By Joana Riva Pereira Neves Castanheira / USF ZNews
TAMPA – A USF alum found his way back to the Marshall Student Center’s (MSC) through an exhibition at Centre Gallery that featured students’ artworks through painting, photography and more.
Lincoln Esmie Jr., 25, graduated from USF in 2020. Five years after graduating, Esmie has his art displayed at USF’s Centre Gallery in the Campus Activity Board’s (CAB) exhibition “Odds and Ends.”
Esmie went on to get his master’s in clinical and mental health counseling and now works as a therapist.
He said art relates to his job because it’s a way to express emotion without having to speak.
“Until I started doing it more, I didn’t realize how much [art] can be a way to escape, a way to express feelings and emotions,” he said.
Kaylee Ayres, the organizer for “Odds and Ends,” said the exhibition didn’t have a set theme, but it’s a “diverse array of artwork united by individually celebrating beauty of creativity.”
Ayres said Centre Gallery is entirely student run and one of the only non-profit exhibition spaces in the state of Florida.
Artists can apply to have their art displayed at Centre Gallery exhibitions or be “recruited” by CAB if they are part of artist groups on social media, Ayres said. Current students can also serve as art directors or interns to get the experience of running an art gallery.
Ayres said having their art displayed at Centre Gallery is a good opportunity for students to gain experience because it can be hard for up and coming artists to do that outside university spaces.
“For a lot of people, this is their first time ever getting to show their artwork,” she said. “It’s a great way for them to get some exposure, get some experience, and a platform to share their talents and stories with the community and expose their peers to new points of views.”
Esmie said having his artwork displayed alongside other students’ inspires him to try new things and different styles.
“I just really love being in artistic spaces, period,” he said. “Any chance I get to showcase my forms of expression and also be around others that get to express themselves is a great way to build and grow.”