Hi, I’m Cedre, a Bay Area tattoo artist.

I became interested in the natural world at a very young age down in Austin, Texas; the home of bluebonnet fields and pecan trees. Some of my very best friends were small treasures found creek side. I sought refuge in the nook of a tree branch and in the sun setting behind the hill country. My young artist self began sketching those small friends: rocks, leaves, ants, cobwebs. There was a way in which I felt like drawing them would allow me to really see them, as well as keep them with me as I moved through the world.

As I drew, a curiosity began to develop with shape and form. After graduating high school I dove into intensive sculpture and drawing classes at the University of North Texas and the Rhode Island School of Design. Soon after, I moved to the Bay Area to study at SFAI, where I graduated in 2001 with a Bachelors of Fine Art in Sculpture. Around that time, I got my first tattoo of a large tree. I loved those friends so much as a kid, always wanting to pass them on my way somewhere, climb them, confide in them. Before we started, my tattoo artist and I went tree climbing so that I could explain my respect for them. It was during this first tattoo process that I decided I wanted to be a tattoo artist – able to recreate an image for someone that inspires them to love, to reconnect with the world, and to feel confident in their bodies. That was the kind of job I wanted to pursue, and so began my path of learning anything and everything about tattoos.

Nearly 30 years later I am still honored to be doing this work. Currently I work out of a private studio in Alameda, CA called Treehouse Tattoo. I also was one of the founding owners and artists at the now closed Diving Swallow Tattoo (opened in 2005 and closed in 2025) in Oakland, California.