Phase One: The Community Weekend
Friday, Saturday & Sunday
The story began with a new approach to us.
Before anyone picked up a brush, Sara mapped the entire design using a VR headset—floating inside the composition, adjusting scale, planning movement, and building the blueprint in digital space. What used to take hours with projection methods was finished in minutes.
Then the community stepped in.
Over three days, daily five community slots filled with LMCU’s members, families, kids, longtime locals, new residents, and people who had never touched a paintbrush before.
Everyone painted something real. Sara guided each section herself, making sure every volunteer—not just the confident ones—had a meaningful part in the mural.
It set the tone for the rest of the project: this wasn’t a mural for St. Pete. It was a mural created with St. Pete
Photo Gallery: Phase one
Phase Two: The Push to Finish
Monday–Sunday
Once the community weekend wrapped, the real sprint began. SHINE gives artists ten days, and three were already gone. What stood on the wall was beautiful but raw—broad strokes, color zones, early textures, and community-painted sections that needed refining without losing the hands that created them.
Sara returned with a small team of her strongest students. Long days, longer nights. Detailed brushwork. Layering, line work, large-scale coverage, and lifting the entire composition to festival-level completion.
The VR prep paid off. No last-minute redesigns. No wasted hours.
Everything followed the digital plan, allowing the team to move sharply and finish on schedule. By the end of the week, the wall stood complete—bold, cohesive, and unmistakably St. Pete.
Photo Gallery: Phase two
Phase Three: The Events That Framed the Mural
This project didn’t stay confined to the wall. It sparked a series of celebrations across St. Petersburg that amplified Sara’s work and brought more people into the story.
Her artwork was featured at the Morean Arts Center, and again at the St. Pete Museum of History, placing her alongside some of the city’s most recognized creative voices. SHINE’s opening ceremony highlighted her entry into the festival, putting the mural in front of artists, sponsors, and public-art supporters.
LMCU hosted a special event at their new St. Pete branch, showcasing and selling Sara’s artwork—another bridge between local business and local art.
And in partnership with Art Conservatory for Teens (ACT), young performers danced, sang, and took part in the festivities, bringing the next generation of St. Pete artists into the spotlight.
What started as a wall became a full cultural moment.
Photo Gallery: Phase Three