Zak Foster - Textile Artist & Quilter

Sawtooth is excited to welcome Visiting Artist Zak Foster to our Textiles and Art + Wellness Departments this summer! 

Raised in rural North Carolina and now living in Brooklyn, New York, Zak is a self-taught artist whose work draws on Southern textile traditions while incorporating found fabrics and natural dyes with an eye for sustainability. He practices an approach to design that is intuitive and improvisational and he is drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and galleries. Learn more about his work in his monthly email, Motivation for the Maker, at www.zakfoster.com/newsletter

Zak will be teaching two workshops in July. 

In Talisman Quilts on Friday, July 9, from 5:30pm to 8:30pm, students will learn to harness the power of fabric to make manifest their intention. In this workshop, we cover classic hand-sewing techniques like the running stitch, back stitch, and tailors knot. Perfect for beginners and intermediates. We make a small project from start to finish that will teach you many of the hand-sewing skills you can use in larger quilting projects. Participants are encouraged to bring some fabric with magical powers to share with the group.

In Mini Memory Quilts on Saturday, July 10 from 10am to 1pm, students will create a small fabric memorial for a lost loved one in the company of a supportive sewing circle. We will touch on the healing nature of textiles and hand-sewing, and by the end of the workshop, you will have created tiny memory quilts that you can keep for yourself or give away to friends and family. In this course, we cover classic hand-sewing techniques like the running stitch, back stitch, and tailors knot. Perfect for beginners and intermediates. Students are asked to bring fabric that holds a special connection between you and the loved one you would like to honor if possible. We will incorporate this fabric into your quilts. 

Visit Zak’s website at zakfoster.com to see more of Zak’s work, and find these great workshops on our Textiles and Art + Wellness pages!