My Game: Lacrosse midfielder Ashlin Dolan

Dec. 11, 2015

By Dana Reynolds

Ashlin Dolan is a midfielder on the lacrosse team from Morristown, N.J. After spending a week in Cuba with Ashlin Dolan, it’s obvious to see that she sees the world a lot differently than your average Vanderbilt student. From the moment she arrived in Miami completely unfazed by her lack of luggage, it was clear she was one of the most easygoing young women you’d ever meet. Being sidelined her entire sophomore season with a concussion gave her a unique look at her time as a student-athlete and reinforced her love of art and branding.

Commodore Nation: Tell us a bit about your major – studio art, corporate strategy, cinema and media art.

Ashlin Dolan: For a long time I did art in high school and I really loved it. When I came to Vanderbilt I didn’t really know what I wanted to major in and I really didn’t think art would be an option for me because it is really hard with scheduling and practice and things like that. By the time sophomore year rolled around, I had taken some film classes and I thought I definitely want to minor in that. Then I ended up sticking with art. It was really great. When I got injured my sophomore year, by taking a fifth year I’ll have time to do everything I wanted to do and get everything in because it is hard to fit classes. So, yeah, I’m really happy about that and I painted a lot in high school. Since I’ve been here I’ve taken more screen printing classes. They require that you do everything so it has been great for me to experience other things. I’m in photography right now. But, yeah, it has been good.

High school is when you really discovered your passion?

I’ve always loved art. I did a lot of arts and crafts when I was little. I think I get my dexterity from my mom and probably my creative mind more from my dad. I really liked it in high school. My high school had a pretty good art program. It was nice going to boarding school because everything was there and I could go into the art building late at night. So I had access to a lot of stuff, which was great. But here the resources are unlimited and I can swipe into the art building whenever I want. It has been awesome.

You’re into painting, but you’ve also been introduced to screen printing?

This is the only time I’ve been able to take painting because our fall (lacrosse) schedule is different. But taking other classes, like taking screen printing has taught me more about other mediums and learning that I’ve been able to apply that to painting. It is good to be versed in everything.

So you have a blog called The Phat Ash. What made you want to start a blog? What is your inspiration?

That is a tough question. I started it last year. I had been concussed the entire year. I was getting back into my life and getting back into the swing of practice and doing a lot of art. Having my concussion ended up being a rewarding experience for me because I learned a lot about myself. I had to find other things that interested me. Art was one of those things, and social media and blogging. Originally, I would do my blog on road trips. It was an outlet for me to cope with things I was dealing with. I found myself being Type B and a lot of people I surrounded myself with Type A. So it was a way for me to cope with things I encountered in my life and giving advice to other people based on things I was encountering. It also started because in applying for jobs and internships, I wanted to have a forum to exhibit my art and exhibit my creative impulses. That is how the platform started. I got more and more into it. I realized I was really passionate about fashion and graphic design and branding when I was a sophomore in college. I would walk around the mall by myself. I’d walk by Tori Burch and I remember thinking this is so cool that someone can create this from the ground up. It is not anything else but about the design. I wanted to create a specific brand for me.

It seems like there is a lot of New York City influence in your blog? You spent last summer there?

It was a really good experience for me. I think people look down on retail. I think it is so important to see the sales side of a business like that. The corporate and the brand I worked for is a London based brand, so their corporate is very far away and they only have two stores in the U.S. They are smaller in the U.S., but it was interesting to see what happened on our end that they didn’t necessarily know about, things like that. It was a really good experience from a brand perspective and for someone who wants to eventually start their own business.

You went to Cuba in July with Soles4Souls and several of your Vanderbilt student-athletes on an international service trip. Was that inspiring?

That was definitely really inspiring. It is one of those experiences you have to step away from to process it a little bit. I thought the art we saw was pretty incredible. Our first drop with the shoes was at an art school. Seeing that art was so amazing. You could see the society freeze a little bit in time. But (art) like that doesn’t really. Art is independent of the economy. If I could travel, this is a place I would want to go. I wish I spoke Spanish because I wish I could have communicated with them a little better. The art in Cuba is amazing. I wish we were there longer so I could have seen more of it.

Your luggage was lost on the trip. How did that shape your experience?

I love stuff like that. It doesn’t really bother me. I’m the kind of person that I just roll with the punches. I went to summer camp when I was little and I didn’t shower for a month. (Laughs) A week is not going to kill me. I’m totally good. It was also great because you get close with people. People offer you clothes. It connects you to people in a weird way. You also realize you don’t really need much ever. One of my professors this year, you are born creative and you are born happy. Everything else that happens in your life makes you feel a different way. The more factors you have in your life that is over stimulating you that is what puts you in a bad mood or something. And my luggage was really light (laughs), so that was huge for me, too. I didn’t really have to carry anything around. It was fine. My clothes smelt terrible by the end of the trip. Whatever. It doesn’t matter.