New Mural To Be Installed in Cahall Campus Center

Award-winning artist and muralist Sophy Tuttle made Thayer history in February of 2024 when she visited campus as the school’s first artist in residence. Two years later the Boston-based Tuttle is adding to that history with a new mural soon to be installed in Cahall Campus Center visible from Student Commons. 

Measuring 12 feet by 12 feet, the five-panel mural depicts a large tiger with Thayer’s campus in the background. Foliage from sassafras and chestnut trees, which are both native to the South Shore, surround the tiger. The tiger is also in water, a nod to the region’s natural connection as a coastal community. 

Brynn Wartman P ’30, ’32, director of the Karen & Ted Koskores Gallery, praised not only the new mural but the muralist’s willingness to engage with Thayer students in the creative process. For instance, Wartman said, Tuttle discussed the various images used in the mural with a group of Upper School students who weighed the pros and cons of each particular symbol. That design process saw five to six iterations before the best ideas were distilled into a plan of action. 

“We’re incredibly grateful,” said Wartman of Tuttle, whose work — sometimes as high as seven stories — can be seen from Boston to Colombia; Tuttle’s art often explores the natural world and humanity’s relationship to it. 

Tuttle began prepping the panels over Winter Recess. However, she didn’t start to actually paint the panels until Jan. 12 when students had fully returned from break. And that, said Wartman, was also by design. 

“It was really important to me that she paint with students here,” Wartman said. “I wanted students to see a real artist at work.” 

Students, in fact, have done more than just watch Tuttle. Honors Visual Arts students in the classroom of Upper School Visual Arts Department Head Anni Zukauskas ’94 P ’28, ’29 have been busy documenting the creative process via interviews and filming as part of a long-term project. 

The mural, which is slated for installation in the coming weeks, is built so that it can be easily moved, helping to ensure the piece of art will be part of the Thayer landscape for decades to come. 

Wartman was quick to praise the efforts of Thayer’s Buildings & Grounds Department, whose team members have handled the logistical details of mural creation with aplomb, making the entire process as seamless as possible.