About Me
I grew up with my mother in Soho, NYC. She worked as a retail store designer, as well as running her own design studio focusing on carpets, furniture, landscaping, and her Buddhism-inspired art. My mother told me I was first introduced to art and design as a baby because she would bring me to her design projects and art galleries. My appreciation for the arts continued to grow as I explored what art and mindfulness meant to me. I started to contribute to her creative projects whether that was during the brainstorming stage or putting up window displays during late nights. I am fortunate to have grown up in an artistic community because I was able to explore the arts at a young age. At Northampton Community College, I majored in Marketing. I thrived in courses focusing on business communication, management, computer graphics, and basic website design using html/css. I transferred to Evergreen because I wanted to continue to build my skills and have more creative freedom. This led to an academic focus on Mindful Leadership and the Arts.
Graphic Designer & Ceramicist
My interest in Outdoor Recreation businesses started when I was working as a ski instructor and on a group project in Principles of Marketing. The assignment was to pitch a new idea to an existing company; for this project, we pitched the idea of a snow jacket with a lightweight, flexible solar panel. This would allow the wearer to have constant battery life and extra warmth. I continued to explore Outdoor Recreation at Evergreen in Sarah Meyer’s Supervisor Certificate and Lynarra J. Featherly’s Graphic Design Fundamentals Certificate. During the Supervisor Certificate, I dedicated the assignments to gaining the skills needed to take the next step in Ski and Ride Schools. I developed a Kirkpatrick training plan for new instructors using e-learning modules from PSIA and AASI, Diversity and Inclusion Initiative, and a job description for a ski and ride school leadership assistant.
“I was impressed with Tiger Lily's inter-personal and communication skills. Both written and verbal communications were professional, thoughtful, clear, and efficient at delivering key messages. Tiger Lily sought out feedback on course work several times and embodies the ‘growth mindset’ that Supervisors need to be successful” (Sayer Meyer, Spring 2023).
A huge part of leadership for me is mindfulness and how to incorporate it in business, such as practicing breathing techniques in a work meeting. My mindfulness toolbox continued to grow in Transforming Destructive Emotions, Mindbody Medicine, and Writing Trauma. In my graphic design course, I created a brand called Wild Woman Tours, which focuses on creating a safe environment to be able to explore in nature together and build new connections. Working on this brand allowed me to explore how mindfulness works with business.
Ceramics started as a mindful activity to add to my courseload, but it became a passion. I was first introduced to ceramics during an afterschool program at The Children’s Aid Society in NYC. I continued to learn the craft during Camp Dunnabeck at Kildonan and my senior year at Pocono Mountain East High School. I have taken two years of ceramic courses with Bruce A. Thompson. I have learned a wide range of strong ceramic skills. Such as creating functional pieces, whether hand-built or thrown sculptural pieces, and mixing glazes. While creating separate pieces, I questioned their cohesiveness during the surfacing process. How do these pieces look together? I found that I liked to paint on designs (floral, line work, and art deco) using color slip rather than dipping the piece in a glaze color. Slip allowed me to use the ceramic surface like painting on a canvas.
During Spring 2024, Bruce assigned the Ceramic Intermediate and Advance class to create a lamp. I created a cobalt blue multi-tiered lamp with cut-out circles. Rather than a traditional lamp, I wanted the light to escape from the piece, creating a modern-inspired Moroccan lamp. I found an interest in creating lamps because they can be sculptural yet functional simultaneously. For my senior quarter (Fall 2024), I was inspired by my first lamp, which sparked the creation of another lamp, which is a 25-inch-tall multi-tiered base surfaced with a pink and green geometrical mosaic pattern.
“Tiger Lily is a talented artist with strong design concepts. She has been able to effectively combine this with an intuitive approach to the craft, creating compelling three-dimensional ceramic works” (Bruce Thompson, 2024).
Ceramics is a creative outlook for me.
My goal is to incorporate art and mindfulness into my life and the lives of others.