ART
SHARED SHORES
Cristi López an artist, mental health advocate, and first-generation American of Dominican, Spanish, and Cuban descent, currently based in St. Petersburg, Florida. She graduated from Ringling College of Art and Design in 2016 with a BFA in Illustration.
Her work explores the often-invisible journeys of navigating mental illness, femininity, and faith. She create pieces as vibrant sites of connection and visibility, using visual storytelling to honor heritage, explore identity, and spark meaningful dialogue. Her work transforms everyday spaces into places where people feel seen, valued, and inspired to connect.
Links:
https://www.cristilopezart.com/
https://www.instagram.com/cristi.lopez.s/
“Shared Shores” is a love letter to St. Pete’s official city bird, the Brown Pelican. On the left side of the image, hands cradle a pelican egg about to hatch, adorned with a kiss from the human, representative of the care we owe our precious Floridian fauna. In the center of the composition, our baby pelican has grown, embraced by the same figure that watched it hatch. On the right , we now see the pelican flying high, silhouetted against the blue skies of the bay. The loving connection to the pelican is reciprocal, indicated by the fish adorning the human figure’s hair. The Brown Pelican nearly went extinct in the late 20th century due to environmental contamination but was brought back from the brink through environmental regulations and prioritization of tending to our natural world. The pelican is a symbol of resilience and the ability to bounce back.
YEARS OF PIERS
CHAD MIZE is a multimedia artist, designer and muralist residing in St. Petersburg, Florida. He was born in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1974, and then moved to Tampa Bay Florida, where he spent most of his childhood. An early interest in art resulted in his earning a BFA in Visual Communications at the University of Mississippi. With a love for past and contemporary culture, he takes a humorous, tongue-in-cheek approach to his designs, which include playful doodles, colorful patterns, political art and graphics with text.
He has been championing the Tampa Bay art scene over the past two decades. In 2018, Mize opened the gallery MIZE in the Historic Uptown neighborhood. Following the closing of MIZE in 2022 he set his sights on a larger gallery project entitled SPACE. Currently he is curating exhibits throughout Tampa Bay at various venues. Mize’s client list has included Disney, Facebook, COACH, NUTRL, Tampa Bay Lightning, Tampa Bay Rays, Sprouts, Kahwa, Busch Gardens, The Vinoy Hotel, and JW Marriott.
Links:
http://chadmize.com/chadmize.html
https://www.instagram.com/chadmize
"This mural design is in my free flow doodle style. With focus on the dates of when each pier was opened, I wanted to illustrate each era and the vibes of what was happening around the St Pete Pier around those times. As time and technology has progressed since 1928, one thing has been consistent with the St Pete Pier : The magical fun and good energy the waterfront has given us."
LEGEND OF THE KORA
Jabari Jahi Babatu Reed-Diop, otherwise known as iBOMS is a 25-year-old artist based in St. Petersburg, Florida. His artistic acumen comes from personal experience and formal education at Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville and Gibbs High PCCA magnet program in St. Petersburg. Despite constantly pushing his craft and experimenting with new mediums, iBOMS’ style is immediately recognizable.
At first glance, his work may seem like simple illustrations or even graffiti, but each piece has a story to tell, a deeper message about omens, a powerful statement about love, destruction, or discovery. His characters are complex and often represent aspects of his psyche as a young black male. By transmuting emotional and physical states of being, he mirrors the relationships between spirit and god.
His mediums range from 3D sculpture to 2D and digital design.
Links:
https://creativepinellas.org/artist/jabari-reed-diop-i-b-o-m-s/
https://www.instagram.com/i.b.o.m.s
"This piece “Legend of the Kora” is showing my character Leo walking through high grass with the African string instrument the Kora while also carrying a drum and maracas. This piece was inspired by the power that drum circles and street performers have in the city and beaches. On the kora is a fusion of original design and the skyway bridge highlighting the bridge that music creates in the Bay Area and beyond. Because of his name Leo his zodiac element is fire for passion and creativity."
SANDCASTLES WITH FATHER
Michael Vasquez is an American artist most recognized for his works that explore identity and the cultivation of community amidst an inherent disposition of broken homes inside marginalized neighborhoods. Through figurative painting and portraiture he legitimatizes this complex social landscape; narrating neighborhood events, mischief, and the trials and tribulations that come with the territory as his subjects navigate the expectations and pressures of their peers and society at large.
Michael Vasquez was born in St. Petersburg, Florida; USA where he currently lives and works. He graduated from New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida in 2005 and began his career as an artist. His work has been exhibited both nationally and internationally in galleries and institutions such as the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Americas Society, New York City; and The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C.
In addition, he has mounted solo museum exhibitions at the Kemper Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO; the University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN; and theMiami-Dade College Museum of Art + Design, Miami, FL.
Links:
https://www.michaelvasquez.info/
https://www.instagram.com/michaelvasquez_
Sandcastles with Father – Spa Beach honors the legacy of the St. Petersburg Pier by depicting a father and son building a sandcastle on the shoreline of Spa Beach. The sandcastle takes the form of William B. Harvard Sr.’s iconic inverted pyramid pier, which stood from 1973 to 2015, and continues to hold a lasting place in the city's collective memory. In the background, the current iteration of the Pier rises on the horizon, drawing past and present into quiet dialogue through the lens of imagination and familial connection. While celebrating the Pier’s architectural history and the cultural spirit of The Sunshine City, Sandcastles with Father – Spa Beach also continues a deeply personal thread in my artistic practice: the reimagining of fatherhood. Growing up without a father figure, I often explore intergenerational relationships and the longing for paternal connection. This mural revisits and expands upon those themes, directly recalling my 2015 SHINE mural Fishing with Father, which likewise featured Harvard’s inverted pyramid and reflected a similar yearning for relationship, presence, and belonging. Here, a fleeting sculpture takes on monumental weight—hands shaping a form that could never stand alone—reminding us that even the most impermanent gestures can become anchors of memory, meaning, and place. Blending personal reflection with collective nostalgia, the mural invites viewers to see the Pier not only as an architectural landmark, but as a living site of shared experience—rebuilt again and again through stories, relationships, and the imagination.
LOCALS ONLY
St. Petersburg-based artist, Alyssa Marie has been playing in the realms of impressionistic style fine art and large-scale murals for commercial and residential clients around the globe since 2017. Having spent her first 27 years of life in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado and now residing in a tropical paradise surrounded by water, Alyssa derives inspiration from the natural world for much of her work and pushes the realms of realism by playfully altering what is expected of traditional wildlife and nature scenes through her art.
Links:
https://alyssamariegallery.com/
https://www.instagram.com/alyssa.marie.of.the.sea/
“Locals Only” celebrates the most popular hangout spot for the beloved locals of St. Pete - the Brown Pelican of course! One of them can be seen preening and jamming out while wearing his “World Tour” tee designed by long time adored local artist, Chad Mize. The values and color palette indicate “old and new” as the original pier appears subtle in the distant background of the vibrant group of pelicans.
