SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles

In this quilt talk, I share the KNIFEMAN quilt: a story-driven project shaped by an encounter I had while purchasing a foraging knife, exploring themes of identity and how each one of us living our best lives gives permission to everyone around us to the same.

You can see images of quilts we discuss on the episode website https://www.zakfoster.com/seamside/knifeman

WHY LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE?
There’s a rich narrative in this KNIFEMAN project that blends quilting with personal reflection and societal observations. I share with you my quilt-making process, from the conceptualization to the physical crafting, while delving into the deeper meanings and root behind the quilt. The episode is a compelling mix of artistic insight and personal introspection, helpful for anyone who wants to transform life experiences into creative expression.

REFLECTION PROMPTS
Have you ever had a creative project influenced by a personal encounter or experience? Reflect on how this interaction shaped your work.

Consider the impact of using textiles as a medium for social commentary. What are the special properties of textiles that make them such a powerful tool for addressing societal issues?

Reflect on the idea of "non-attachment" to outcomes in creative work, as mentioned by Zak. How can this concept be applied to other areas of life?

HELPFUL RESOURCES
→ Join the QUILTY NOOK: A Curious (and Sometimes Feral) Online Textile Community https://nook.zakfoster.com/

→ Top Ten SEAMSIDE Episodes Guide https://gift.zakfoster.com/pzp

→ Weekly Email Goodies from Zak https://nook.zakfoster.com/newsletter/

→ Visit Zak’s website https://www.zakfoster.com/

→ Follow Zak on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zakfoster.quilts

ABOUT SEAMSIDE
Hosted by quilt-maker Zak Foster, we explore how working with cloth has changed who we are as people, what we call on the show the inner work of textiles. Zak speaks with a wide variety of textile artists from quilters to embroiderers, from activists to educators, writers, and collectors.

DON’T MISS AN EPISODE
Subscribe to SEAMSIDE for heartfelt stories and meaningful explorations of the human world of textiles

To get 2024 started right, I thought I would pull together some of my favorite moments out of the last year as a way of not only reflecting, but mining it again for the wisdom, the advice, the perspective and experience that my guests have offered, and hopes of setting all of us up for a more creative, more fulfilling, more satisfying 2024.

When I sat down to begin thinking who would I pull in from the last year of SEAMSIDE, it was a lot more challenging than I thought. I tried to pick a wide variety of folks who were sharing stories that inspired, motivated, or offered some kind of insight I thought you’d find helpful. So I hope that no matter where you are on your quilty journey right now, no matter where you are in your creative practice, whether you're feeling full of inspiration or maybe a little bit unmotivated, I hope you find some good medicine here to get you started on the right foot in 2024.

In this episode, we hear from: Alice Gabb, Judy Martin, Amanda Nadig, Paolo Arao, Julian Jamal Jones, Michael Sylvan Robinson, Jennifer Mao, and Lou Gardiner

You can learn more at the episode website here

WHY LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE?
It's a curated mix of inspiring stories and advice from SEAMSIDE guests, providing a diverse range of viewpoints on creativity, overcoming challenges, and embracing growth, perfect for setting the tone for a fulfilling 2024.

REFLECTION PROMPTS
Embracing Diverse Perspectives: How can you cultivate relationships with people whose views differ from yours, finding common ground in unexpected places?

Navigating Disappointment: Reflect on a recent setback or rejection. How can you reframe this experience to focus on growth and resilience?

Finding Inspiration in the Unseen: Like the concept of the mycelium network, what unseen processes or thoughts contribute to your creativity, even when not actively producing work?

HELPFUL RESOURCES
→ Join the QUILTY NOOK: A Curious (and Sometimes Feral) Online Textile Community https://nook.zakfoster.com/
→ Top Ten SEAMSIDE Episodes Guide https://gift.zakfoster.com/pzp
→ Weekly Email Goodies from Zak https://nook.zakfoster.com/newsletter/
→ Visit Zak’s website https://www.zakfoster.com/
→ Follow Zak on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/zakfoster.quilts

The Great Depression wasn’t something we talked much about in my family. I do know it’s what made my grandfather quit school in the eighth grade to go work in his father’s grocery store. When we think of this time in international history, which lasted roughly from the Stock Market crash in 1929 until the lead-up to World War 2, we often think of the photographs of Dorothea Lange and the New Deal which funded large public works proejcts like the TVA and Hoover Dam.

But quilt historian Janneken Smucker has uncovered a softer side the New Deal, one that until now, has received scant attention: the role of quilts as a of domestic stream of income.

In this conversation, Janneken and I explore:
① how the New Deal may have changed quilting for a generation
② how quilts can be containers of hope and resilience
③ how quilts were used as American propaganda

I hope you enjoy HOW TO SOFTEN HARD TIMES with my good friend, Janneken Smucker

HELPFUL RESOURCES
⤷ New Deal for Quilts by Janneken Smucker
⤷ International Quilt Museum exhibit website
⤷ Farm Security Administration Photo Archives
⤷ Soft Covers for Hard Times by Merikay Waldvogel
⤷ Always There: The African-American Presence in American Quilts by Cuesta Benberry

SEAMSIDE host Zak foster co-explores the inner work of textiles with various textile artists. In each episode, we seek to understand how working with cloth makes us more human.

⤷ Looking for a supportive textile community online? Check out the NOOK!
⤷ I also send weekly email goodies
⤷ New to SEAMSIDE? Check out THE TOP TEN FAN FAVORITE EPISODES
⤷ Here’s my website with lots of pretty quilts
⤷ And of course you can see more on Instagram
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

I take you behind the scenes with one of my most recent finishes, a quilt I’m calling the Beach Shirt quilt. I found the shirt walking down along Brighton Beach on a cool gray morning about six weeks ago.

