St. Pete · Artists · 3 min read
The Muralists Who Turned St. Pete's Walls into a Résumé
A few of the confirmed names behind the SHINE Mural Festival's biggest walls.
September 17, 2026
Listen · about 3 min
St. Petersburg's mural scene didn't happen by accident, and it didn't happen with anonymous painters either. The SHINE Mural Festival, running since 2015, has deliberately recruited a mix of local, national, and international muralists, and several names show up again and again in coverage of the festival.
The founders
It starts with Tes One, along with the Vitale brothers and Chris "Palehorse" Parks, who painted the mural on the back of the State Theatre in 2012 that's widely credited with kicking off the scene. Tes One went on to push for a full festival, working with the St. Petersburg Arts Alliance to launch SHINE in 2015.
International names SHINE has actually landed
By 2022's eighth edition, SHINE had become enough of a draw that it pulled in artists whose work is recognized well beyond Florida. That roster included James Ballough (an American muralist based in Germany, who also hosts the street-art interview podcast Vantage Point), Mad C — real name Claudia Walde, a German artist widely regarded as one of the most technically accomplished graffiti writers working today — Canadian typographer Ben Johnston, Spanish muralist Marina Capdevila (known for murals centering elderly subjects), and Belgium/Hong Kong-based artist Caratoes (Cara To).
A wall in St. Pete can carry the same signature you'd find in Berlin.
Local and national talent building the archive
SHINE's own mural directory credits dozens of additional artists by name across its yearly rosters — among them Ya La'Ford, Zulu Painter, Cristi López, Emmanuel Jarus, Fintan Magee, Frankie Gonzalez, NeSpoon, and Naomi Haverland, whose murals now sit throughout downtown and the surrounding arts districts.
The festival has also made a point of featuring nationally recognized street artists working on standalone commissions — Chicago-based Max Sansing was a headline artist for the 2023, ninth annual festival, one of several editions that mixed local muralists with out-of-town names for a single week of painting.
Why the names matter
Knowing who painted a wall changes how you look at it. A mural by an internationally respected graffiti artist like Mad C reads differently once you know her reputation; a piece by a hometown painter you can actually meet at ArtWalk reads differently too. SHINE's mix of the two is part of what's made the festival, in under a decade, into what organizers now call one of Tampa Bay's most iconic cultural events.
Make the walls move
On a Vivia Art piece, one tap of the shutter plays the artist's own animation right on the real wall. Your free Art Passport saves every piece you find.
