Sewing Seas by Jamaican artist Taj Tenfold was created for the 2019 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida.
You can also find her work on Instagram.
Jul 182025
Jun 242025
When the Sun is Up, the Moon is Absent! was created by Bryan Beyung and James Lee Chiahan for the 2023 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida.
From the artists about the mural-
In 1987, the Kien family stood on a red dirt road in a refugee camp called Site 2 somewhere along the border of Cambodia and Thailand. With their loved ones scattered, their home displaced, and their country suffused in violence, they place their hopes on a vague future. Absurd events become strangely, sadly common. Fate, or luck, or kindness brings them safe passage across the sea to Boston, MA; Montréal, QC; and finally, Bradenton, FL, a few minutes away from where this wall stands.
The youngest of the four depicted is our friend Anhdi. Today, he lives in Bradenton with his wife and three kids, who we invited to help paint and add to their family’s story directly. It’s a story with many secret turns and memories that shape their specific experience, but it’s also one that’s universal to so many who have had to flee their homes amidst conflict in the search of a new beginning. It’s a story of survival and the human spirit, and we feel so lucky to have been able to try and express it.
Jun 062025
Breaking Free by Rhys Meatyard for the 2023 edition of SHINE Mural Festival in St. Pete, Florida.
From the artist about the mural-
For my mural, I wanted to do something hopeful and bright, and the color palette reflects that intent. I took inspiration primarily from classical art and 70s prog rock album covers. I am a big fan of Roger Dean – the artist behind covers for bands such as Yes and Uriah Heep – and borrowed some of his themes for this piece. In the foreground, you see two statues in a colonnade, and as your eye moves across the piece into the mid and background, you become aware that the land and temple are breaking apart, with parts floating off into the sun. The furthest statue has awakened and is stepping off of her base, gazing into the sun. Although the context – the solid ground she has been standing upon is breaking apart – should be frightening, she is looking into the light and moving towards her new existence. This is a metaphor for the process of being reborn in the breaking we all face in our lives, for waking up to the beautiful and terrifying reality of self, and becoming another thing and venturing into the unknown.
Spatially, the piece unfolds for you as you round the corner approaching it. Your first view is of the static statues, and as you come closer, the rays of sunlight draw you in to the rest of the scene. There is not much room to stand back from the piece, so you are forced to confront its magnitude up-close, pulling you into the world in which it exists.
May 092025
The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night by Rosana Paulino was recently commissioned by the High Line in New York and is on view until December 2025.
From the High Line’s website about the artist and the work-
Rosana Paulino’s practice spans drawing, painting, suture, printmaking, collage, sculpture, and installation. Her work foregrounds social, ethnic, and gender issues, taking particular care to explore the lasting legacy of slavery and the history of both racial and gender-based violence in Brazil. The artist weaves personal, scientific, and historical archives throughout her work, using these materials to demonstrate and then deconstruct violent colonial structures, particularly as they relate to Afro-Brazilian women. Taking into account the impact these archives and memories have on collective values and belief systems, Paulino examines the construction of myths—not only as an aesthetic pillar but also as a key influence on cultural consciousness.
The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night is a continuation of the artist’s mangrove series, which depicts tree-women as a mythological archetype and symbol for the Brazilian biome. Paulino notes that mangroves, like the country’s Black and Indigenous people, have been mistreated and exploited. The artist highlights the symbolic meaning inherent in this ecosystem: It is where life begins, as a home for countless species and as a blue carbon reservoir, and where life ends, due to the decomposition of the mangrove itself. In The Creation of the Creatures of Day and Night, Paulino re-imagines this duality between life and death as day and night. From left to right, the color of the sky fades from daylight to a deeper, midnight hue. In lieu of gilded halos traditionally seen in European representations of holy figures, the tree-women’s heads are framed by halos resembling the sun and the moon. Similarly, the animals surrounding the goddesses also reference the transition from day to night. On the left side of the composition, Paulino depicts two diurnal birds native to the mangrove biome: the white egret and, in the tree-woman’s hands, the scarlet ibis. To her right, the other goddess holds an owl and is flanked by two bats, both of which are nocturnal. Together, these elements present a rich, new mythological framework for the mangrove, offering a departure from depictions shaped by colonization and exploitation.
