KillingZoeCo: DIY Festival Artisan

Held at the Utah State Fairpark every August, the 17th Annual Craft Lake City DIY Festival Presented By Harmons is Utah’s largest local-centric arts, music, science and technology festival. Over the three-day weekend, experience the best of our state’s creative culture with over 500 local artists and makers, three stages for music and dance performances, a youth entrepreneur area, a STEM building with hands-on exhibitions, dozens of food vendors and more. Kids of all ages and dogs are welcome — find more info and get tickets at craftlakecity.com!

Illustrator and ceramist Zoe Staley (she/they) creates hyper-realistic miniatures of skate ramps and bowls by forming them out of cement and adding streetlights, benches and poles. They complete these sickeningly adorable pocket-sized parks with hand-drawn artwork stylized to look like graffiti. You can use the ceramic as an ashtray, a jewelry and trinket holder, or to practice and master your fingerboarding.

Staley has been drawing for as long as she can remember, but I was surprised, given her technical proficiency, to learn that she has only been working with ceramics since 2023. The street art aspects of the pieces are meticulously detailed — a feature that stands out because of the added realism. Staley says they were inspired by her time spent living in Buenos Aires, a notoriously creative city overflowing with stunning murals, paintings and graffiti. She would spend time dissecting the pieces and admiring the shadowing, color palettes and versatility of the art form, as well as its effectiveness at representing social change and acting as resistance to conformity.

Staley started skateboarding less than a year ago but has been rollerblading for 20 years, giving them lots of time to be inspired by local skate parks. They have not yet had the chance to incorporate spray paint in their artwork, but they hope to scale up to bigger pieces like clothing and canvas. Follow along with their art on Instagram at @killingzoeco and be sure to check out their precious half-pipes in person at the DIY Fest.

Read more about past DIY Festival artisans here:
Respectable Hoe Chainmail: DIY Festival Artisan
Dark Muse Altars: DIY Festival Artisan