Improvisational Hand Quilting with Heidi Parkes

Join artist Heidi Parkes to learn the technique and art of hand quilting on whole cloth or patchwork. Parkes has researched techniques from Japan, India, Korea, and America’s Amish, Black, Native American, and ‘Western’ traditions, to develop a unique hybrid that celebrates the visibility of the hand in each stitch. This class will cover practical concerns like materials, tools, hand position, grip, tension, and knots. Parkes will also introduce aesthetics in hand quilting: how to improvise, add meaning, respond to a wholecloth or patchwork quilt top, and invites a painterly aesthetic by viewing the hand quilting as a drawing on the quilt’s surface.
Parkes is based in Milwaukee, WI, and travels around the country teaching quilting and mending techniques. In 2016 at The Modern Quilt Guild’s QuiltCon she won 1st place for Handwork, and second place for Improvisation. In 2017, she was once QuiltCon’s faculty teachers. Parkes frequently teaches at The Wisconsin Museum of Quilts and Fiber Arts. She is an active voice in the contemporary quilting community. She exhibits her work in galleries, and museums as well.

Students should come prepared with a quilt top or a piece of solid fabric. It should be layered with batting and a backing fabric. (I use ‘warm and natural’ brand cotton batting) It should be basted with safety pins that are placed in a grid, about 10-12″ apart. (yes, that’s a wider-than-normal gap, and it’s for a reason)
FEE: 20.00
AGES Grade 6 through adult
SUPPLIES: students bring (View Full Material List)
Materials:
-milliners needles
-embroidery hoop (for learning to sign your name on the quilt)
-perle cotton #8 or crochet cotton #10
-scissors
-a thimble that fits your ring finger
-a rubber gripper for your index or thumb
-a 5lb book (or heavier) to create tension on the quilt
-basted quilt (top, batting, backing, pinned with safety pins in a 10-12″ grid)

AGES: grade 6 through adult
For All experience levels!
Pre-registration required!

Heidi Parkes is a fiber artist living in Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood. A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago, her art explores location, memory, and the passage of time.
She is an artist in many mediums, specializing in quilts and fiber art. A graduate of The School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC), her art explores domestic life, location, and the passage of time. While a student, Parkes spent seven years assisting ceramic artist Laurie Pollpeter Eskenazi. After earning her BFAEE, Parkes taught art for nine years at Neuqua Valley High School in Naperville, Illinois. During this time she cultivated her passion for public speaking about art, traveled extensively in Europe, and earned her 500-hour certification in Yoga Therapy. Meditation, repetition, and improvisation are all integral qualities of her current art practice. Parkes has spoken about her art on the Have Company Podcast, Thought Mixing Bowl Podcast, The Riverwest Radio, and at Milwaukee’s Creative Mornings event. She has exhibited work at The John Michael Kohler Art Museum, The Charles Allis Art Museum, The Modern Quilt Guild’s Annual QuiltCon, The Jazz Gallery, The Timothy Cobb Fine Arts Gallery, Gallerie M, and more.