In school, experimental video artist Jessica Tuffley was told that her work was “too linear.”

Now the young filmmaker proves that she has been moving straight toward her goal, as she banks an award and heads for New York.

Last week, Tuffley was presented with the third annual Amy Award, a prize commemorating the life and artistic talent of the late Amy Anderson. The award includes a custom ceramic tile and a cash award of $3,000.

“I was shocked and grateful,” Tuffley said. “I’m moving in two weeks, and it will assist in that.”

The move to New York is not Tuffley’s first foray east.

After graduating from Bainbridge High School in 1996, she enrolled at Wesleyan University in Middletown, Conn. – but not, she says, to put distance between herself and home.

“A lot of people leave to get away from their families,” she said, “but I left to experience the East Coast.

“I have a great family.”

At Wesleyan, Tuffley met “really smart, amazing, interesting kids,” as intellectually curious as Tuffley herself.

She declared a major in chemistry, but also pursued an interest in photography.

In Wesleyan’s photography classes, Tuffley learned both the technical aspects of the medium and the theoretical underpinnings of art.

“I actually declared a major in chemistry before art,” she said. “I didn’t take myself seriously as an artist until college. It was in the critiques that I learned to look at the work and talk about it.”

To cut expenses, she transferred to the University of Washington after two years.

At UW, Tuffley declared a double major in art and chemistry. She was increasingly drawn to fine art, although she would graduate in 2001 with a double major – and honors in both.

“In chemistry, I really liked a lot of the larger concepts,” Tuffley said, “but not the details, which sort of makes a career in chemistry not so plausible.”

Disappointed in UW’s photography department, she was drawn into the orbit of a charismatic sculptor and instructor.

“Billie Lynn was crazy,” Tuffley said. “She had tons of energy and lots of ideas. She was inspiring.”

Influenced by the dynamic teacher, Tuffley shifted to working in three dimensions.

The geography of the university’s art studios, where ceramics and sculpture are removed from the rest of the art department, promoted a sense of community among the 23 young artists.

Tuffley learned the traditional sculpture techniques of welding and casting, but she also ventured into the most contemporary forms, including performance art and video installation.

For her senior exhibit, Tuffley created a video installation with separate sequences projected on three walls of a room.

“I liked the flat visual of the video format,” she said. “It was kind of like a return to photography.”

Tuffley was soon attracted by the medium’s potential for storytelling.

“Through stories we can help reframe our own relationship to the world,” she said.

Working as an intern at Seattle’s 911 Media Arts Center since 2002, Tuffley has expanded her artistic repertoire to include the technical side of digital video and editing, straightforward storytelling and – most compelling for the young artist – the role of editing in “telling a story with nonverbal clues.”

That interest has given shape to her recent work, including “frockSTAR,” a short film documentary about a struggling fashion designer.

“The story of ‘frockSTAR’ came to life in the editing room,” she said.

“…I used specific images intercut with interview footage, speed changes, quick cuts and music to communicate emotion… and drive the story forward.”

The linear storytelling format is distinct from a more diffuse “fine arts” approach to video, but Tuffley shrugs off the skeptics.

“I was always criticized for being linear,” she said.

“Now it’s like, ‘Oh, it’s too linear? Who cares.’”