Would a place like the Anchor House of Artists, with its mission to support creatives whose access to markets is compromised by mental illnesses they face, survive in a remote community, far from major arts venues, commercial and public, like we have in abundance here in Northampton?
Maybe — then again, remote from the Main Street art glut, it is as if we sustain ourselves in the shadow of Paradise City and we might’ve continued unsung if it not for attention paid to us by the Daily Hampshire Gazette. Take the recent article by Steve Pfarrer with photos by Carol Lollis on April 13 (“Twenty years of art”) that covered the current major exhibit here by visiting artist Charles Miller. Grateful we are to the Gazette for many years of coverage since our 1997 beginning and thankful we are too for the visiting artists who have chosen the Anchor House of Artists gallery as a premium venue to self-produce exhibits.
Visiting artists to us are those established in their careers, and their choice represents to us an endorsement of our drive to make a place where artists and their art are first. The list grows and includes the late Gregory Stone, Bruce Ackerson, Ben Westbrock, John Landino, Joanne Holtje, and now Charles Miller whose lauded “Stations of the Cross” is on view through May 11.
Visiting musicians like Freddy Clayton, Doug Abrams, Ernest and Sylvia Johnson, and, in June, the Palaver Ensemble sound out solidarity with our message too. These artists support a central value to our mission: to create professional parity in the market for our artists who wrestle with vocational access by reason of life impairments.
On Valley Gives Day, May 2, and at our 20th anniversary, we are thankful for this community that supports us to celebrate art on a human scale.
Michael Tillyer
Northampton