Heloisa Helena Tigre, painter, illustrator, teacher, and printmaker, née Helosia Helena de Carvalho, was born on April 15, 1939 in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She was the only child of Mario T. de Carvalho and Aracy T. Simon. She graduated from the Federal University of Fine Arts in Porto Alegre and later married Clovis Tigre. Heloisa established herself as an artist in Brazil and taught art to children.

In 1980 Tigre moved with her family to Washington, D.C. She studied with Ann Zahn at the Printmakers’ Workshop in Bethesda, Maryland and was a longtime member of the Washington Printmakers Gallery. She worked in several printmaking mediums as well as gouache, and she was also a children's book illustrator. She exhibited throughout the U.S.

Tigre’s work is represented in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow, the Georgetown University Library, and the District of Columbia Public Library. Heloisa Helena Tigre passed away on 30 March 2007 in Bethesda, Maryland.