2015 Heartland Maker Fest

Meet the Makers: Cracked Glass

We're very excited this year to welcome Cracked Glass Art Glass Studio!  Join them as they make amazing stained glass - their demo will be all afternoon. During the live demonstration, a local artist 70-595 and instructor will be cutting...

Meet the Makers: The Bench

We welcome a new maker at this year's Fest: The Bench by Studio Artist and Metalsmith, Clare Finin.  Here is how Clare describes her style: As an object maker I am curious about how we interact with and place value on the objects in our lives. Why do we cherish...

Meet the Makers: Skot Wiedmann’s Hyve Touch Synthesizer

Skot Wiedmann is an engineer and artist whose creations explore the intersections of art and science. Using his knowledge of electrical engineering, he builds interactive artistic objects. At Maker Fest, Skot will demonstrate one of his recent projects, the Hyve Touch...

Meet the Makers: Sombra y Luce

Heartland Maker Fest is excited to welcome Sombra y Luce as a new Maker! In their words, Sombra y Luce is: An artist collective striving together for a safe space for peoples of diverse backgrounds to live in truth and mutual support, fostering a communal, democratic,...

Meet the Makers: PEDDALERS

Peddalers is a joint venture of Ectypebikes, a small garage operation focusing on the rebuilding and reconditioning of used & vintage bicycles, and Blackbird, a handmade jewelry, accessories, and vintage...

Meet the Makers: Sara Paige

We're thrilled to have fine arts maker Sara Paige joining the fest this year. Her current subject matter has been light and darkness and recent projects have utilized electronic circuits, microcontrollers, and computer programming. Her projects range from room-sized...

Meet the Makers: ScratchBuilds

We have an exciting new maker this year that will introducing you to the world of First Person View(FPV) Racing Quadcopters! If you haven't heard of this term before then check out the video above, it's really exciting...

Meet the Makers: Designing Alternative Necessities

This year we're happy to be welcoming back the School for Designing a Society  and their table focused on Designing Alternative Necessities.  But we can let them introduce themselves: HI! We're the School for Designing a Society, and we love cooking up structures and...

Meet the Makers: Caroline’s Dolls and Doll Houses

We are thrilled to have one of our youngest makers to date! Caroline embodies the spirit and heart of a true maker - using found objects, things around the house, or resources from the I.D.E.A Store, she creates one-of-a-kind dolls and doll houses (amongst other...

Meet the Makers: Central Illinois Puppetry Guild

The Central Illinois Puppetry Guild is made up of individual artists who create and perform with puppets of all kinds: traditional hand puppets, shadow, marionettes, and many others. While each guild member...

Meet the Makers: Weiskamp Screen Printing

  Want to learn how to make your own creative screen-printed designs. Well come get hands on with Weiskamp Screen Printing at the Maker Fest this year.  They will be setting up a table to help you make your own screen-printed poster! They are also one of the...

Meet the Makers: Maker Girl

We have an exciting new maker organization joining us this year! MakerGirl is a group with the goal to introduce girls from the ages of 7 to 10 to the STEM fields. By running various types of unique and fun 3D printing sessions at the Illinois Maker Lab, they have...

Meet the Makers: Illinois MakerLab

The Illinois MakerLab is the world’s first Business School 3D Printing Lab.  We are very proud to have them back again at the Heartland Maker Fest. At this year's fest they will be showing...

Meet the Makers: Origami by Xudong

We're thrilled Xudong Guan will be sharing his beautiful origami creations at the Heartland Maker Fest again this year. Come see how amazing objects can be generated through nothing but simple folds on a single piece of paper. [gallery...

Meet the Makers: Pandemonium Pillows

Heartland Maker Fest is thrilled to welcome another new Maker, Kari Anderson! Kari has a passion for pillows. She uses her design talents to create unique (and cozy) accent pieces. What is Kari's speciality? In her words: Permit me to...

Meet the Makers: C-U Destination Imagination

If your child is crazy about puzzles, loves to paint and draw, can build anything out of cardboard boxes, writes amazing stories, thinks up whimsical new worlds, has a flair for drama and acting, is totally into science, or has rewired your toaster into a working time...

Meet the Makers: CUDO Plays – Season 3

CUDO Plays is an amazingly unique board game design competition that only happens right here in Urbana-Champaign. For CUDO Plays it’s not about judging new board games, it’s about inspiring local board game enthusiasts, connecting them with local maker resources, and...

Meet the Makers: Logan Street Glassworks

Join local glassblower Andy Gibbs for a glass-bead-making demonstration! If you’ve ever dreamed of making your own glass jewelry, this type of glasswork has low startup costs which makes it accessible to beginners. Logan...

Meet the Makers: Fashion Remade

We're happy to announce Ja Nelle Pleasure will be returning to the fest this year to share her talents for turning recycled materials into new garments. Last year, she created a wonderful hands-on experience helping people create their own fashion accessories.  And...

Meet the Makers: Central Illinois Aerospace

We are happy to announce that the Central Illinois Aerospace rocketry club will again be joining the Heartland Maker Fest this year. Last year they showed us how to make awesome paper rockets, and this year they plan on...

Meet the Makers: CUC Fab Lab

The Champaign Urbana Community Fab Lab has truly become a staple of the DIY/Maker community in Champaign Urbana. They were always a favorite at the UC Mini Maker Faire and will be returning to the...

Meet the Makers: Makerspace Urbana

  Makerspace Urbana, a working group of the Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center, is dedicated to enabling the blend of arts, humanities, science and technology. Our mission is...