APOPKA, Fla. — While many people search for their purpose in life, fewer have as clear of a vision as a young woman in Apopka.
And now, Delia Miller is combining her appreciation of art, concern for the environment and passion for aviation in a Black History Month-fueled project, planning to fly herself from state to state in a small plane in order to paint for wildlife centers and sanctuaries for free.
Miller hopes to raise awareness in painting large-scale, conservation-focused murals from south Florida to Madison, WI and Asheville, NC. She said that she wants to inspire others to seek their greater purpose and cultivate interests.
“I wake up every day and feel so excited to go paint, or so excited to go for my flight lesson … if I can make that process easier for anyone, I would be so grateful,” she said.
Miler first realized her appreciation for art as a senior in high school. She pitched the idea of a mural to Apopka Mayor Bryan Nelson and was “shocked” he readily agreed. So, she set to work, researching, sketching and listening to the experiences of by Alonzo Williams, the city’s first Black commissioner, and his brother.
“I’m really embedding those stories and history elements into painting these really large murals and painting into landscape. I think painting and murals is a cool way… Not everyone has the time to be able to go to a museum or the library and delve into this history,” she said, adding, “I feel like the Black history inspiration follows me wherever I take my art.”
But, it would take longer for Miller to realize another passion and how it might shape the course of her life.
Not in love with her path studying engineering at the University of Central Florida, Miller contemplated a change of course. Then, in an airport bathroom she met by chance a young, Black, female airline captain. The encounter spurred Miller to pursue aviation as a career path.
“I never saw anyone who looked like that, looked like me as an airline pilot. So, of course I asked her a million questions and was surprised she took the time to talk to me,” she said.
Miller’s passion for planes took off with a Discovery Flight. She enrolled in flying lessons and joined a flying club, soaking in all the knowledge like a sponge in order to pass the test for private pilots’ license, schedule for later this month.
Yet, she remained conflicted about her bigger purpose, until on a recent flight, struck by Florida’s natural beauty, it hit her: She could raise awareness about the fragility of the ecosystem — and the necessity of conservation — with the stroke of her brush. She began calling up wildlife centers and offering to paint murals.
“I found it a little tricky initially to see where art and aviation meet each other and it took intentional searching to find out where my interests collide,” she said.
And though it was field by many things, Miller’s passion project taking flight this Black History Month was especially born of patience, introspection — like Miller finds in her home studio in Apopka — and having the courage to take the first step.
“It is very possible to pursue more than one passion with confidence, especially to show young girls they don’t need to pick one interest,” she said, continuing, “To be able to inspire at least one person, especially a young girl, a Black girl… that they can explore so many fields of the world and the sky is not the limit, literally.”