Doris Tutill was one of many whose life was shaped by her Canterbury College School of Art training. She started Saturday morning classes there in 1928 as an 11-year-old, and the following year enrolled in the Junior School and embarked on an art-focused high school education. This she extended by winning a scholarship in 1933, which allowed her to continue for another year.

All Tutill’s teachers were expert practitioners of the then dominant Arts and Crafts movement. Among them were locally trained Hilda McIntyre and Parisian designer Louise Henderson, teaching embroidery and design, and Edinburgh-born James Johnstone and Florence Akins, teaching metalwork. Both were skilled jewellers and Akins also taught drawing and plant-form design. For many years after graduating, Tutill gained her income through handcraft skills and went on to teach high school art for twenty-five years. She was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1986.

(The Moon and the Manor House, 12 November 2021 – 1 May 2022)