Gallery dedication memorializes beloved Woodlands Academy teacher
A prominent display of student artwork in Woodlands Academy of the Sacred Heart's front hallways now bears the name of the late faculty member who envisioned and then nurtured it with her love of showcasing students' creations. About 70 guests, including alumnae and former faculty/staff, joined the Woodlands community in dedicating the Jamie Pierce Tuttle Gallery. The March 11 ceremony was part of the Jamie Tuttle Women in the Arts festival, held annually at the all-girls college-prep high school in Lake Forest.
This celebration of female artists was renamed last year in memory of Tuttle, a vital member of the school's arts faculty for three decades who inspired generations of Woodlands students with her dedication to the arts. She also taught photography at the Milwaukee Institute of Art & Design for several years. Tuttle passed away Sept. 15, 2020, after a heroic battle with cancer.
Just before the gallery dedication, the first session of this year's arts festival featured works by Tuttle, presented by her husband, Paul Williams, and her sister Jennifer Tuttle. Jamie Tuttle's photography focuses primarily on capturing landscapes and the life that inhabits them. In her own words, "It is the ephemeral, the flux of life, the messiness and tenderness of being alive that I look for and photograph."
Tuttle launched the festival, which now bears her name, aided by a generous donor who sought to recognize the work of two female artists each year during March. Samplings of the artists' creations are displayed in Woodlands Academy's art hallways. Selected members of the school's art classes also meet with the artists to learn more about their work.
The second presentation of this year's festival was given by Chicago-based ceramic artist Lori Sabina Piecyk on March 14. Her work is influenced by nature, folk art, textiles and pattern. Piecyk describes her functional pottery as minimalist in its form, with intricate surface decoration. Her works have been exhibited nationally, and she has completed residencies at Terra Incognito in Oak Park and Anderson Ranch in Snowmass Village, Colorado. Piecyk currently teaches at Lillstreet Art Center and manages the studio at Terra Incognito.
"While Jamie Tuttle is greatly missed by the Woodlands Academy community, we now have a permanent display of her incredible work in addition to remembering her annually during our Jamie Tuttle Women in the Arts celebration," Associate Head of School Christine Schmidt said. "For years Jamie proudly took care of updating our student art pieces in the front gallery and also worked closely with the original Women in the Arts series to bring in talented women artists to share their crafts with our students."
Schmidt and Tuttle began their Woodlands Academy careers in the fall of 1990. "Jamie had a tremendous impact on our students in developing their photography skills and, more importantly, she helped them develop a sense of seeing," Schmidt added.
Woodlands' newly dedicated gallery features a special memorial display located next to Schmidt's office. Along with a portrait of Tuttle are two of her photographs chosen by her family - "Hand & Peaches," a 2008 work selected by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri, for its permanent collection and "Self Portrait in the Garden," a 1990 photograph selected by the Bibliotheque Nationale in Paris, France, for its permanent collection.
In addition to being part of such collections, Tuttle's photography has been shown at exhibitions including Filter Photo Gallery in Chicago, Dolphin Gallery in Kansas City and the Liverpool International Photography Festival in England. She says in her Artist Statement that after receiving her master's degree in fine arts from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, she began teaching "with the hope of bringing the same passion and knowledge I received to my students." The memorials created for her the past two years at Woodlands Academy are testimonials to her success in achieving that goal.
Founded in 1858, Woodlands Academy is an independent Catholic college preparatory day and boarding high school for young women. It's part of a worldwide network of Sacred Heart Schools that spans the United States and 40 other countries. A nonprofit, Woodlands Academy's identity is rooted in Saint Madeleine Sophie Barat's desire to inspire young hearts and minds to excel, to lead lives of integrity and to serve. For more information about Woodlands Academy, please visit www.woodlandsacademy.org