Tiger Torre Art ~ About the Artist

About the Artist

Tiger Torre, the artist behind Tiger Torre Art, knew she wanted to be an artist at a young age. From early sketches, to refining her skills in art classes, Tiger has always loved to create. She has worked in multiple mediums, from clay to jewelry, from canvas to leather. In 1996, Tiger made her first leather mask, and she fell in love with the medium. She studied books from her local library on leather molding techniques, and practiced with scads of vegetable tanned leather. She made masks and crowns for herself and for friends, and still has her first leather mask displayed on her wall.

Tiger Torre, photo by Paul Cory, 2015. http://paulcory.com

In 1998, Tiger decided to try selling her leather masks. She exhibited a few at a local Baltimore club, and got a nice reception of her work. There she met some fine folks that helped her enter the world of selling her art at science fiction and fantasy conventions and other shows. At the first few Fantek conventions that Tiger went to with her masks, she made some great friends, and gained an appreciation of the greater convention community. She learned a lot about marketing her art work in those early years. In 2006, Tiger was featured on HGTV's show 'That's Clever', making a monarch butterfly mask. Tiger continues to exhibit her leather masks and crowns at sci-fi, fantasy, and other conventions and shows along the East coast.

From the time Tiger started making leather masks in earnest, one of her dreams was to display her leather masks at her home ren faire, the Maryland Renaissance Festival. In 2008, that dream came true, when she purchased a booth space at MDRF. Throughout the summer of 2008, Tiger split time between working on stock production, and working on her new booth. The booth was a true labor of love, and would not have been possible without the generous donations of time, effort, and materials by family and friends. The "Blue Booth on Stub Toe Lane" is a home away from home for Tiger, and she looks forward to time spent with her booth crew and ren faire family each festival season.

Leather crowns, and styrofoam heads, on a desk.

At MDRF, and at other shows, watching people have fun with the process of putting on a mask is a gratifying experience for Tiger. Bringing folks a bit of joy, a bit of laughter, and a bit of beauty, is a rewarding endeavor. One of the things Tiger likes most about making masks, crowns, and other leather accessories is that they are usable, wearable art. Leather mask making combines many facets of working in other mediums that Tiger enjoys. There's the tactile nature of sculpting something like clay, the fine detail painting on something other than a flat canvas, and a faster output than oil painting. Because of her work in other mediums, Tiger experiments with ways to make her masks unique.

Tiger works out of her home studio in Baltimore, MD, and does not have a dedicated shop outside of the MD Renaissance Festival booth. Tiger has amazing apprentices that help with cutting, carving, and assembly. For each item that Tiger Torre Art sells, please know that Tiger has tried her very best to ensure its quality. This is both her livelihood, and her passion, and she wants people to enjoy her art work for a lifetime. Each leather mask and crown comes with a guarantee on the elastic. Tiger considers this a long term study into the longevity of her leather work. She has also done repairs on masks, crowns, and other leather accessories, usually at a small charge depending on the circumstances.

Tiger at the Booth, photo by Off the Wall Photography, 2014, https://www.facebook.com/Off-The-Wall-Photography-166155383520495/

When Tiger has the time, she likes to explore a variety of mediums, and produces Other Art, including dye blots, inked line art, and graphic garment designs, available at Redbubble, Society6, Spoonflower, and TeePublic. Tiger does not currently create custom art, but is open to making current stock patterns in other colors and finishes as her schedule permits. When Tiger isn't producing leather work, or working on the myriad other tasks associated with running a small business, she enjoys spending time playing board games, cooking, and puttering about on the internet. She lives happily with her Wolf, and a tiny dog, in a Baltimore rowhouse with walls covered in art.