May 032025
Bradley Hoffer’s works in the foreground, Michael McLoughlin’s photos on the wall behind
Images to the left and right by photographer Mike McLoughlin
Asbury Park in New Jersey is most famous for its music scene, but recently murals and other artworks are adding another reason to visit this seaside town. Many of these pieces would not exist without the hard work of local Jenn Hampton, who started the Wooden Walls Project in 2015. The collaborative arts initiative has worked on numerous projects in the area with local artists and others from farther afield.
One of these projects is New Jersey photographer Mike McLoughlin‘s Art Lives Here- a series of portraits of local arts community members. Each portrait is based on a famous work of art. All of them can be found here.
Below are a few of the murals and works created in collaboration with Wooden Walls. They are located around Asbury Park Boardwalk‘s Historic Steam Plant building and the Carousel Casino Complex. They include works by Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer who currently have a joint exhibition on view at The Art Spot.
Hearts by Amberella, work by Tina Schwarz and mural by Keya Tama
Mural by Keya Tama
Work by ONEQ (@negiyakisoba)
Work by JMikal Davis aka Hellbent
Work by Joe Iurato (left) and Beau Stanton (right)
Ray Geary “St. Shadi and the Madd Doggs” Pigmented resin on board
Work by Pau Quintanajornet (@artofpau)- “Yemaya and her Sea Birds”
Sculpture by Hyland Mather (@thelostobject)
Mural is by Porkchop and Bradley Hoffer
Mural by Porkchop of Yemaya
May 032025
Currently at The Art Spot in Asbury Park are the incredible cardboard creations of multi-disciplinary artists Michael La Vallee (aka Porkchop) and Bradley Hoffer for Anti AI: A 2025 Cardboard Odyssey. Along with the exhibitions, the gallery also serves as a studio for La Vallee and a shop selling items by him and others, including a large section of modified clothing items.
Outside of the gallery are two large murals, pictured below. The first is by Porkchop and Hoffer and the second is by artists Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks.
Mural by Porkchop and Bradley Hofffer
Mural by Joe Iurato and Logan Hicks (with Bradley Hoffer section from the previous mural)
This show is on view until May 8th, 2025.
Flashback Friday- South Carolina Art Events- ArtFields in Lake City
Architecture, Art, Art Shows by Location, Artists, Ceramic Art, Collage, Conceptual Art, Design, Digital Art, Drawing, Fiber Arts, Glasswork, Illustration, Installation Art, Lake City, Mixed Media, Painting / Painters, Photographers / Photography, Places to Visit, Printmaking, Public Art, Sculptors / Sculpture, South Carolina Art Shows
Apr 252025
Mural by Donald Walker
ArtFields Community Mural by Jessica Diaz, Morgan Funkhouser, Olivia Cramer, Sam Ogden
Today’s flashback is to 2021 and a trip to Lake City, South Carolina to check out ArtFields. Started in 2013, the event is a wonderful example of how the arts can revitalize local economies.
So what is ArtFields? Every year for one week local businesses and galleries host works created by artists from the Southeastern United States for a competition with prizes totaling over $145,000. There are also two People’s Choice Awards which are determined by the attendees of the festival. The other awards are chosen by a panel of art professionals. Special events take place throughout the week and ArtFields Jr. offers a chance to see work by South Carolina students.
This year the event runs from April 25th to May 3rd, 2025. Even if you can’t make it, it’s worth taking a look here at this year’s artwork as well as from past years.
Below are a few selections from 2021-
Mural by Lance Turner
“From This Moment Forward” by Herman A. Keith Jr. inspired by Gee’s Bend Quilters
Partially finished mural by Broderick Flanigan honoring Lake City educators Elouise Cooper and Derrick Faison.
