,” said Jenee Priebe, the director of Shine.

Compared to neighboring cities, St. Pete had significantly fewer restrictions when it came to launching a mural festival, according to Priebe. Many people have asked her how they can start something similar in their communities.

“Oftentimes, they run into so many approval issues,” she said. ”The highest levels of their city government have to approve every piece of art. And it’s so restrictive and so time-consuming, that it’s not feasible for most people to do what we’ve done here.”

The city of Clearwater hosted its first Art Oasis Mural Festival in March. They asked artists to present three designs in advance, and then property owners chose one.

At St. Pete’s festival, muralists have full creative expression. Most mural artists make a living by doing commissioned projects for businesses, so an opportunity like Shine is rare, especially in a public setting. The arts alliance tries to stay out of the process as much as possible to “honor each of the individual artists’ voices.”

Shine began under former Mayor Rick Kriseman, who helped champion the arts.

“St. Pete has made it really easy. There’s no permitting or approval processes that are needed for any private property. And even on city property, they make it relatively simple,” said Priebe.

St. Pete, in its funkiness, has a history of celebrating all kinds of art. The city has several world-class museums and dozens of active galleries. But murals are special — they’re impossible to ignore. The panoramic images immerse viewers in a dazzling scene of colors and shapes.

“It’s sort of like a gateway drug into the rest of the art community because it’s just such a visible sign that this community cares about art,” said Priebe.

Brick canvases proclaim the story of a community transformed by art.