9 minute read
A Work of Heart
BY ANDREW STILWELL // PHOTOS BY TAYLOR MORENO
Taylor Moreno’s mother has helped influence her artistic endeavors
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When watching Taylor Moreno in the cage as a goalkeeper for the Carolina women’s lacrosse team, it might be cliché to say that it’s like watching an artist practicing her craft. In reality, there’s actually a lot more truth to that statement than you might realize.
“Art is something that takes patience and time and the right technique, and lacrosse, especially my position as a goalie, is very technique-based,” said Moreno, a senior from Huntington, N.Y. “It takes a lot of time and patience to work through. I think understanding that it’s not always going to be perfect in art or lacrosse. Goals are going to be scored and things are going to happen because lacrosse is a game of runs. But at the end of the day, you have the ability to erase that pencil mark you made and redraw it better than you did before.”
Moreno grew up in an artistic household. Her mom, Terry, was a graphic designer before becoming a freelance artist in 1991. Needless to say, Taylor was constantly surrounded by art and creativity growing up, and has continued her love of being creative into her college years.
“Whether it was a coloring book and a box of crayons or markers or a trip to Michael’s craft store, my mom would always immerse us in that realm of those kinds of things that she loved,” Taylor said. “Even with school projects, I’d ask my mom to help me and she would always throw her creative side in there.”
In high school, Moreno was a multi-sport athlete, but took just as much pride contributing to her team off the playing field as she did while on it. In high school, she not only played basketball, but also designed her team’s sweatshirts.
“I was asked to design the sweatshirts we were getting for the team, and I would come up with an idea and go back and forth with the team until everyone liked it,” she said. “I remember that being a huge component of playing sports in high school; not only contributing on the field or the court, but also using my artistic abilities to contribute off the field with clothing or posters and things like that.”
A self-described “sneakerhead,” Moreno began experimenting with a new form of artistic media in high school, custom shoes, which she still paints to this day.
“I saw a post on social media where people were painting on shoes, and I thought it would be something cool that I could try,” she said. “As someone who typically wanted to keep their sneakers nice and clean, taking an all-white pair of sneakers and then touching my paint brush to it, it kind of hurt me just
a little. But after I did the first pair, I really realized I could eventually take this somewhere.”
Her first pair of painted sneakers, a pair of Nike Roshes themed to her club lacrosse team, set the tone for her artistic endeavors. Taylor still receives messages from family and friends asking if she paints shoes, and she recently completed a pair of shoes for the Diamond Heels’ Joey Lancellotti – a UNC themed crossover with one of his favorite comic book characters, The Joker.
In addition to painting shoes, Moreno also paints canvases, notably silhouettes of her teammates, which she refers to as her “signature” style.
“I knew I wanted to do something sports-related but also that wouldn’t take a long time,” she said. “There was actually a technique I learned in eighth grade that I still use today, but has really evolved for me over time. I’ve improved my painting skills, but also the way that I map it out beforehand in the graphic design realm. Now I can create canvas prints with much more detail than I would have probably been able to draw out and paint freehand, especially in a short time frame.”
EQUALITY
Prior to the current lacrosse season, Taylor was given one of her most important projects to date, a design for the women’s lacrosse team’s pre-game warm-up shirts, the product of a team Zoom call that focused on a variety of issues facing the world today. Following the call, head coach Jenny Levy asked Moreno if she had been taking notes and was ready to design the shirt. The answer was a resounding yes.
“I think that the big thing that came from that Zoom call was that while we all believe in what was going on at that time and the world was important and deserves attention, I think we all also saw an opportunity to shed light on a lot of other topics that are important to our team,” Moreno recalled. “I think once we kind of sat down and laid out the different topics in the different social causes that were important to people, it made it a lot easier for us to pick the aspects that we wanted to have featured.”
When the final product was unveiled, it was an honor for Taylor, not just because her teammates trusted her to create the design, but also because of the causes to which the shirt continues to bring awareness.
“It really meant a lot to me, knowing that my team had the faith in me to create such an important design for our team and believed in me enough to come up with the concept. It’s a huge honor,” she said.
A “GINORMOUS” PROJECT
However, it’s not just shoes, canvases or apparel that Moreno creates. Recently, Taylor was tasked with creating a mural for the lacrosse tunnel at Dorrance Field, her largest project to date. The tunnel mural, in her own words, was “ginormous.” Having never painted anything quite that large, she called in for some advice from one of her favorite artists: her mom.
“I called my mom and was like, ‘I have no idea how to approach this. I don’t know how I should do it,’” Moreno recalled. “She walked me through a lot of the strategies she used when she was doing paintings and larger murals when I was younger.”
Terry was ready for the call, and eager not only to give advice, but also provide support.
“A lot of it was technical advice, and a lot of it just was how to execute the painting itself on a large scale,” she said. “The other part of it was more of a supportive aspect. It’s a daunting task to create and execute large murals on a regular day. She
was doing this all on her own. I know she had her teammates that were helping her, but I wanted to keep her motivated, positive, and confident that she could pull it off, and she did.”
The mural took about a week to complete, and Moreno was grateful for her mother’s expertise and support.
“If I hadn’t had her to walk me through and explain to me how I should approach it, I definitely don’t think it would have come out the way it came out,” she said.
A WORK OF HEART
The mother-daughter duo stay in close contact when it comes to discussion regarding art.
“Taylor will call and ask, ‘What do you think of this?’ or ‘How would I pull this off?’ It is very cool to have those professional conversations with her on that respect,” Terry said. “She is very good about calling and asking for advice. I’ll call her and say, ‘This is what I am working on now,’ and ‘What do you think about this?’ She will give me advice and her opinion. It’s a great give-and-go.”
When asked about Taylor’s artistic pursuits combined with her success on the lacrosse field, it was easy for Terry to gush about her daughter.
“It makes my heart glow because art has always been an important aspect of my life. It was always my hope that my children would find that love of being creative as well,” she said. “To watch Taylor as a little kid, discover her love for art and her love for lacrosse, and just constantly work at and excel in both, I am so proud of her work ethic, her creativity and how she is able to integrate both into two things she is so passionate about.
“Designing those shirts was amazing and doing that mural was just fantastic. It was her way of giving back to what lacrosse has given to her,” she continued. “It is so cool to know that she has integrated her creative side and the methodical, technical side of her with the sport. I am just amazed that she’s made that connection and makes it work.”
Home and Away
MMy mom, Sharon Jackson, has had an incredible impact in my life for so many reasons.
My story is a little different, because I was home schooled throughout high school. She was always making sure we were on top of our schoolwork before we did anything else, which prepared me for college and life in general.
She has always encouraged me to be myself and who I am no matter where I am or what I’m doing, which has translated into me being able to do that now as an adult.
I think the best thing she ever did for me was lay the foundation of who God is and what it looks like to have faith. When I got older and built my own relationship with God, I already had the right foundation.
Then let’s go to the basketball court. She wouldn’t let me shoot any three-pointers until I was strong enough to shoot with the right form. She taught me all the fundamentals of basketball and made sure to always focus on those even as I got older.
Another basketball aspect she helped me with was the mental side. She’s told me multiple times in my life, “No matter what situation you are in, you can choose to lay down or choose to keep on going.” That has and always will help me in life, on and off the court.
She’s the REAL MVP when it comes to how my life and career has turned out. I cannot thank her enough for what she means to me. “[My mom] wouldn’t let me shoot any three-pointers until I was strong enough to shoot with the right form. She taught me all the fundamentals of basketball and made sure to always focus on those even as I got older.
JUSTIN JACKSON
Men’s Basketball
Illustration by Jason McCorkle
