CHESTER – From a young age, Tallie Frost knew she was an artist. It’s how she saw herself.
As a child, she dreamed of becoming a cartoonist, but over time, her goals shifted. She joined the military and spent six years serving in the Army National Guard, but her desire to express herself creatively never vanished.
When the time came to re-enlist, Frost, a Memphis, Tenn., native now living in Chesterfield, chose to transition out of the military. With the encouragement of those around her, she also decided to pursue her lifelong interest in art.
“It was a combination of my father and husband that steered me back on the path to learning to become an artist,” she said. “I can never thank them enough for that.”
Frost’s journey brought her to John Tyler Community College, where she enrolled in the Visual Arts program. Though her classes differ and the mediums change, Frost says one thing remains constant: her source of inspiration, her child, Arianna.
That child takes center stage in Frost’s artwork, “Innocence,” which was recently named the winner of the Foundation Art Award. The charcoal drawing was created from a photograph as part of a class project. “Winning the Foundation Art Award has been surreal,” said Frost. “Words cannot express my gratitude. The thing that has been the most rewarding, though, is the reactions from the community.”
Frost is currently interning at the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts and is just months away from earning her associate degree. After graduating, she plans to continue her education at a four-year college or university. Frost went back to school with the goal of being an art teacher, but she says she believes she can fulfill her childhood dream of becoming an animator.
In addition to Frost, the following students were finalists for the 2018 John Tyler Community College Foundation Art Award: Ryan Bayne, Janet Burgos, Joshua Cloninger, Jack Goolsby, Richard V. Heinzer, Margaret Robinson, and Robert Wynne.
