In 2002, Tara Bentinck left the E R Burrowes School of Art with the outstanding honour of Best Graduating Student. Her work has always been regarded as magnificent, whether portrayed on fabric, ceramics or canvas, and work always made statements. Today, people from across the globe are fascinated.
Tara grew up in Golden Grove on the East Bank Demerara and attended Grove Primary School and then Friendship Community High. Her love for art began before she started nursery school, as her parents would buy her paints and she would create. She had no access to playdough but was very imaginative and would use mud to make herself tiny mud fishes, mud people and even pots and spoons. She used long mangoes to make dolls. After the fruit was eaten, the fuzz that was left was used at the doll’s hair, then she worked her way into making the face of the doll.
“My mother used to work at the National Printers and she would bring home the paper ends that were discarded for me to use… even today she makes little booklets out of them for me to draw on,” said Tara producing a mini-sized booklet and another one a little bigger from her desk.