Now that Northwest Mississippi Community College art instructor Lane Tutor has retired after teaching at the college for 34 years, he says he’s looking forward to being able to focus on art 100 percent of the time.

“I’ve enjoyed my time here,” says Tutor as he hangs student art in the gallery for his last Les Fauves sale. “We’ve always been fortunate as an art department to have our own facility. That’s due to the efforts of Jac (Young).”

Young, former chairman of the art department, was Tutor’s mentor and co-worker. “I came right out of Crowder High School thinking I might play football, but I had a high school football knee injury that kept that from happening. So, I came to Northwest and walked over to the adviser’s table in Berry Hall where we used to register for classes, and that’s where I met Jac Young.”

Tutor came to Northwest and spent time learning from Young as his work-study student in the art department. He then went on to The University of Mississippi where he earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

His first job was working for The University of Mississippi on a grant project with the science department. “I did illustrations, slide kits and developed film. One illustration was of Darwin’s finches. I knew when I got through with that project that I didn’t want a career as an illustrator.”

Not long after that, Young called Tutor when an opening came up in the art department. His first year at Northwest as a faculty member was the fall of 1972.

“I’ve been here ever since,” says Tutor as he eyes the level to hang the next piece of art. “When Jac was here, he hung or helped hang every piece of art.” Young retired in 1992, and Tutor has served as the art chairman since.

"There have been ups and downs over the years,” says Tutor who has worked for five presidents at the college. “I’m just thankful that we have had such a good department (Fine Arts). We are a close group and support each other.”

Tutor, who is known primarily as a potter, says he has enjoyed working in three mediums: photography, painting and pottery. “When I retire, I’ll probably spend my time evenly between painting and pottery. Let’s go look at the kiln,” he says.

The college’s kiln is located behind the art building. That is where pottery pieces are fired. The thermometer reads 2380 degrees when he checks it. “We are lucky to have such a great kiln. For years, we had a small one in the basement of the art building, and thanks to Mike Robison in the physical plant and our former division director Rosemary Simmons, we now have a state-of-the-art piece of equipment. We can fire so many more pieces at one time in this one,” he says.

“Lane has been the public face of our art department for a long time,” says Dr. Ken Sipley, director of the Division of Fine Arts. “The community will miss him as much as the faculty and students will.”