Michael Tillyer founded the Anchor House of Artists in 1997 by opening his studio and inviting artists he was acquainted with who were living on fixed incomes by reason of psychiatric disability.  In the opening days he funded the operation with personal resources and a small grant from the Northampton Arts Council.  His own career had provided satisfactory opportunities to exhibit his work and build more.  In opening the studio, his best hope was that the participating artists would have increased chances of success with enhanced studio conditions and professional exposure.

In 1975, Tillyer received a BFA from Windham College in Putney, Vermont where he studied with Charles Ginnever, Peter Forakis and David Rohn. For the ensuing decade he worked in Northampton where he had established several studios;  had gallery representation in New Haven and other locations around the country;  had shows at the Springfield Museum of Fine Art, Chesterwood Museum, and Lyndhurst Museum; studied poetry with Agha Shahid Ali ; and worked in Mental Health.  In 1995 he entered Springfield College to study art and rehabilitation. In the year 2000 recieived M.Ed concentrating in Psychiatric Rehabilitation from the college.  In 2002, he published the results of his work on behalf of the Anchor House of Artists with co-author Michael Accordino, D. Ed. in the Psychiatric Rehabilitation Journal.

In 1998 he joined the board of A.P.E., Ltd., a progressive arts organization fostering new and experimental art forms and the artists who invent them. As an artists, he actively had exhibited at A.P.E. from 1977 onward.  A.P.E. is the administrative umbreela for the Anchor House of Artists, and its founder, Gordan Thorne has been an important sponsor of AHOA and a mentor to Tillyer. Tillyer has received numerous awards, citations and media attention fro his artwork, his work in mental health, and his rehabilitation work connected with the Anchor House of Artists.

Tillyer throughout his career to date has consistently produced new artwork and has maintained an active exhibition presence in New England.  The two watercolors featured on this page are of a rooster who lives near Tillyer's home in Conway, Massachusetts.  The original paintings are on 22"x30" Fabriano Paper. To the lower left see a studio shot at night.