Hi, I’m Ella! My mom gave me the middle name Tigerlily, so I use it as a nom de plume. I am an artist from Omaha, NE. I am currently a sophomore majoring in Art at the University of Oregon. I have been drawing and painting since I was young, and I plan to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Art in Metalsmithing and Jewelry making.

All the works on this site are from the past 4 years. I do creative work for Thunderegg Records and illustrate for Align Magazine at the U of O. My work has been exhibited at the Audubon Society of Omaha Student Art Contest, Scholastic Art and Writing Awards, Kent Bellows Exhibitions, the Inaugural Art Porch at Porch Fest Omaha, Hot Shops Art Center, Roberta and Bob Rogers Gallery, and Rhode Island School of Design Pre-College Exhibitions. I have been nominated for Best Youth Visual Artist at the Omaha Arts and Entertainment Awards, and my pieces have been recipients of Gold and Silver Keys at the Scholastic Art and Writing Awards and Best in Show for the Audubon Society Student Art Contest.

I started out drawing birds for Audubon Society competitions and portraits of my friends, always chasing likeness. It took years before I understood that letting go of the final rendering in my head was where the real work began. Now I commit myself to process and material: I have stenciled graphite powder through lace, woven paper, airbrushed on knit, and cast letters in wax. A soft sculpture of a tiger lily with a yellow sneaker nestled among the petals came out of the same instinct as a sterling silver cuff stamped with text and hung with cast bead clusters. I follow the material until it tells me something.

Most recently that instinct has led me to metalsmithing and wearable art. I design my own fonts, source poetry from my English major sister, and find ways to make language into an image rather than just a message. I am obsessed with the idea that the things I consume daily, the characters I play as, the brands I wear, the memes and poems I read, form who I am and deserve to be taken seriously as subject matter. My Mario Kart characters rendered in oil inside a greenhouse interior, my brass letter pendant layered with botanical and creature details, my graphite portrait where lace left its pattern across a face: all of it comes from the same place. I want to represent my experience honestly, in whatever material is in front of me.