Chalk, Murals, and a Giant Tampa Chicken: A Conversation with Hilary Frambes
Hilary Frambes on Chalk Art, Murals, and Resilience Muralist and chalk artist Hilary Frambes talks public art, Tampa Bay’s chalk scene, resilience in hard times, and her new Arts Passport “Tampa Chicken” collaboration.
Muralist and chalk artist Hilary Frambes joins the Tampa Bay Arts Passport Podcast to talk public art, creative community, and why “resilience” is her one-word hope for the arts in Tampa Bay.
Tampa Bay Arts Passport Podcast
Tampa Bay’s chalk art and mural scene doesn’t just appear on sidewalks and walls. It shows up with weather apps, scaffolding, sore knees, and a community of artists who keep finding ways to create in public—even when the elements and the politics don’t make it easy.
On this episode of the Tampa Bay Arts Passport Podcast, host Avery Anderson sits down with muralist, chalk artist, portrait artist, and longtime arts educator Hilary Frambes. Hilary traces her path from illustration student in Columbus, Ohio, to chalk festivals, murals, and a full-time freelance life rooted in Tampa Bay’s public art ecosystem.
She talks about why large-scale work feels a bit like performance art, what it’s like to make something while strangers watch it evolve in real time, and how many weather apps you actually need on your phone to survive chalk festival season.
Hilary also opens up about an offhand comment from a high school teacher that pushed her away from art for years—and how she eventually found her way back through a small mural commission, arts education, and a growing network of Chalk Art Nation friends who “chalk in the sun with other insane people.”
When Avery asks her to sum up her hope for the arts in Tampa Bay in one word, Hilary doesn’t hesitate: resilience. She talks about watching fundraisers pop up for artists after last year’s hurricane, and about what it felt like to see five of her Sarasota sidewalk pieces ground to dust during the recent culture-war controversy over chalk art. For her, resilience means holding strong, speaking through the work, and refusing to disappear.
Along the way, the two dig into Hilary’s newest collaboration with Arts Passport: a hand-painted, joy-soaked “Tampa Tales and Tails” collage that turns Tampa landmarks, public art, and local icons into one riot of color.
Listen to the Episode
Hit play to hear Hilary talk about chalk festivals, murals, community, and what it means to keep creating when the ground keeps shifting—sometimes literally.
Episode Highlights
- From illustration major to fine artist: How Hilary moved from Columbus College of Art & Design into murals, chalk festivals, and portrait work.
- Chalk as performance: Why creating on the ground in real time, surrounded by festival-goers, feels closer to performance art than studio work.
- The logistics behind the magic: Weather apps, wind, scaffolding, hot pavement, and why July is a terrible time to sit on Florida asphalt.
- Finding gigs in a public art world: How calls for artists, local organizations, Chalk Art Nation, and Instagram DMs turn into real projects.
- Building community on the pavement: The friendships that form when chalk artists spend long days outside sharing technique, materials, and shade.
- The “Tampa Tails and Tales” collaboration: How Hilary designed and then hand-painted a collage of Tampa icons—from skyline and sports to public art and Phoebe the flamingo—for Arts Passport merch.
- Art in a culture-war moment: What it meant to lose five Sarasota chalk pieces to a political backlash, and why Hilary still leads with resilience.
- Dinner with Georgia O’Keeffe: The artist she’d most like to sit down with, and how O’Keeffe’s use of color and perspective has influenced her work.
About Hilary Frambes
Hilary Frambes is a muralist, chalk artist, portrait artist, and arts educator whose work appears across Tampa Bay and Southwest Florida. After studying illustration at the Columbus College of Art & Design, she found her way back to fine art through murals, chalk festivals, and community-based projects. Her large-scale work often blends human figures with elements of nature and local history, and she’s an active member of Chalk Art Nation and the Fort Myers Mural Society. Hilary is also the artist behind Arts Passport’s first merch collaboration: a hand-painted “Tampa Tales and Tails” piece celebrating Tampa’s landmarks, public art, and creative spirit.
Explore the “Tampa Tales and Tails” Collection
This episode also marks the launch of our first Arts Passport Artist Merch collaboration with Hilary Frambes: a hand-painted “Tampa Tales and Tails” that packs Tampa landmarks, public art, and local icons into one gloriously overstuffed bird.
You can snag it on:
- T-shirts
- Totes
- Prints
Every purchase supports both Hilary’s work and the storytelling we’re building through Tampa Bay Arts Passport.
Transcript Section
Full Transcript
Read the full conversation between Hilary Frambes and Tampa Bay Arts Passport host Avery Anderson.
Avery Anderson