A Whimsical Painting Honors Wonderland’s Work With Families
Does your work inspire you to create a painting?
At Wonderland, our caring practitioners have multiple talents, often volunteering to go above and beyond their job descriptions. Meet Lily Wisner, our early-intervention special educator, who expressed her experience of working with Wonderland families through an artistic interpretation of our logo.
Wonderland strives to help children of all abilities reach their full potential and to support families through their journeys. Last year during our rebranding efforts, we redesigned our logo as a colorful tree to reflect this mission and the diversity of our services.
Lily’s acrylic painting, titled “Honoring Roots. Nourishing Growth,” shows a beautiful landscape with colorful trees that resemble our logo. At first glance, it looks like a set of three whimsical trees of different sizes. But a closer look reveals a deeper meaning–the trees are connected by a vast network of roots. The large tree represents Wonderland with its deep and strong roots extending to reach the roots of the smaller trees.
The smaller trees represent a family supported by Wonderland. If you look even closer, you will see a tiny baby tree nestled between the parent trees with their leaves protecting its brand new foliage. Look closer yet, and you will see that the roots of all four trees form a little heart, symbolizing Wonderland’s nourishing foundation that allows families to grow and thrive. The painting is stunning in its colors, expression, and deep meaning. We proudly display this inspiring piece at our new location at Wonderland NE for all to see!
Lily joined Wonderland less than a year ago after moving to Seattle from New Mexico. Prior to Wonderland, she worked as a special educat
or in the K-5 classroom setting.
Lily began painting in middle school, inspired by her mother’s artwork on the walls of their house. Without having any formal lessons in art, she simply borrowed her mom’s canvas and began experimenting and has been painting ever since, specializing in landscapes, pet portraits, and whimsical art.
Growing up, Lily has experienced the diversity of the world while living in different countries. Her father, an army chaplain, was frequently relocated for his job, and her mom worked as a nurse practitioner at the base. Influenced by her parents, Lily has always naturally gravitated toward roles where she could help others, tutoring or babysitting during school and college.
She became a passionate advocate for special education in high school. While tutoring a sophomore student in special education classes, she realized that due to an assumption, he was placed in an inappropriate educational setting. Nobody advocated on his behalf or provided him with opportunities to succeed in school. His placement didn’t meet his educational needs, leaving him bored and unmotivated. Lily’s tutoring helped him achieve his full potential and successfully graduate from high school, becoming the most improved student of the year. This experience made her realize the importance of effective diagnosis and support for students and inspired her to become a special educator.
Lily went on to receive a bachelor’s degree in special education and elementary literacy with minors in early childhood education and history at New Mexico State University. And Jacob, the boy she tutored in high school, became a successful electrical technician. They are happily married now.
Wonderland allows Lily to put to work her best skills – she loves being able to make a real impact on children and families and watching children make progress in their development. We are grateful to have Lily and her talents on our team!
