Our Founders
& Studio Story
Hi Friends,
TaDa! did not come from a trend or a business strategy. It came from obedience, friendship, and a deep understanding of what women are carrying right now. We share a vision for TaDa! that goes beyond paint and parties. We see it as a gathering place. A pause. A moment where women can exhale and feel supported—spiritually, mentally, creatively. A place where wellness isn’t rushed and luxury isn’t loud. It’s thoughtful. It’s intentional. It’s calming.
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Having known each other for over fifteen years, we had crossed paths creatively before. However, there was a rare Divine guiding force in each of our lives that brought us to a fateful conversation. We were seeing the same artistic vision at the same time - we were in alignment. TaDa! When you find someone who shares your faith and your creative vision, you pay attention.
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We realized that as individuals in this world, we are tired. We are isolated. We are overstimulated. We are pouring out constantly with very few places to refill. Finding places to care for our mental wellness isn’t optional anymore. It’s necessary.
When our hands are moving and our minds can finally slow down, something remarkable happens. We breathe differently. We remember ourselves. We soften. And we can share this experience with friends, old and new. What matters most right now isn’t more doing—it’s more community.
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Experiences at TaDa! are not about creating perfect paintings. They are about creating a space where women feel free. Free to show up without performing. Free to sit in beauty without all of the responsibilities. Free to create without pressure. Free to be held by community for a few precious hours.
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TaDa! is a way to build a community of women who value mental wellness, creativity, and freedom - a community rooted in care. The kind that reminds us that we are not alone, we are not invisible, and we are allowed to receive.
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TaDa! is not a luxury — it is a necessity built with love, faith, and the belief that when women are restored, everything we touch is better for it. Create freely. Arrive fully. Leave restored.
Tammy Groves
Tammy Groves is an artist, designer, photographer, author, and illustrator—and a daughter of Memphis. Raised in North and Midtown Memphis, she grew up surrounded by story, color, and soul. From her earliest days, she was a maker—coloring, building, experimenting, and figuring things out. Art was never separate from life; it was how she learned the world. She loved creating it, witnessing it, touching it, and learning about artists who came before her.
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Color has always spoken to her. Bright, vibrant hues first captivated her with their electricity—their power to draw you in and hold you there. Watercolor became her early love, fluid and luminous, moving like feeling across the page. Acrylics followed, awakening a deeper passion: bold, saturated color layered with intention and joy.
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In high school, her art teacher recognized what Tammy already knew—that art was her language—and encouraged her toward art school. Practicality, however, led her down another path. She earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of Memphis, carrying with her a desire to change the world through love, compassion, and connection.
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For more than thirty years, Tammy lived between two worlds. By day, she was a creative thought leader and strategist in corporate America for a Fortune 100 company. By night, she lived and worked as an artist—painting, designing, photographing, illustrating, and writing, always creating, always dreaming. Teaching art became as essential as making it, a way to share its healing energy and open space for others. Eventually, she listened to the quiet insistence of her calling. She set down her laptop and badge, and picked up her brushes. Today, she is painting her next life as an artist and curator of creative experiences.
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Tammy believes art is a catalyst—something that stirs the spirit and opens the heart. Her work radiates joy through vibrant color and expressive form, celebrating love in all its manifestations. It reflects her deep belief in unity and shared humanity, honoring diversity across race, culture, and experience, because we are—without question—better together.
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Her hope is to inspire young people—especially girls—to see themselves as powerful, capable, and limitless. Her purpose is to share her light through creativity and color, and to leave the world changed in small but meaningful ways: one work of art at a time, one heart at a time, one moment at a time.
Darlene Newman
For more than two decades, Darlene Newman has captured relatable subject matter through lively, stylized human forms and bright, expressive acrylic color. Her work mixes humor with positive imagery, bringing everyday moments to life with movement, warmth, and whimsy.
Darlene began drawing at the age of three, imagining every future she might one day have through drawings on her schoolwork. Though art wasn’t part of her formal education early on, she rediscovered it as a senior in high school while searching for relief and mental freedom in an intense college-prep environment. That single art class changed her path. After assisting with set designs and having her work displayed at the National Civil Rights Museum, her art teacher encouraged her to consider art professionally.
Inspired by her grandmother’s example of entrepreneurship and determined to build something of her own, Darlene shifted from plans of becoming a biomedical engineer and pursued a dual bachelor’s degree in Business Management and the Arts from Dillard University, followed by an MFA in Illustration from the Savannah College of Art and Design. This blend of creative training and business foundation continues to shape both her artwork and the spaces she creates for others.
Her illustration work includes features in The Wall Street Journal, nine children’s books, and numerous book covers. Expanding beyond still imagery, Darlene is also the creator of the animated series Orange Mound Bound, which has aired publicly on YouTube.
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Collectors from California to New York and in Singapore have opened their homes as permanent spaces for her work. Her art has been exhibited in formal and unconventional galleries in New Orleans, Atlanta, Memphis, Cordova, Oklahoma, and at the Tennessee Arts Commission Gallery in Nashville. Her work lives permanently at the National Civil Rights Museum, Memphis Public Library branches, STAX Academy, and other impactful community spaces. Her artwork was also licensed by My Cup of Tea for 500 tea box reproductions benefiting women working in Orange Mound.
Since 2010, Darlene has facilitated group Art as Therapy sessions, and since 2015, paint parties that welcome participants from preschool age to 107 years old. These experiences confirmed what she had felt since that first high-school art class: that creativity is a powerful tool for peace, connection, and restoration.
TaDa! was created from this belief. It is a refuge and a reset for people living full, demanding lives—offering space to breathe, create, and reconnect with self. Through her murals, community collaborations with RiverArts Fest, and public art commissions throughout Memphis, Darlene continues to fulfill her Divine purpose as a creator. She was a finalist for the Emmett Award for Artistic Inspiration and donates her work annually to support charitable organizations.
She can be found on Instagram at @DarlenesArt.