SEAMSIDE: Exploring the Inner Work of Textiles ZAK FOSTER

It’s been a year since Coulter Fussell and I first chatted here on SEAMSIDE. In that conversation, we talked about the South and family history, the role of community in her work, and how she maintains hope in the face of conflict. You can find that first conversation, HOW TO WORK WITH WHAT YOU’VE GOT, in your feed below in March 2023.

We talk about Tyrrell's newest work along with three artists he thinks everyone should follow

Tyrrell, a sixth-generation Diné weaver and sheepherder, will tell you there’s nothing in his work that specifically belongs to him. And while it may be true that there’s nothing new under the sun and that all artists draw from deep wells of collective experience, I can’t help but think that there is something special about Tyrrell’s work—the use of text, the collage-like shifts in weaving patterns, the subject matter—that sets his work apart.

Time continually marching forward. Each new day just piles on top of yesterday and gets buried further back in what we have come to call history.

I think there's a problem with thinking about time that way, and that's what we're exploring today on SEAMSIDE. I'm going to share with you a quilt that I made called Generation. It's part of the Southern White Amnesia, a body of work that I've pulled together in the last couple years, exploring the stories that Southern White families tell each other and the ones they don't.

My good friend [Maura Grace Ambrose](https://www.instagram.com/folkfibers/?hl=en) joins for me for this SEAMSIDE special episode I’m calling FREE ADVICE where we answer your questions on quilting and the creative life.

In this episode, we share our thoughts on the following questions:

- how our quilt aesthetic has changed over time,
- how to learn quilting without spending a lot of money or time
- what to do with random experimental pieces
- how to help objects made from imperfect salvaged materials look their best
- Maura offers a fool-proof method for getting started with natural dyes
- do you need a quilting hoop to hand quilt?
- what’s it like to quilt professionally?
- our favorite podcasts

In this episode, I share more about a quilt I call LIKE FAMILY. It's part of the Southern White Amnesia Collection, which explores the kinds of stories that Southern White families tell one another, or maybe more importantly, the ones they don’t tell one another about their own family history. You may have heard me talk about other pieces in the same collection on SEAMSIDE before, and if not, I'd encourage you to check out some of those episodes. So far, we've got SILVER DOLLAR, SNAKE HANDLER, OUR CHILDREN, and ONUS // ON US