Crazy Quilt (in motion)

Copyrighted © by Zak Foster. All rights reserved.
Reproduced here with artist’s permission from
Facebook (posted in June 2022).

Crazy Quilt (stationary view)

Copyrighted © by Zak Foster. All rights reserved.
Reproduced here with artist’s permission from
Facebook (posted in June 2022).

Jeans, I Love You (quilt)

Copyrighted © by Zak Foster. All rights reserved.
Reproduced here with artist’s permission from
Facebook (posted 26 August 2022).

Publisher’s Notes:

Me, too, I love jeans, wear ’em every day! And I enjoy Zak Foster’s “improvisational” quilts in part because he has such a joie de vivre that carries over into his work. I see his quilts as vibrant, spontaneous, and joyful.

Plus, I appreciate Zak’s philosophy: “Our bodies can be gifts back to the earth. We can provide sustenance for kingdoms of creatures who will help recycle our borrowed elements back into the soil to be transformed once again into life.” (From zakfoster.quilts, 22 April 2021.)

To that end, he also creates customized memory and burial quilts.

“It’s my vision to create quilts that are cherished in life, and then when the day comes, this same well-loved quilt can be used in lieu of a casket. Just roll the body in a soft and colorful quilt, and return it to the earth. ...[An] option for death care [that’s] personal, expressive, affordable, natural, and most importantly, death positive.

“If it’s one thing we know is going to happen to us, it’s death. Let’s be proactive and plan what we can. I already have my own burial quilt designed, and just seeing it sitting folded up in the corner of my bedroom every day not only gives me peace of mind knowing that it’s ready, but it also grounds me in the awareness that our days are so fleeting. Each day is an opportunity to create the world we all want to live in while we can.”

(The two paragraphs above are quoted from an interview by Ruth Woods, “Zak Foster: Artist, quilt master, and purveyor of memories”, published on 26 March 2022 [updated 29 March 2022] in Craft School Oz).

Zak Foster

was raised in rural North Carolina near Winston-Salem and is now based in Brooklyn, NYC. A self-taught artist, his 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’s drawn to preserving the stories of quilts and specializes in memory quilts. His work has been featured in various magazines, websites, and galleries.

Artist’s website: https://www.zakfoster.com

More on the Web: By, About, and Beyond

⚡ Interview with Zak Foster, Quilt Artist and Met Gala Quilt Creator by Sarah Erickson in Quilting Daily (8 July 2022):

“Few quilts have burst into public consciousness as boldly and dramatically as the one recently worn by A$AP Rocky at the 2021 Met Gala. The fashion designer Eli Russel Linnetz commissioned the quilt artist who brought it to life, Zak Foster. Zak agreed to speak with Gigi Levsen, Editor of McCall’s Quilting magazine and answer a few questions about the famous quilt, his role in the process, and his work in general.”

⚡ Zak Foster at Textile Curator (Waking Up the World to Contemporary Textile Art), featuring nine quilts made from repurposed clothing.