South Portland resident Tatia DiChiara is creating some unique art from her home, some of which can be found on her lawn in the shape of fishes, bears and puffins.

DiChiara creates fiberglass animals for art displays and businesses across the country. Recently she created a large cow sitting in a coffee cup for the Udder Place in Brunswick and a large fish for a Portland seafood dealer.

DiChiara, originally from Fairfield, has been a full-time artist for more than 10 years. She began her career in Massachusetts painting murals for people’s homes and undertaking commission work. She also taught an art school in her home.

She returned to Maine in 2002 and became involved with the Lighthouses on Parade project, which gave Maine artists the chance to decorate 100 fiberglass lighthouses that were displayed in various locations.

Previously she had never worked with fiberglass, but with the help of her father, William Squires, she was able to successfully design two lighthouses. One was a hockey player for one for the Portland Pirates and the other was a weightlifter.

At first DiChiara thought participating in the Lighthouses on Parade would be a fun project and allow her and her father the chance to spend some time together.

“We had no idea what we were doing, but we had the best time,” she said.

The project also provided her with a new job, producing fiberglass creations for America’s Fiberglass Animals, a Nebraska-based company that specializes in creating fiberglass animals for public art exhibits and businesses.

While each piece she has produced is unique, they all start out the same – as two-foot by four-foot square sheets of insulating foam. The sheets are cut according to a plan developed by DiChiara and her father and then glued together. The form is sanded down and coated with joint compound.

Patrick Keogh, owner of America’s Fiberglass Animals, then picks up the shape and brings it back to Nebraska where it is covered with fiberglass and, sometimes, set in a mold for future use. The form is later returned to DiChiara for painting.

Currently DiChiara is producing a black bear for a public art exhibit in New York and also is in the planning stages in creating a tortoise sculpture for the Dodgers spring training camp at Vero Beach.

Her work with fiberglass has been generating some attention and she was recently hired to refurbish 12-foot fiberglass statue of a fisherman that is on display in Eastport.

The statue was originally made for a movie that was shot in the town and over the years has become a landmark. But due to its constant exposure to the elements it has begun to deteriorate. DiChiara sandblasted the statue, repaired it and then repainted the statue as it had been before.

When the statue was delivered she had four weeks to complete the job and ship it back to Eastport, which wanted the statue for its annual Fourth of July festivities.

DiChiara was used to working with a deadline for her other projects, but with such a large piece most of the work had to be done outside. This became especially difficult when some major rainstorms hit the area, forcing DiChiara to empty her garage to use as a studio. Unfortunately only half of the statue could fit, so she had to paint it in stages until the weather finally cleared.

DiChiara continues to paint murals and produce paintings for clients. She also is in the process of writing a children’s book using her own paintings and plans to reopen her art program this fall.

She said she enjoyed teaching the classes and about eight of her former students went onto to study art in college.

“It’s kind of neat to see that I may have had an influence on that,” she said.

Tatia DiChiara with one of her fiberglass sculptures at her South Portland home.

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