We walked to the far end of the beach beyond Coney Island where things turn more residential, and that’s where I found it: this clump of sand-colored fabric.

When I picked it up and shook it clean, I knew immediately that this was going to be the starring feature for my next quilt.

Click here to see more images of this quilt

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

Last week when Paolo Arao talked about our textile practices, we mentioned that one of the things that we have in common is our shared love of taro. So in this special SEAMSIDE bonus episode, you'll hear us share about our own personal tarot practice and how it plays into our creative practice. If you have a tarot practice, I hope you pick up some new nuggets. And if you don't have a tarot practice, maybe you want to give it a try?

⤷ Get your free TINY QUILT tutorial video I mention in this episode
⤷Learn more about the Radical Tarot book by Charlie Claire Burgess
⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here

The fact that Paolo Arao and I both showed up to the podcast studio wearing orange winter hats and navy hoodies should tell you something of the kindred connection I feel with Paolo. After years of being online friends, we met up for breakfast about a month ago before going to see his most recent show that was about to close. Over a massive (and truly delicious) breakfast sandwich, we kept discovering commonalities: the way we think about color, how we navigate creative hiccups, our shared love of tarot. I knew right away that I wanted to invite him to SEAMSIDE so you could get a chance to meet him:

In this conversation, we discuss:
① how painting, music, and textiles can all weave together in a creative practice
② how our bodies can sense the power of textiles
③ how working with textiles can increase our tolerance for the unknown

Learn more about Paolo Arao

WHY LISTEN TO THIS EPISODE?
Listen to this episode with Paolo Arao for a deep dive into the interconnected world of textiles, painting, and music, exploring how these artistic forms can blend together into one practice. This episode offers listeners not only a glimpse into Paolo's vibrant creative journey but also valuable perspectives on the broader impact of textiles in art and life.

ABOUT SEAMSIDE
Hosted by quilt-maker Zak Foster, we explore how working with cloth has changed who we are as people, what we call on the show *the inner work of textiles.* Zak speaks with a wide variety of textile artists from quilters to embroiderers, from activists to educators, writers, and collectors.

DON’T MISS AN EPISODE👇 
Subscribe to SEAMSIDE for heartfelt stories and meaningful explorations of the human world of textiles

HELPFUL RESOURCES
→ Free Video Tutorial: HOW TO MAKE A TINY QUILT
→ Join the QUILTY NOOK: A Curious (and Sometimes Feral) Online Textile Community
→ Top Ten SEAMSIDE Episodes Guide
→ Weekly Email Goodies from Zak
→ Visit Zak’s website
→ Follow Zak on Instagram
→ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK

I recently spent a week in Chicago with my good friend, Amanda Nadig, making this quilt together. Since I had recently bought a small handheld recorder, we thought it'd be fun to take you behind the scenes day by day as we're making this quilt encountering creative obstacles, when things aren't turning out our way and how we navigate through this particular project together.

In part one, Amanda and I shared details about this particular commission, the kind of prep work we did to get ready for our week of sewing side by side in Chicago. We had an in-depth reflection on something that was becoming more and more fascinating to us: the way that by working with someone else, it forces us to create this kind of specialized language around the project, one that you might not even have to articulate to yourself but in the company of another artist, you have to put abstract ideas into words.

So, if you haven't heard that part of this documentary project, yet, I encourage you to go back and listen to the previous episode and then join us here again for part two.

In this part, Amanda and I strategize about quilting:
① how we choose an overall quilting design
② the important relationship between light and color
③ the body is a measuring tool

We close this conversation with reflections and tips that we hope support you in seeking out your own creative collaborations.

Click here to see images of this collaboration quilt

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

In this two-part mini-documentary: Amanda Nadig and I take you behind the scenes of our latest collaboration. You’ll get to accompany us on the creative process behind a quilt built out of a client's retired collection of high-end silk neckties.

I'd recently bought a small handheld recorder, and we thought it'd be fun to give you a play-by-play as we're making this quilt, encountering creactive obstacles when things aren't turning out the way we'd hoped, and how we navigate through this particular project together.

Along the way we share some helpful tips and meaningful reflections designed to get you thinking about how you may want to incorporate artistic collaboration in your own creative practice.

In this conversation, we discuss:
① the curious parameters of this project
② things we learned about working with silk
③ how we’ve developed a special language working together

Click here to see images of this collaboration quilt

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

In our chat last week, Sherri Lynn Wood and I took a deep dive into memory quilts, and this week we talk about what she loves best *after* quilting, namely: nature and being a divinity school dropout.

Enjoy this short chat, and if you haven’t had a chance to listen to our first conversation, check out the previous episode.

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!

If Sherri Lynn Wood and I were to map our lives on a venn diagram, there’d be a lot of overlap: we both spent parts of our childhood in North Carolina, we both host online communities for quilters (mine is the QUILTY NOOK, hers is BravePatch.School); we both honor elements of quilting as a spiritual practice, and in doing so, we both work a lot with grief and bereavement. The quilts may go by different names: I make memory quilts, Sherri makes passage quilts, but they both point to the stories and energy that our clothes contain even after we pass.

In this conversation, Sherri and I take a deep dive on what it means to work with clothing as a channel for processing life and loss, and we discuss:
① the emotional aspects of working with clothing in quilts
② practical ideas for collaborating on a memory quilt
③ self-care for quilters doing grief work

⤷ Learn more about THE QUILTY NOOK here
⤷ Get your free NOOK trial here
⤷ Enter here for your chance to win a FREE YEAR on the NOOK!