Waves crashing. A boat swaying. The skies turned from oranges tints to dark blue.

The first thing you notice from Coppell High School junior Jai Sri Lasya Komirisetty’s painting, “Adapting to Change.”

Komirisetty’s hosted Science Through Art, offering free workshops teaching youth how the human body works through drawing.

So one day while prepping for the workshop, she checked the results of the Wyland National Art and Classroom Mural Challenge for ocean protection. The same transitioning skies and swaying waves painting.

She opened the page. First place in the nation among 11th graders

“I was so surprised,” Komirisetty said. “It’s something I do to relieve my stress so it’s amazing that it’s good for some other people. I’m raising awareness of the ocean and helping the world in a good way.”

To most classmates and teachers, Komirisetty is quiet, reserved and super smart. However, there is more to her than what meets the surface.

Her love for art.

One of the few she shares her creative passion with is CHS French teacher Nathalie Deines.

“When she showed me a painting, it was like a professional artist,” Deines said. “I would have bought the painting because it was so good.”

Art isn’t a hobby she developed overnight.

It all started with a kindergarten drawing of a girl with lifelike eyes.

“The eyes assured me,” Lasya’s mother, Padmaja Komirisetty, said. “That’s the time when I realized she had a talent.”

Her parents signed her up for art classes at age 5. She attempted many forms, such as pencil, acrylics and paint.

In second grade, her family moved from Andhra Pradesh, India to Johannesburg, South Africa.

Komirisetty learned Afrikaans, the national language, and Zulu, the regional language. Both are languages she never heard in India.

“It was really hard at first,” Lasya said. “I needed to catch up to their level.”

Whenever Komirisetty was under pressure either from adapting to the change, she turned to art or Kutchipudi, a South Indian dance form she studied since childhood.

“I use art and dance as an expression of releasing that stress whenever I am in those situations,” Lasya said.

Her new life and environment changed Lasya’s art as well. The views and landscapes all motivated her to try new styles. While living in South Africa, she went on a safari with lions, inspiring her to make the piece “Power in stillness.”

“If you put her in a forest, she can adapt to the forest,” Lasya’s father, Prasad Komirisetty said. “She’s very quick in learning things.”

In 2023, the family moved to Coppell and Lasya went to Coppell High School Ninth Grade Campus.

Even after moving away from Lasya’s inspirational ocean and animals, she found new inspirations.

The Wyland National Art and Classroom Mural Challenge seeks contestant’s art with a theme of ocean protection. Lasya decided to make “Adapting to Change,” portraying the ocean as peaceful without pollution.

“Saving our seas is a big difference from what we are doing right now,” Lasya said.

Lasya uses her art and passion to help others. She founded the nonprofit STEM & Smiles about cancer awareness through STEM and art.

As a part of STEM & Smiles, Lasya hosted Science Through Art, offering free workshops teaching youth how the human body works through drawing.

“Instead of just learning about organs from diagrams, we actually got to draw them and then turn them into surrealistic art that felt meaningful and personal,” CHS9 student Deva Sri Ananya Vempali said. “It didn’t matter if you were younger or older, since everyone could work at their own level. It was really fun seeing how the same organ could turn into a completely different artwork depending on the person and give deeper, a more unique-to-self meaning.”

Lasya makes sure all her students get the guidance they need.

“She makes everyone feel comfortable,” Mrs. Komirisetty said. “The way she teaches the small kids and big kids are different for their level.”

As Lasya goes through college and beyond, art will continue to be a constant to support her through whatever she goes .

“From the time she started, you can see the improvement,” Deines said. “Now it’s professional work. I think the sky is the limit.”

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