MOROCCO TEXTILES TOUR
with Heidi Parkes
11 – 25 April 2027

Travel with artist Heidi Parkes and explore the traditional Amazigh (Berber) crafts of Morocco at a grassroots level where women’s cooperative ventures present a range of textile creations melding age-old skills with new innovations.
In Marrakech we visit the exquisite new Yves Saint Laurent Museum featuring his fashion design as well as the Berber Museum that houses the Moroccan textiles and jewellery that inspired his work.

We then venture into the High Atlas Mountains and follow the ancient trade routes across the Tizi’n’Tichka Pass from Marrakech to the Sahara. Weavers of carpets and cloth, embroiderers and basket weavers are found in remote locations where they still employ their skills and maintain their traditional life style.

Next we make our way north to Fes and the blue city of Chefchaouen for a feast of colour and Islamic culture, finishing in the capital city of Rabat.

The tour includes hands-on experiences and demonstrations with local artisans. On the road in the mountains and Sahara we learn some exquisite traditional Moroccan embroidery techniques, tie knots to make rugs, explore some eco-dyeing using Rose Madder and more.

Guest artist Heidi Parkes will share her skills and experience to allow participants to develop their ideas for a Travel Diary Quilt, drawing inspiration from the sublime landscape and rich cultural environment provided by the art and architecture of Morocco. The tour is not an intensive workshop as there is too much to see and experience in Morocco, but time will be devoted to sharing ideas and to creating a special hand stitched project as we travel. You will be encouraged to develop a visual diary to create studies incorporating your ideas for the future.

ABOUT HEIDI PARKES
Based in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, award-winning artist Heidi Parkes celebrates the hand made with quilts that tug at memories and shared experience. Often using specific textiles, like an heirloom tablecloth, bed sheet, or cloth tea bag, Heidi adds subtle meaning and material memory from the start. Engaging in the worlds of art, quilts, mending, and social media, Heidi is an advocate for the domestic realms, diary, and hand-sewing while on-the-go. Find her on Instagram and YouTube. Heidi is a 2005 graduate from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

WORKSHOP with HEIDI


Sewing by hand with stolen time via a small sewing kit tucked into her purse is a passion for Heidi. In Morocco, she invites you to join her in making a Travel Diary Quilt. This could be a diary of what’s possible to sew while on-the-go, and/or a log of special memories formed while exploring together. Students will meet with Heidi on Zoom before the trip and will receive video instruction on techniques that will pair well with our travels. Whether working with appliqué on a large base cloth, or piecing a top with blocks, we will have fun by sewing without looking on the bus, incorporating visible hand piecing, and lightheartedly allowing synchronicity and good fortune to form our color palettes.

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