Tamara Haase Paints Loganville’s Story Across New Library Wall

Visitors to Loganville’s new O’Kelly Memorial Library will be greeted by more than books, technology and expanded community spaces. One of the building’s largest interior walls is becoming a visual celebration of the city itself.

Artist Tamara Haase is creating an expansive mural built around the word “LOGANVILLE,” with scenes from the community’s history and identity painted within and around the oversized letters.

The mural brings together familiar landmarks, local traditions and images that help tell the story of Loganville. Among the scenes are the city’s water tower, Vines Mansion, cattle representing the area’s agricultural heritage, a tribute to Willie D. O’Kelly, a historic newspaper image, Loganville’s celebrated baseball program, the community’s popular car show, a Buncombe, Georgia sign and the Loganville Town Green decorated for America’s 250th anniversary.

A steam locomotive stretches across the lower portion of the mural, adding another connection to the transportation and development history of the area. Flowers, stonework, trees and rolling green scenery tie the individual images together.

Rather than presenting each subject as a separate picture, Haase has worked the scenes into the letters spelling Loganville. The result is a mural that can be appreciated from across the library while rewarding visitors who step closer to study the individual details.

The artwork is especially fitting for a library designed to serve as both a modern public resource and a place where the community’s history can be preserved and shared. The mural gives residents a chance to recognize familiar places while introducing younger visitors and newcomers to stories that helped shape the city.

Haase is the owner of Georgia Brushstrokes and has built a career creating murals and public artwork across the region. Although her work now appears on large walls and in prominent public spaces, her interest in art began during childhood.

“It was always something I found that I was good at as a child,” Haase said in an earlier interview. “I was the student in class where people would look at what I was doing and say, ‘Wow! That looks really good.’”

Those early compliments encouraged her to begin taking serious art lessons from a neighbor several times each week. Haase later attended art school and earned a degree in painting.

Raised in Gwinnett County, she moved to Social Circle at age 16 and graduated from high school in 1988. After spending several years in Washington, she returned to Georgia in 1998. She briefly operated a frame shop near the Covington Square before pursuing more opportunities to use her artistic skills.

One of the projects that helped establish Haase as a mural artist was her first outdoor mural in Mansfield. She has since completed numerous public and commercial projects, including a major mural at the Covington Welcome Center highlighting television programs and movies filmed in and around Newton County.

That mural includes references to “In the Heat of the Night,” “The Dukes of Hazzard,” “The Vampire Diaries,” “Cannonball Run II” and “Gone with the Wind,” along with historic Covington landmarks.

Haase’s work is known for combining multiple scenes into a unified visual story, an approach that is clearly visible in the new Loganville library mural. Historic photographs, buildings, community events and local symbols are blended into one large composition rather than treated as disconnected images.

Her business, Georgia Brushstrokes, also includes seasonal window painting for businesses. Haase has said she enjoys working in public spaces because it allows her to interact with people as the artwork develops.

“It actually beats being in a studio,” she said. “I like talking with people. As they walk by, many times people will strike up a conversation.”

The library mural is still being completed, with equipment, paint and supplies visible beneath the artwork as Haase continues adding details. Even before it is finished, the scale and complexity of the piece make it one of the new building’s defining features.

The new O’Kelly Memorial Library is located at 210 Main Street near the Loganville Town Green. The approximately 10,833-square-foot facility will replace the current library on Conyers Road and provide additional space for children, teens, meetings, technology, programs and community activities.

As the new library prepares to open, Haase’s mural is helping ensure the building reflects the community it was created to serve.

For Haase, the project also represents the continuation of a career that once seemed uncertain.

“I really wish everyone could have the encouragement I did,” she said. “At times, I wondered if being an artist would ever work for me.”

Inside Loganville’s new library, the answer now covers an entire wall.