Heidi Grace Acuña (they/she) is an artist who “creates to live” for their mental health, for their communities, and to honor their ancestral calling. Born in Federal Way, Washington to immigrant Ilokano-Filipino parents, and raised on O‘ahu since one year old, Heidi felt disconnected to a true sense of home and belonging. Now, Heidi makes art that finds the beauty in the multiplicities, imperfections, and expansiveness of identity, culture, gender, and home. Heidi’s dimensional work in ceramic sculpture, textiles, painting, illustration, printmaking, and photography reveal anxiously curious, and deep investigations of universal human experiences, which are inspired by the diverse tropical colors of her island homes, living in diaspora, and the need for connection.

Heidi has exhibited their multidisciplinary works in Seattle, Philadelphia, Bellingham, Tacoma, and O‘ahu. She is a published artist whose work is part of the North Seattle College Permanent Art Collection. In 2022 they received the Edwin T. Pratt Scholarship and had their first solo show (LUSH) at Western Washington University. Heidi has given artist talks and participated in art panels for Seattle Public Schools, North Seattle College, and On The Boards. As a teaching artist they have worked with Bellevue Arts Museum, Gage Academy, The Feels Foundation, and Tacoma Sunday Market. 

Heidi is a founding member and costume designer/soft-sculptor for the QT arts collective, House of Kilig (HOK), which formed in early 2023 with their first residency at Base: Experimental Arts + Space. HOK is a 2023 Precipice Fund grant recipient from Portland Institute for Contemporary Art and the Andy Warhol Foundation.

Heidi also creates as a fashion designer, graphic designer, and stylist.

Heidi holds a BA in Interdisciplinary Visual Arts and Art History minor from the University of Washington and an AA in English from North Seattle College. Heidi lives and works in Seattle with their partner and two bulldogs, Kodak and Carmella.