BIOGRAPHY
Freelance Artist
Before Tara became an artist, she always had an affinity for colors, a knack for drawing, and a passion for crafting visions for the eye since she was a young child. Originally from Kansas City, MO and now a resident of West Chester, PA, since she was four years old when her parents noticed her talent and eventually became enrolled in art classes at the local church. However, her youth took an unexpected and life-changing turn.
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At that young age, Tara was involved in a home explosion that took the life of her beloved father, and injured both she and her mother. This resulted in years of hospitalizations due to the burns she sustained, and the loss of fingers, legs, and hearing. She was sustained through these horrific years as a recovering burn survivor by the ability to express herself through her art. This passion for art has sustained her through the many struggles in life which resulted from the explosion.
Art has been there for her through her own personal healing journey. Inspired by fantasy and dreams, she paint images that depict a sense of spirituality and faith—whether through the representation of a figure, portrait, or landscape. Motifs of graceful angels and decorative symbols come up frequently in her work to embody a spiritual narrative around empathy and connection. Feeling emotions through art is a way of finding balance, beauty, peace, and freedom within the edges of the image and beyond.
These paintings would range in scale from small to medium. She work on wood and canvas panels, and in oil and acrylic. As an artist with disabilities, she find having ready-made panels to work with facilitates the ease of her studio practice. She also enjoy the slick surface quality of panel, which she will often sand down for even smoother textures. The sleek surface lends itself well to her smooth, photographic painting style. She also often incorporate shimmery, metallic colors in her paintings in order to embellish the decorative elements of a portrait and accentuate a sense of spiritualism.
As a female artist with disabilities, Tara uses her art as a platform for sharing and embodying beauty, healing, and empowerment. She wants her work to be restorative and uplifting for those who have undergone and overcome challenges within their lives. Personal struggles and mental health issues are as complex and varied as the people who carry them. They don’t take on one given form or look a certain way. No matter what the story may be or difficulties that are lived through, her hope is that her paintings offer those struggling a moment, however brief, to feel, cry, laugh, smile—to just be who they are, as they are. That is what art has allowed for her. It’s given her the framework to grieve and to carve out space for a happy future ahead.
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Education
2019—2025 BFA, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
August 2017 – May 2018 – BFA (candidate), University of North Texas, Denton, TX 76203
Group Exhibits
2024 — Artist of three pieces: Souls Calling Home to Forest Mystery, Legacy of Hogwarts, and
Anguish Woman, May Group Show, West Chester, PA
2023 — Artist of two pieces: Mountains of the River and Falling Feathers, Grayscale Show,
West Chester, PA
Artist of three pieces: Dark Mysteries World, Dia De Los Muertos (Day of the Dead),
and Halloween Town of Awakening, Mischief Monsters & Myths, West Chester, PA
Artist of three pieces: Phoenix Reborn, Scarlet Macaw Angel, and Elysian, Group Show, West Chester, PA
2019 — Artist: Sacred Hoop of Eagle Kachina, Human Animal Hybrids, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA
2010 — Vase and Glass Object Display, Oil Paint, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
Dimensional Japanese Hall, Watercolor, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
2009 — Greek Temple Lost in the Sand, Park Hill Festival, Kansas City, MO
Eagle, Sketch Drawing, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
2008 — Collection Wolves in the Snow Mountains, Park Hill Festival, Kansas City, MO
2007 — Angry Wolf, Scratch Black Paper, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
Awards
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2025 — The Earl T. Donelson Figure Painting Award (1st Place), PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
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2025 — The Seymour Remenick Memorial Prize, PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
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2025 — Fine Arts Venture Fund Recipient, PAFA, Philadelphia, PA
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2009 — Dimensional Japanese Hall, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
2006 — Gothic Chains, 2nd Place Drawing, Park Hill Art Festival, Kansas City, MO
Collaborative Projects
2019 — Human Animal Hybrids Exhibition, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia,
PA
Skills
· Freelance and commission artist, focusing on portrait painting.
· Accomplished representational drawing and painting skills.
· Portrait and landscape digital photographer; skills based in printing and
commissioning photographs.
· Experienced with using Photoshop for photo design and reference material editing.
· Well-versed with lighting equipment for artwork photo shoots.