Adela Akers

Adela Akers (born February 7, 1933, Santiago de Compostela, Spain) is a Spanish-born textile and fiber artist. She is Professor Emeritus (1972 to 1995) at the Tyler School of Art. Her career as an artist spans the "whole history of modern fiber art." Her work is in the Renwick Gallery, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the Museum of Art and Design.Her papers (2.6 linear feet, dating from 1960 to 2009) are at the Archives of American Art.

Akers was born on February 7, 1933 in Santiago de Compostela, Spain. She was raised in Cuba, her mother was a trained seamstress, and later she and her husband had a small import business in Havana, Cuba. Akers' exposure to business practices through her family helped her later in life to run her own small art business. She has one brother who later became an accountant in Chicago.

Akers graduated from the University of Havana with a degree in Pharmacy. She had wanted to have a practical job, especially because her parents had helped her get through school. However, later, Akers found she was bored with pharmacy work. In Havana, she met a group of artists who called themselves Los Once (The Eleven) who encouraged her to make art. Akers started taking art classes because of the suggestion of Los Once and she went to study in Chicago in 1957.

She studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, even though at first her English wasn't as strong as she wished. At the Institute she was introduced to weaving. Later she studied at Cranbrook Academy of Art where she finished in 1963. She was a weaver-in-residence at Penland School of Crafts.

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