Around 1964, during a difficult period of his life, woodcarver Felipe Archuleta experienced a vision with a heavenly message directing him to carve wood. Believing himself unworthy to follow the southwestern Hispanic santero tradition of carving saints for worship, he used similar materials and techniques to create secular works. His sculptures influenced other carvers, including several family members. Some of his favorite subjects came from the animal kingdom: sheep, pigs, snakes, bears, and exotic jungle animals. His depictions of animals, often transformations of images culled from magazines and books, are imbued with charismatic personalities that range from fierce to whimsical.

Archuleta was born in Santa Cruz, New Mexico. As a child, he worked picking potatoes and chilies and herding sheep; as an adult, he moved to Santa Fe, where he found work as a cook and a musician. The year 1943 held two important milestones for Archuleta. First, he joined the United Brotherhood of Carpenters and Joiners of America, a trade union for members of the profession he would follow for the next thirty years. Second, he sold land he had inherited from his grandmother and built a home in Tesuque, where he lived and worked until his death in 1991.

Archuleta used the same material southwestern carvers have worked with for centuries—indigenous soft cottonwood—along with a gesso-like modeling paste and latex paint. He embellished the animal features with bits of leather, rubber tires, straw, and marbles. Tiger, carved in the 1970s, bears the energy and character of Archuleta's early work. A gigantic brush of straw frames the mouth, which opens to reveal a full set of sharp teeth. The animal's ferocity is tempered by an enormous grin and eyes that seem to express wonder more than brutality.

Lee Kogan, "Tiger," in Stacy C. Hollander, American Anthem: Masterworks from the American Folk Art Museum (New York: Harry N. Abrams in association with American Folk Art Museum, 2001), 386.