Tara grew up in a small coal mining town in Green County Pennsylvania. Although she spent her childhood on the east coast, most of her professional career was on the west coast of the United States and, more recently, in Munich, Germany.

As a child, she knew she wanted to be an artist, and she began her creative journey using her favorite medium: drawing with pencil and paper. Over time, she incorporated additional tools such as sculpting with papier-mâché and clay, as well as programming and electronics, to create diverse artistic outputs.

Tara has professionally contributed to teams creating audio-animatronics for Disney’s theme parks, developing advertising for e-commerce clients, and contributing to CG and visual effects in films such as Pixar’s ‘Luca,’ Marvel’s ‘Doctor Strange into the Multiverse of Madness,’ ‘She-Hulk,’ and, most recently, ‘The Marvels.’

Despite her engagement in large-scale projects, her favorite projects include crafting custom Halloween costumes for both herself and her husband, and bringing joy to her seven nieces and nephews at her family’s annual Halloween party.

She holds a BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, and an MFA from Digipen Institute of Technology in Seattle, WA. She is currently earning an online Masters of Science in Computer Science degree from Drexel University. Today, she works at Trixter, a Visual FX and animation studio in Munich, Germany as the Head of the VFX Pipeline.

Disclaimer
The California Arts Project is providing this free video podcast program as a public service. Reference to any specific product or entity does not constitute an endorsement or recommendation by The California Arts Project. The views expressed in the podcast may not be those of the host or The California Arts Project and their appearance on the program does not imply an endorsement of them or any entity they represent.