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Possibilitàs

Group Art Show

Exhibits open during Art Walk on the 1st Friday of every month. 6pm-10pm

Gallery hours Monday through Friday 10:00am – 5:00pm

Extended Gallery Hours most Thursdays & Fridays until 10pm

Occasionally galleries may be closed for private events

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Overview

Possibilitàs: An Exhibition of Emerging Talents

Possibilitàs (from the latin for “possibilities”) celebrates the next wave of artistic voices shaping the future of contemporary art. This annual exhibition spotlights emerging talents from across Southwest Florida and beyond—students, recent graduates, and self-taught visionaries—each exploring the vast potential of creative expression.

This year, we are proud to collaborate with Amanda Soisson, art teacher and Art Director at Gateway High School, who brings her expertise and technical direction to help guide this showcase of student excellence. Featured artists Riley Motisi, Mercedes Jurado, and Jasmine Komar present a compelling body of work that highlights their individuality, courage, and creative growth.

Featured in the Capital Gallery of the historic Sidney & Berne Davis Art Center, Possibilitàs transforms the space into a vibrant platform for innovation, risk-taking, and raw artistic energy. From bold experimentation to refined technique, each work reveals the personal narratives, cultural observations, and imaginative dreams of a new generation of artists standing at the threshold of possibility.

Join us as we champion the artists who dare to define what’s next.

Mercedes Jurado

Mercedes Jurado is a fine artist, vocalist, and performer living in Fort Myers, Florida. She is also an illustrator who specializes in character design, writing, and 3D sculpture. She uses mixed media in both her 2-dimensional and 3-dimensional art. Her sculptures contain ceramics, fabric, and beads, while she uses traditional drawing materials for her illustrations, such as graphite, alcohol marker, and watercolor.

Mercedes’ cozy art style is inspired by coming-of-age comic book illustrations she grew up reading, such as the Berrybrook Middle School Series by Svetlana Chmakova, and the stylish character designs of “Steven Universe” by Rebecca Sugar. As a vocalist in her family’s band, she also finds music to be a significant source of inspiration. Many of Mercedes’ stories and characters are influenced by the lyrics and music genres of her favorite songs. The color palettes, outfits, personalities, and narrative of her characters are all determined by their musical counterparts.

Mercedes’ unparalleled influence is her grandfather, who she used to craft with when she was little. They painted rocks in the garage and watched all the “How To Draw” videos 2014 YouTube had to offer. She still owns the popsicle stick puppets they made when she was 7. Inspired by her own childhood, Mercedes’ characters, artwork, and stories will remind you of your own wonder, joy, and nostalgia.

Artist Statement

“Childhood is the most beautiful of all life’s seasons.” — Jerry Smith. 

As a recent high school graduate, I have been reflecting on my childhood and the activities I enjoyed and the artwork I created. While it brought many bittersweet feelings about my early childhood, it also reminded me of how creative and imaginative I used to be, that we all “used” to be.

In this series, I have played with different mediums, such as mini-sculptures, watercolor illustrations, interactive canvases, and more, to add to that feeling of discovery and childhood whimsy. These pieces reflect a childhood full of color, energy, and crafting experiences I’ve come to cherish, such as melted crayon canvases, rock painting, and popsicle stick puppets. 

We don’t have a time machine, but through the act of creating, I was able to reminisce. If I did, I would go back and create all the art I wanted with the skills I have now. This series is in honor of the young artist in all of us.

Riley Motisi

Riley Motisi is a mixed media artist living in Lehigh Acres, Florida. She started sculpting when she was 9 years old and diverged into drawing and painting a few years later. Her work is inspired by creatures in folklore from different cultures, such as kelpies, wendigos, dragons, spirits and demons. Her work is also inspired by films such as childhood favorites: Dark Crystal, The Labyrinth, Spiderwick, and Pan’s Labyrinth. Riley is a found object artist who incorporates and gravitates to glass. She would describe her style as “creepy cute”. By using polymer clay, air dry clay, found objects, moss, acrylic paint, and wood she builds her folklore worlds for little characters that represent different parts of human emotions and behaviors.

Riley uses objects that were well loved or forgotten and breathes new life into them instead of throwing them away. She often uses them as landmarks or modes of transportation for her characters. She helps others view everyday objects from a new perspective by inviting you into her fantastical world.

Artist Statement

“Mental health is like a garden—it needs daily attention, not just when it’s overgrown.” I often heard this analogy, and used it to reflect on where I was and where I wanted to be after my own struggle with mental health and self worth. A few characters and themes in this series of work were inspired by those experiences. My magical little world contains characters such as “Doom Blooms”, silly little clowns constantly on the move, and sweet, tender-hearted mushroom people, I call “Mushlings”.

The Doom Blooms are each connected to their own person and each person is connected to a Doom Bloom, for better or for worse. If you are suffering, physically or mentally, they are too and show that pain as they wither away. They may even portray physical harm or unhealthy coping mechanisms. They can also thrive with vibrant and colorful petals and sturdy stems and roots.

The clowns are a representation of joy. Hyperactive, cheerful, and ever lasting. They only stop for a short while and are off as suddenly as they arrived. When I was a kid I created them after collecting pirouette dolls and always felt happy when I saw them. They too are personalized with different hair styles or colors, and much like joy they can not stay forever.

The last and final characters you will meet are the “Mushlings”. In this world they are the representation of a support system. They are commonly seen around dragon eggs, injured clowns, or Doom Blooms. They are always reliable, but they are also fragile. I created them at a time where I did not have many to rely on. As such I created the Mushlings to be caring creatures based off of “Red Caps”, creatures that originated in England as a form of superstition or a story to tell your kids, they live and take care of the forest.

This series of art work is a look into mental health in a less intimidating way. It shows good and the bad in a way to encourage others to find the good even when there is very little. I hope that my art can help those who struggle with admitting or addressing their own mental health.

Jasmine Komar

Jasmine Komar is a mixed-media artist based in Lehigh Acres, Florida. Her work delves deeply into the complexities of grief, loss, and the transient beauty of life. Drawing inspiration from her own experiences with grief and universal emotions. Jasmine combines various materials—ranging from paint, fabric, and thread, to found objects—creating textured, layered works that evoke a sense of both sorrow and healing. Her art combines human figures and animal bones as a metaphor for time and the change we endure as humans over time. Her color palette consists of dark, somber tones with soft, hopeful bursts of color, symbolizing the coexistence of pain and beauty in the human experience. Each piece she creates is a meditation on memory, love, and the fleeting moments that make life so precious.  

Her deep connection to her art began at Gateway High School, where she spent four years exploring various mediums and techniques in her art classes. Guided by supportive and inspiring art teachers, she not only earned a Fine Arts Seal for her dedication but also gained the confidence and skills that continue to shape her growth as an artist today.  

She has participated in local art exhibitions, events, and art contests such as ArtFest, Art Under 20, in hopes for her work to resonate with others. 

Through her art, she invites viewers to confront their own feelings of loss and wonder and to find healing in the act of creation.

Artist statement 

Through mixed media and painting, I use bones to signify change over time and the individuality that grows from change.  I decided to incorporate bones in my work as a metaphor that shows how different every species is from one another and how they adapt to be different, just like how every human undergoes different things and how those experiences help shape us as people and how we live day to day. I use mixed media material in my paintings to better express this idea and give my work my raw emotion.