An Red Breasted Grosbeak that was at the bird feeder

Eileen Young
Dining Service 

Covid Chaos

Eileen Young was born and raised in Northampton.  She has always had an artistic side and felt the need to keep busy by creating. After high school, she wanted to attend art school, but her mother insisted that there is no money in art. Instead, she attended Endicott College and earned a degree in Hotel and Restaurant Management. After college, Eileen moved back to Northampton and accepted a job with Smith’s Dining Services. She has been at Smith for 35 years and currently serves as a Dining Room Coordinator. 

Eileen’s cat, Matilda

Outside of work, Eileen enjoys walking, gardening, golfing, and spending time with family and friends.  She also uses her time away from work to explore her many creative activities. Those activities include sewing, crocheting, photography, watercolor painting and more!  Eileen continually explores new ways to be artistic. All of the extra time she has had over the past two months due to Covid 19 and self-isolation added fuel to her existing creative side and allowed her to focus on her newest creative outlet.

Still evolving this newest artform involves first taking photographs of various things, including flowers, birds and animals, then taking those photographs and using computer software, to distort and reconfigure them through her own lens. She loves the process of manipulating a picture into something different, unique, and enjoyable to look at.

Flowers in Smith’s botanical gardens

Eileen named the collection “Covid Chaos” in reference to the fears, uncertainties, and joblessness that is swirling around us. “Like in the art work,” she says, “Everything is just out of control.”