Artist Biography:

As a clothing boutique and gallery owner and Japanese native, Akiko Ike (pronounced “ee-kay”) , started big running stitch projects which she calls, “Chiku Chiku,” after she turned 60 years old. She loves fabric, and over the years, many stashes of Japanese “Boro” ended up in her possession. They include antique indigo-dyed cloth diapers, farmers' and fishermen work clothing and banners, and old (Boro) cloth used in Japanese households and mended many times over. She wanted to preserve these, and found ways to transform them into distinct, one-of-a-kind, free-style art pieces.

Artist Biography:

A highly skilled fiber artist, Heidi Parkes is a 2005 graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Active on social media, Parkes has 9,000+ followers on Instagram, and has her finger on the pulse of the contemporary fiber art world. She’s exhibited in museums across the country.  She’s a regular instructor at The Modern Quilt Guild’s QuiltCon, and at QuiltCon 2016, she won 1st place in handwork and 2nd place in improvisation, and in 2018 she won 3rd place for handwork. Learn more about her quilting, and listen to her podcast episodes at HeidiParkes.com