After studying at the Virginska Konst Skolan in Orebro, Sweden from 1990-91,Tillinghast trained in industrial welding in Santa Barbara, California. In 1995 he established a studio in Santa Fe, New Mexico and began a series of artworks which, “present water as a material, an object, and a phenomenon.” These sculptures and site-related installations are composed of various kinds of containers, and are designed and arranged to isolate the highly reflective surface of a body of water, and relate it to the light and space of its surroundings. Works from this series have been exhibited at The Museum of Fine Art and Charlotte Jackson Fine Art in Santa Fe, New Mexico, Galerie der Stadt Mainz Bruckenturm, in Mainz Germany, as well as Buschlen Mowatt in Vancouver, and Rocket in London. Tillinghast has been awarded grants from the Land Rheinland-Phalz Kulturministerium, and the Dallas Museum of Art, and residencies from the Centre-Est-Nord-Est, in Quebec, the Kohler Company In Wisconsin, and Alafoss, in Reykjavik, Iceland. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Albright-Knox Gallery, The John Michael Kohler Art Center, and the Museum of Fine Art in Santa Fe.