In May, Tamara Vogrin Tara logged over 90 volunteer hours at Birdneck Elementary School in Virginia Beach. She spent four to seven hours a day working in the school’s library, but she wasn’t reading to the kids or checking out library books. In fact, she didn’t even see the students because her volunteer hours started after school once the kids left the building.
She came dressed in an artist’s smock, with a paint brush and a rainbow of paint colors. Tara, a Slovenian artist in the United States for four years because her husband works for NATO, recently decorated the library walls with a colorful mural. During her 30-year painting career, Tara has received international recognition for her large scale portraits of famous musicians, actors, families and friends.
Her art has been exhibited in solo exhibitions and in museums in various countries. The accomplished artist wanted to use her creative talents to give back to the community, so she reached out to Kate Pittman, executive director of the ViBe Creative District. Pittman connected her with Birdneck Elementary School.
The school was looking for someone to paint a mural in its library. After holding a meeting to collect ideas from the school staff, Tara provided a sketch of her proposed mural. “The mural sketch was unbelievable,” said Karla Young, Birdneck’s principal.
“It was vibrant, imaginative and lifelike.” Tara designed a fantasy composition inspired by the books found inside a library. “Everything.
