Tiiu Leis

Artist's country of origin: Estonia

Tiiu Leis (b. 1967) is an art teacher, artist, and critic who lives and works in Pärnu, Estonia, and Pori, Finland. She graduated from Tallinn University with a degree in art education (1994).

From 2016 to 2019, she conducted animation workshops at the Pärnu Museum. Between 2017 and 2019, she participated in the Erasmus+ ProArt art project in Poland, Latvia, Slovakia, and Italy, as well as in a web design course in Luxembourg. She organized and led animation camps in Pärnu (2017–2018) and painting camps in Kihnu (2013–2020), Muhu (2023), and Treimani (2024). Since 2020, she has run her own art studio in Pärnu and also works with children and adults with special needs.

From 1995 to 1997, she was the head librarian at the Chaplin Art Center in Pärnu, where she organized exhibitions, poetry and literature evenings, and film screenings. Leis was the main organizer of Estonia’s first video-format film festival Do-Re-Vi (documentary, commercial, and video film) at the Mai Cultural Center in Pärnu.

Tiiu Leis was named Teacher of the Year in Pärnu in 2016 and was a national nominee for Youth Worker of the Year the same year. In 2017, she received a cultural award for organizing the exhibition Rao Heidmets’ Animation World at the Pärnu Museum. She has participated in the international nude art exhibition Man and Woman, recycling art exhibitions at the Museum of New Art in Pärnu, and retrospective exhibitions at the Pärnu City Gallery.