Against the shaded windows of USF’s Centre Gallery is a piano, but not just any piano. It’s one with a story.

Entitled “Mint Condition,” the Japanese-art-inspired painted piano is the sixth public piano donated by Tampa Tunes, Kaylee Ayres, programs coordinator for the Center of Student Involvement, said.

Tampa Tunes is a nonprofit public piano partnership that is working to install a dozen permanent pianos that can be played by anyone at any time around the Tampa Bay area. Several are scattered around Ybor City, including one at 1920 Ybor, a live music venue.

“They believe that art is a reflection of the human experience, and they are committed to creating works that inspire, engage, and move our audience,” Ayres said.

Ayres said her team is “proud” to be the permanent home for a Tampa Tunes piano.

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Founder Joshua Holton reached out over the summer to find a home for one of his pianos at USF because the campus is such a large part of the Tampa Bay community, Ayres said. 

The artist who painted “Mint Condition,” Alyona Garcia-Vianello, calls Tampa home and Holton thought USF would be a good place for her piece, Ayres said.

The piano is colorful with a purple, sparkly lid and mint green body and seat. 

The feature of the piece? Yellow and orange tigers with wild green eyes. 

The piece “fuses the vibrant aesthetics of lowrider culture with the powerful imagery of tigers locked in a dynamic standoff,” according to the artist statement by Garcia-Vianello.

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Holton brought the piano to campus and looked at several locations before bringing it up to the second floor of the Marshall Student Center at Centre Gallery. 

The piano was originally going to be a temporary addition because it fit the gallery’s “Nature’s Artistry” theme. 

But, when Holton brought it in and saw students playing on it during the opening reception on Sept. 16, he offered it to the gallery as a permanent piece.

“He was really excited about all the students playing it and how excited everyone else was,” Ayres said.

While Ayres said the gallery is its permanent home, the piece is for sale for $700. Ayres said, if it’s sold, they will likely work with Tampa Tunes to get a new piano brought to campus.

The opening reception saw one of the gallery’s largest crowds with 190 students attending. Among the crowd was USF’s Music Makers club, which was invited to play the piano.

One student who came to play the new piano is a STEM major, Ayres said, and doesn’t have easy access to a piano. The School of Music has practice rooms with pianos, however those are to be used for “School of Music related-practicing and rehearsing.” 

Related: USF’s new music curriculum gives more freedom to students – The Oracle 

So, for casual pianists, such as several guests at the reception, this is an opportunity for them to play, Ayres said.

“I think it is definitely great to still have a method for students to have easy access to musical instruments,” she said.

While the tiger-adorned piano matches the nature theme well, it might seem a little out of place during future exhibits, such as the upcoming LGBTQ+ History Month exhibit. 

But, Ayres said having the piano as a permanent piece will fit any theme because of the shared mission to highlight local artists.

“It seems like it matches the mission of Tampa Tunes because both of us are working to promote artist voices and uplift them and give them a platform to share their artistic visions,” she said.