Nikita Suri uses her art as a means of self-expression and charity

Nikita Suri is many things — a hard-working student, budding pilot and a state champion coxswain on Winter Park High’s crew.

But of all her loves, it’s Suri’s glass art that serves as an endless source of self-expression and giving.

In her home in Winter Park, items such as small glass plates, ornaments and salt-and-pepper shakers can be found throughout the house. A small collection also sits in a curio cabinet in the dining room.

“I do both stained- and fuse-glass artwork, and I’ve just always loved the way that glass looks, and I’ve always found glass art to be so pretty,” Suri said. “I’ve been doing it two to three years now, and I just really like it.”

Suri’s pieces, often small in nature, utilize the bright and cheerful color of the glass she uses. Suri and her parents have taken full advantage of just that, with pieces on display everywhere.

PANE PASSION

But discovering the process to create and produce these pieces wasn’t just picked out of the air — it’s been a multi-year-long adventure that has led Suri to develop her hands and eyes for the medium.

Like most creatives Suri, 16, always has had a love for art, and although she had dabbled in beads as a child, it wasn’t until her sophomore year that she decided to give glass a try.

Luckily for Suri, a family friend had a studio where she taught classes on glass art, so she started her adventure there.

“When I was first learning, I was honestly kind of scared, because I was worried about cutting myself,” Suri said. “During one of the classes, there was a more experienced girl there, and she was talking about how one time when she was cutting glass and glass had flew into her eye. I got so scared and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, why did I sign up for this class?’

“But then I started doing it and it felt so calming almost — it was like an outlet and I liked being able to express myself through the glass,” she said. “It’s just so different and fun to do.”

Since then, Suri has kept up with the class every week — spending three to four hours depending on what’s going on in the class. For her, those couple of hours are her time to explore and express herself through her art.

TAKING FLIGHT

Along with doing her pieces for herself exclusively, glass art also has become a way of picking up a little side money and helping fundraise for charity.

The pieces Suri creates sell out quickly — often to friends, family members and customers asking for commissioned pieces.

More recently, Suri had a big order to fulfill that brought in a solid haul of about $200. But instead of keeping it, Suri decided to donate it to Angel Flight Southeast.

The organization — a nonprofit volunteer pilot program that specializes in flying those with illnesses to distant medical facilities — had hosted its Angels 5K April 30, which Suri had planned to run but couldn’t because of a regatta that same day. So instead of running, Suri donated.

“I just really enjoy donating to these charities, because they are such great causes, and I love being able to help out even though I don’t have a job,” Suri said. “I love being able to still support these great foundations.”

Choosing Angel Flight Southeast was also a fairly simple one. Suri eventually wants to become a pilot in the U.S. Navy and plans to volunteer her time as a pilot for the nonprofit.

Right now, she is in the earliest stages of flying — she just completed her first three-hour lesson last week in pursuit of her personal pilot’s license. The next step will be working on her commercial pilot’s license and hopefully going to the Naval Academy or another quality university for engineering after graduating from Winter Park High next year.

But until then, residents can find Suri in the quiet studio she uses to make the art she loves.

“It calms me down,” Suri said. “It helps me get more focused and especially since I go weekly — things get so crazy during the week and so busy — that it’s kind of an outlet for me. I just find it really relaxing.”