By Brenden Miller, Staff Writer
Walking through Saint Leo’s campus, you would never guess that the person sitting next to you in the dining hall might be nursing a blister from a guitar string, or that someone in your biology lab spent their weekend scaling a wall to leave a masterpiece. Art is not always found in museums. Sometimes, it is hidden in a dorm room or inside a sketchbook. At Saint Leo, some students are quietly making the community more colorful than we realize.
For Daniel Amirault, a junior majoring in Computer Science, music has always been part of his life. With a mother who sings and a father who introduced him to the guitar, he grew up surrounded by sound.
“I’ve grown up with a lot of musical people,” Amirault says. “But I’d say it’s evolved more into something that I can use to vent feelings or just have some fun.”
His connection to the instrument goes beyond playing. At 17, he began repairing and fixing guitar pickups himself, blending his technical mindset with his creative passion.
“What makes me want to challenge myself when I play is rehearing a song I tried to learn and going back to make sure I have gotten it down.”
Though he currently plays for himself, he has a simple long-term goal.
“A long-term goal I have for guitar is to eventually join a band just for some fun.”
Isaiah Torrales, a sophomore majoring in Biology, sees the world differently — as a canvas meant to be shared. To him, graffiti is not vandalism, but empowerment.
“Graffiti gives people without a voice in society their own platform.”
He pushes back against the common perception that street art is just a nuisance. He believes the media often uses graffiti as a scapegoat for larger urban issues.
“Graffiti kind of gives you a sense of adventure. You kind of immerse yourself in where graffiti is, and I can’t think of a lot of art where you’re immersing yourself in the canvas.”
For Isaiah, growth comes from experimentation. He believes the best artists are the ones willing to try something new, even if it makes others uncomfortable.
By placing his art in high-visibility spaces, he ensures it cannot be ignored.
Gabrielle Thompson, a freshman majoring in Criminal Justice, found art through family. As a child, she spent hours drawing beside her brother, recreating animated characters, and building confidence in her skills.
“I’ll ask him questions here and there to get his input,” she says.
Although she now works primarily in Ibis Paint, her process still begins with pencil and paper. She sketches by hand, then photographs her drawing to use as the base for her digital work.
Those small doodles between study sessions aren’t just casual sketches. They are her way of resetting after long academic days.
For Chloe Williams, a sophomore majoring in Clinical Psychology, art is deeply personal. Her paintings often explore themes of body image and recovery.
“I try to do it as a way of healing,” Chloe shares. “But honestly, whenever I see the body I paint, it makes me feel jealous. It still makes you feel like, ‘I still want to look like that though.”
Her process is intentionally raw. She piles paint onto her brush without smoothing or editing the texture.
“I don’t want that to be edited. I want it to be the way it was.”
As she works through heavy emotions, something subtle happens on the canvas.
“I noticed, like, as I paint, the colors get lighter.”
For Chloe, every brushstroke becomes an act of resistance against narrow beauty standards.
Those are only some of the talented students at Saint Leo, but there are more! So, next time you’re walking across campus, remember that the one sitting right next to you might be working on something artistically beautiful. Whether it’s through a riff, a spray can, a digital tablet, or a pile of paint, these artists are turning the “everyday” into something extraordinary.
1 Comment
Amazing article