“7 Red Wolves” by Joann Galarza Vega
About the work from the above by Joann Galarza Vega–
“There may be as few as only 7 red wolves remaining in the wild. These animals, like so many others, are disappearing in the shadows of our periphery. Their very existence depends on us, as did their extinction. Let us see them, acknowledge them, acknowledge that biodiversity and the balance of life matters. They are painted bright red in order to stand out and bring attention, no longer hidden away.”
Pictured above is The House on Church Street which in 2021 was used for several art installations including the two below. The first is New Histories: The Gadsden Farm Project by Michael Austin Diaz and Holly Hanessian.
About the installation-
The installation below, All Too Brief, was created by Gainesville, Florida artist Cindy Steiler.
From the ArtFields website about the installation-
All Too Brief was inspired by the movement of time and the unconscious process where our present moment is being continuously converted to memory. The elements comprising All Too Brief include a series of scrolls of cyanotype photographs and repurposed textiles wound on antique industrial weaving bobbins. Each scroll has a WW2-era laundry pin embossed with a number that corresponds to the written narrative of the images and textiles it holds. This piece is my attempt to document and archive people, places, and fleeting moments I hold dear. This piece became even more meaningful to me this year. My studio assistant at the time this piece was created has since passed.
Finally- while in town it’s also worth checking out the Ronald E. McNair Life History Center and Memorial Park. The Lake City-born astronaut and physicist died tragically in the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger explosion.
Apr 042025
Create Magic Studios, made up of husband and wife team Todd and Allison Purse, has recently taken over local book store Huxley & Hiro‘s future home with a pop-up shop and gallery. The space is filled with artwork from local artists and Todd’s bright, colorful murals.
Along with making artwork and comics, Todd Purse also designs artwork for Brandywine Coffee Roasters, including their hand printed bags. In one of the rooms in the gallery several of them are on display.
Tonight, 4/4/25, is one of the last times to see the space and will be open from 5-8pm with live music from Danny and the Darlings.
It is also ArtLoop Wilmington, a monthly First Friday art walk with several venues around the city staying open late.
Feb 072025
This mural, Southern Expansion, was created by Zulu Painter and is located in St. Pete, Florida.
Located in the old phone booth on the corner is a plaque that reads-
In the late 1800’s, Black Men were hired to continue the railroad in to the territory that is now known as St. Petersburg, FL. These men settled in this area and were largely responsible for building our city and streets and creating this Gulf Coast community.
This mural honors the history and legacy of the African American people at the foundation of our great city.
You also find Zulu Painter’s work on Instagram.
Feb 072025
The Triangle Park Mural, in downtown Asheville, North Carolina, pays tribute to Asheville’s historic African American business district and the surrounding Valley Street/ East End neighborhoods. Completed in 2013, the project was a collaboration between the Just Folks community club, the Asheville Design Center (ADC), and artist/community-arts organizer Molly Must.
From Molly Must’s website–
Triangle Park is in the heart of “The Block,” an historic area that was the cultural and economic center for all of Western North Carolina’s African-American citizens, from the time of Reconstruction until the years of integration and the East-Riverside Re-Development Project (funded under the federal Urban Renewal program), which severely altered the community’s physical, cultural, and economic topography. Although the community continues to experience displacement and transformation under heavy development, a generation of people who grew up on and around Valley Street (now Charlotte Street) still congregate in Triangle Park, as they have for many years. This dedicated group of community members — who organized under the name Just Folks — has been hosting regular block parties in the park for over a decade. The Triangle Park Mural was born of this vital commitment and a collective desire to mark the changing landscape with celebratory evidence of the area’s profoundly important past.
In an upwelling of community effort and care, nearly 100 volunteers helped paint the Triangle Park Mural between June of 2012 and May of 2013 (many of whom have their own stories about the heyday of the Block). The design is a product of community discussion that was aided by historical archives, interviews, family stories, and donated photographs (including the collection of photographer Andrea Clark). The mural honors both personal stories and memories of several historic institutions of the area, including the Stevens Lee High School, Catholic Hill School, and the Young Men’s Institute (YMI). Artist Molly Must composed the design, with contributions by artists Ernie Mapp, Twila Jefferson, Ian Wilkinson, Harper Leich, and Liana Murray.