Local Muralist Steven Teller Earns National Recognition for Psychedelic Tribute to Georgia Music Legends

St. Augustine artist Steven Teller has earned national recognition for a massive mural celebrating Georgia’s musical legacy, further cementing the local muralist’s reputation as an artist whose work travels far beyond the Ancient City.

Teller recently received the bronze award at the 4th Annual National Mural Awards for A Blossoming Ode to Georgia’s Musical History, a massive 63-by-24-foot mural located inside Akins Ford Arena in Athens, Georgia. The National Mural Awards recognized the piece as part of its regional artist awards, which honor public murals across the country. According to the National Mural Awards, the 2026 competition included submissions by more than 175 artists from 35 states, with murals scored anonymously by a national panel of judges.

For St. Augustine, the honor is another reminder that one of the country’s rising public artists calls this community home. Teller is a multi-disciplined Florida artist whose work is inspired by the natural world, the ocean and the vivid palette of his home state. When he is not traveling for murals and festivals, he works from his studio in St. Augustine, where he also surfs and recharges between projects.

Completed in January 2025, A Blossoming Ode to Georgia’s Musical History greets visitors inside the lobby of Akins Ford Arena at The Classic Center. The mural honors several of Georgia’s most influential musical artists, including Ray Charles, Duane Allman, Gladys Knight, James Brown, OutKast and Cindy Wilson of The B-52s. The Classic Center described the piece as a visual tribute connecting generations of music lovers while celebrating Georgia’s lasting impact on American music. The Athens mural was selected through a competitive public art process. Flagpole Magazine reported that Teller was one of 122 artists who applied through a nationwide call, with his design chosen by a community panel through a blind selection process. The mural was facilitated by the Athens-Clarke County Leisure Services Arts Division and funded through the county’s Special Purpose Local Option Sales Tax.

Teller’s style is instantly recognizable: bold, warm, radiant and rooted in movement. Working entirely with spray paint, he uses a signature palette of red, orange, yellow, fuchsia and purple to create layered portraits and natural forms that feel both realistic and dreamlike. His work often blends figures, flowers, animals and geometric shapes into large-scale murals meant to transform public spaces into something immersive and uplifting. In an interview with Flagpole, Teller said the Georgia music theme immediately resonated with him. The publication noted his long connection to music-centered public art, including a mural at Macon’s H&H Soul Food depicting the Allman Brothers Band with original owners Mama Hill and Mama Louise, as well as a Johnson City, Tennessee mural called Traditions of Appalachia, which combines bluegrass instruments with regional quilt patterns.

That same thread continued in Alabama, where Teller recently completed another music-focused mural in downtown Decatur. Hville Blast reported that the St. Augustine muralist painted a tribute to late music producer Johnny Sandlin, surrounded by nine artists connected to Sandlin’s career. The mural was commissioned by Sandlin’s daughter, Leigh Ellen Sandlin-Cauthen, president of The Johnny Sandlin Foundation for Music and the Arts.

Teller has created more than 50 murals across the Southeastern and Western United States, Mexico, and Costa Rica. In that story, Teller described public art as something that can continue working long after the paint dries, saying each completed piece can become “kind of like a billboard for another piece.”

That reach is exactly what makes Teller’s latest recognition meaningful locally. His work may appear in arenas, downtown districts and cultural landmarks across the country, but his creative base remains here in St. Augustine. From coastal inspiration to national commissions, Teller’s career reflects the way local artists can carry the spirit of this place into public spaces far beyond Florida. For Teller, the responsibility of public art is part of the mission. On his website, he writes that large-scale public artwork has the ability to impact people’s everyday lives, and that his goal is to offer viewers “a new moment of perspective” through natural beauty, growth and positive imagery.

With A Blossoming Ode to Georgia’s Musical History, that perspective now has national recognition—proof that a St. Augustine artist is helping shape the visual identity of cities, music landmarks and public gathering spaces across the country.