Lily Sheppard (b. 2001) is an interdisciplinary artist working across textile arts, ceramics, printmaking, and digital media. Raised in Appalachia between eastern Kentucky and southwestern Virginia, Sheppard grew up in a small rural community of roughly 1,300 people, moving between Clintwood, Virginia, and Oregon throughout childhood. Community-based quilting and exposure to utilitarian Southern craft traditions played a formative role in their artistic development, reinforcing a deep connection between making and care.

Sheppard’s work draws heavily from natural and folkloric imagery, particularly insects, birds (such as pigeons and corvids), and celestial motifs inspired by quilting patterns. Textiles remain a primary medium due to their familiarity and personal significance. Recent work includes woodcut prints on textiles, pyrography, jewelry, ceramics, and polymer media. Guided by curiosity and experimentation, Sheppard’s practice moves fluidly between mediums, grounded in a love of narrative, craft, and the natural world.