MY PERSPECTIVE
EMILIANO
SETTECASI '13
JESUIT PERSPECTIVES • WINTER 2018-19 39
He could have been a doctor,
but he chose to be an artist!”
Those were the words of a dear
friend of mine, Nick Williams. Nick and
I became friends as 3-year olds at St.
Lawrence Catholic School, and although
we grew apart somewhat following 8th
grade, we have maintained a bond of
mutual respect through the years. I ran
into Nick at a house party two years ago.
“He could have been a doctor, but he
chose to be an artist!” was how he enthusiastically
introduced me to another
partygoer.
At the risk of sounding full of myself,
Nick’s introduction of me is true. By the
end of my time at Jesuit High School, I
had earned a 4.38 GPA. I had taken AP
Chemistry as well as AP Art. So when
it was time to decide where and what I
would study in college, I had options.
However, my path as an artist began
long before high school, going as far
back as drawing imaginary houses for
my grandmother on an Etch A Sketch as
a toddler. At Jesuit, under the guidance
and encouragement of Mr. Kevin Ball
’03, art became part of my identity. By
senior year, I was churning out a new
painting nearly every week and serving
as president of the extracurricular art
club, Don’t Feed The Artists. And I was
proud of the work I produced in Mr. Ball’s
Emiliano Settecasi ’13 is a
Tampa-based artist whose
work examines consumer
culture, semiotics, craft,
and Floridian aesthetics. He
studied at the Pratt Institute
in Brooklyn, N.Y. and earned
a BFA from the University
of South Florida. Settecasi
is hosting a group exhibition
featuring his work and
select local artists opening
May 18 at Quaid Gallery in
Seminole Heights. He is
pictured in the Art Studio
at Jesuit, where some of his
work is still on display.
classes. It was work that represented my
ideas, brought to life by my own hands.
It was work that never felt like work, and
I needed to continue doing it.
I am not wholly impractical, though. I
acknowledge that my future would be
������������������������������������������������������������������������
paints aside and embarked on a path
to become a doctor or engineer. Nick’s
words have stayed in my mind for two
years, haunting me, if only slightly.
Society at large does not value artistic
professions relative to occupations in
����������������������������������������������������������������������������������
me holds out hope this will not always
be the case.
This is why it is exciting to see Jesuit’s
continuing and developing interest in its
��������������������������������������������������������������������������������
society ascribes value take place only
with sizable investments by cultural and
community leaders. The Fine and Performing
Arts Center to be constructed
as part of Phase II of Jesuit’s For Greater
Glory campaign is such an investment.
A facility of this scale communicates to
the next generation of Jesuit artists that
their passion is worth exploring, and it
signals to the greater Tampa Bay area
that Jesuit is more committed than ever
to the development of new art, and the
cultivation of local talent for generations
to come.
On paper, without that crucial exclamation
point, the person Nick described,
who “could have been a doctor, but he
chose to be an artist,” probably sounds
like a fool, but I was reassured by
Nick’s tone that night. His words were
no lamentation, no eulogy for wasted
potential. He sounded proud of me, as
though my not compromising took guts,
because unfortunately it did. Jesuit’s plan
for the future of their art program is a
leap toward a day when such a decision
��������������������������������������������������������������