The Centre Gallery’s flexibility gives hobbyists and professionals alike the chance to share their art. ORACLE PHOTO/JESSE MIRMAN

An artist journeyed from Ukraine to Florida, visualized her experience through art and displayed it right here on the USF Tampa campus in the Centre Gallery.

The Centre Gallery is an art museum located on the second floor of the Marshall Student Center and operating on weekdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. 

It’s one of the only student-run, non-profit art museums in all of Florida, according to its website.

“Florida in Shapes,” held at the Centre Gallery from Feb. 16 to Feb. 26, was a solo exhibition of work by the Ukrainian-born artist Valeriia Lazebniuk — inspired by Florida’s “nature, light and atmosphere,” according to a Centre Gallery Instagram post. 

I went to the exhibition on Feb. 25 and loved it. Lazebniuk has a charmingly distinct visual style, and the way she represented Florida through a series of abstract geometric portraits and miniatures was fascinating to take in.

But more than anything else, my time at the exhibition made me think about how the Centre Gallery has helped uplift artists in USF and Tampa’s larger art scene.

I believe there’s something valuable in experiencing art by lesser-known artists — and the Centre Gallery should be celebrated for championing them.

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Sanjana Nallapati, a senior econometrics and quantitative economics and health sciences major, serves as one of the gallery’s directors.

As a director, Nallapati reviews art submitted to the gallery and curates the themes of its exhibitions, of which she said there are six each semester.

These exhibitions last for roughly two weeks and feature art submitted through an online application form on the Campus Activity Board’s Linktree, Nallapati said.

Nallapati said there’s usually a “50/50” split between submissions from student hobbyists and submissions from non-student professionals.

“A handful of times it’s just students who do it for [fun] on the side,” she said. “The other half are people who are fine arts or studio art majors.”

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The Gallery’s inclusion of student and hobbyist artists sets it apart from USF’s Contemporary Art Museum, which mostly exhibits world-renowned and professional artists, according to its website.

But the Centre Gallery’s openness in accepting submissions is one of its biggest strengths.

Placing hobbyist art side by side with professional work alleviates pressure for artists who may otherwise be too intimidated to display their art.

“I think the art field, especially, is super tough to grab a foothold in,” Nallapati said. “So I think it helps just being able to have [the Centre Gallery, which is] not really there to have your artworks be critiqued, it’s just to have them be shown.”

But the Centre Gallery provides something even more important to artists than simply mitigating anxiety — visibility.

Nallapati said the gallery staff works hard to display as many of the submissions they receive as possible.

“I think we managed to completely succeed this semester with every single proposal that we’ve gotten so far,” she said. “We’re making sure all of them are getting in somehow.”

The gallery’s commitment to art visibility is a major help for artists looking to get their work seen.

For example, I probably wouldn’t have found Lazebniuk’s art if it hadn’t been exhibited at the gallery. But I’m incredibly glad I had the opportunity to fall in love with it like I did.

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Although Lazebniuk’s “Florida in Shapes” exhibition has now concluded, the Centre Gallery still has more exhibitions planned for its spring 2026 lineup.

The “Saqafat” exhibition — currently ongoing until March 12 — features artist Riya Ramrakhiani’s take on Pakistani “memory, material and meaning,” according to the Gallery’s Instagram.

There’s also “SOTHIXSPACE,” which Nallapati said is slated to run from March 23 to April 2.

“[SOTHIXSPACE] is going to be completely black lit,” she said. “And all of our artworks are covered in neon paint, so it’ll glow in the dark.”

Nallapati’s description of this exhibit immediately caught my attention — and I definitely plan to attend it.

And attending the Gallery’s exhibitions really is the easiest way to support its growth, Nallapati said.

“I think the best thing is to honestly just walk in there,” she said. “Come to our opening receptions too, because our artists are always going to be there — it’s always super sweet to let the artists know in-person that you really like their works.”

So head over to the Centre Gallery and do your part to help USF’s art scene shine a little brighter.