The Arts District in Miami that You Need to See

I LOVE street art. It inspires and challenges me to dream bigger and brighter. It sparks creativity, provokes me and renews a sense of wonder. I’m surrounded by 101+ murals of great street art in various forms throughout Cincinnati and Northern Kentucky neighborhoods. When I found out that Miami had an arts district dedicated to Urban Graffiti art, I was all in. I did an little online research and the images of the murals at Wynwood Art District made my heart skip a beat.

Our family decided to squeeze in a quick trip to the Wynwood Walls Arts District before setting sail on our Fathom cruise later that Sunday afternoon. We didn’t have transportation, so we used Uber. We’ve found that Uber and Lyft are the best ways to get around Miami if you don’t have a vehicle. I think that our longest wait time for a driver was about 5 minutes.  The drive was about 15 minutes from our East Airport Hotel.

On our way to the district, we observed pops of color in the art displayed along the walls. As we traveled, anticipation continued to build of what was to come.

When we pulled up in front of Wynwood Walls my heart was ready to explode with excitement! We were surrounded by street art at every turn.

The Wynwood Art District has 80,000 sq. feet of walls covered by 50 artists from 16 countries.  It is beautiful to observe so much diverse, vibrant, creativity in a high concentration. It’s impossible not to be inspired and appreciate the unique gifts of each artist who shares their talent here.

Wynwood Walls was the vision and passion project of Tony Goldman who transformed a former warehouse district in 2009 into an unlimited potential of canvases for larger than life art. What started with 6 buildings has continued to grow and expand through the years.

You might recognize the names of some of the artist who have left their artistic legacy here.

From around the United States, Brazil, Belgium, Mexico, Portugal, Ukraine, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Germany, France, England, Japan and Singapore, the celebrated artists who have contributed to the Wynwood Walls include: Os Gemeos, Invader, Kenny Scharf, FUTURA 2000, Dearraindrop, FAILE, BÄST, Shepard Fairey, Aiko, Sego, Saner, Liqen, Nunca, Ben Jones, HOW & NOSM, Ryan McGinness, Jim Drain, Ara Peterson, Retna, Stelios Faitakis, Clare Rojas, The Date Farmers, avaf, ROA, Ron English, Jeff Soto, Logan Hicks, b., PHASE 2, Joe Grillo, COCO 144, Gaia, Vhils, Interesni Kazki, Neuzz, Swoon, Ben Wolf, David Ellis, Barry McGee, Brandon Opalka, Friends With You, DALeast, Faith 47, Santiago Rubino, Daze, Krink, Momo, Miss Van, Lady Pink, Fafi, Sheryo, Kashink, Maya Hayuk and Lakwena. – Wynwood Walls website

I instantly recognized work by a few artists who also have murals in the Cincinnati area. I loved that my boys also noticed work on a wall by The London Police, who also have street art by one of our favorite restaurants in Covington,Ky called AmerAsia.

The murals are a very popular location for photo shoots for obvious reasons. If we lived in Miami, this is where I would want my family pictures professionally taken. It was also great to get some informal shots of our family anyway. I think that it’s really important to expose your kids to art like this.

The highest concentration of murals are within the walls but I would also encourage you to walk around the block to see even more art and buildings overtaken in design.

You have two dining options at Wynwood Kitchen and Bar and Joey’s on site and several other restaurants within a close proximity to the walls. During our visit, the brunch crowd was just starting to arrive.

The pictures don’t do it justice. You just need to go there to feel and experience it.

You can find out more about Wynwood Walls from their website.

Wynwood Walls is located at 2520 NW 2nd Ave, Miami, FL 33127.