On September 3rd, Sophy Tuttle will begin her residency for We Share One Sky (NBPT Murals) — a public art murals project spearheaded by Newburyport Art, in collaboration with the Tannery Marketplace, Blochaus Art Gallery, and the City of Newburyport, with generous support from the Essex County Community Foundation’s (ECCF’s) Creative County Initiative (CCI).
This page will receive some additional updates as the project evolves, but the latest updates will be posted on social media. To stay in the loop and track the project, follow both Newburyport Art and Sophy Tuttle on Instagram!
Sophy will be working at the intersection of Water Street and Federal Street. A precise work timetable is not available and work will be completed as weather permits.
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Sophy is a Boston-based artist specializing in nature inspired murals and artwork.
From Sophy’s website (sophytuttle.com):
My work transforms sterile scientific facts into a rich visual landscape that can be easily accessed intellectually and emotionally by a wide range of people. In particular, I am drawn to mural work because of the inherently democratic viewership. To experience a public mural, the viewer does not need money, education, status, or access to spaces of privilege such as galleries or museums. When a mural is painted in a public space, through content, form, and sheer size, it has the enormous power to transform that space into a “place.” It can provide the seed for a more active, vibrant, collaborative, and discursive arena, and even set the intention of the actions that occur in that space through its collaborative creation and subject matter.
My work is focused on the natural world, our place in it, and the conflicts and collaborations we find ourselves in everyday with nature. My bright, carefully researched murals often aim to disrupt deeply embedded beliefs about Aristotle’s hierarchy of nature. I render birds, animals, and plants to evoke a sense of awe and reverence for these beings. Although extinction and loss loom in the man-made Anthropocene era, I hope that my paintings call attention to the magnificent beauty that still exists in nature today.
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Newburyport Art has partnered with the Tannery Marketplace, Blochaus Art Gallery, and the City of Newburyport, to connect and engage residents and visitors with Newburyport through a series of large-scale, exterior mural paintings. The project includes commissioned work from muralists Felipe Ortiz (Lead Artist), Sophy Tuttle, and Jake Ginga, with additional work commissioned from artists selected through an application process. (Applications are now closed with the selection process underway.)
The murals will largely highlight minority voices and lesser-known perspectives of Newburyport, utilizing contemporary, non-traditional imagery to promote and embed them into the fabric of the City. Educational programming with hands-on opportunities — particularly for youth — will enable further, in-depth community engagement and dialogue around the theme, mural concepts, and artists’ processes.
The project kicks off in July with Lead Artist Felipe Ortiz working on the south-facing facade of the Tannery Marketplace’s Mill #4, followed by an interactive work for the Hills Gallery at Newburyport Art. In August, Jake Ginga will also work on designated Tannery Marketplace spaces, and Sophy Tuttle will follow. The artists selected through the application process will commence work as early as Fall 2023, continuing through 2024 and possibly into 2025.
The We Share One Sky public art murals project is made possible, thanks in part to the generous support from Essex County Community Foundation through the Creative County Initiative.
