Hello! I’m Alicia Scardetta, I live and work in Brooklyn, NY. Find me on the internet at www.aliciascardetta.com and @aliciascardetta on Instagram.
My artwork consists mostly of woven fiber pieces, I’m interested in manipulating the variables of weaving to determine what can be produced when the warp and weft are challenged. Although my art practice plays an important role in my life, it is not my primary source of income or what I spend the majority of my days doing. From Monday to Friday I work for an embroidered home goods company, Coral & Tusk in Industry City. The time I spend in my studio making my own work occurs in the mornings, evenings and on weekends. Here’s how a Saturday may go for me.
7:00am I’m an early riser, my bedroom floods with light during the spring and summer which tends to wake me up rather than an alarm. Between sunshine and a very hungry cat, I’m usually out of bed by 7:30am.
8:00am I like to spend at least the first hour or two of the day in my studio. During the week I work until 9:30am before heading off to my job. But today is Saturday! I spend some time tidying up, organizing a recent rope shipment, and browsing podcasts before settling down to weave.
9:00am Weaving can be a time consuming process. The piece I’m working on now is warped on a 5’ x 5’ frame and has been in progress since February.
I’ve worked on it off and on, sometimes focusing on smaller projects to take breaks. Lately I’ve been focusing only on this piece and it finally feels like I’m getting somewhere with it.
1:00 PM Some Saturdays I spend the entire day in the studio but today I wrap up around lunch since it’s so nice outside! I live in Sunset Park which has no shortage of delicious food. I venture to Industry City with my fiance, Will, to try out a new spot that just opened.
2:00pm After lunch we walk over to the nearby park Sunset Park is named for, to enjoy the weather. It is one the highest places in Brooklyn, which means beautiful views of the city and harbor. We hang out, down ice coffees and enjoy the sunshine.
3:00pm I make my way into the city, it’s the last day to see the Grau-Garriga show at Salon94 on Bowery. The museums and galleries in NYC are probably my favorite thing about living here. More often than not I wait til the last second to see a show! The exhibit has a handful of his large scale fiber pieces, they are mind blowingly beautiful, it’s a real treat to look closely at the materials and construction.
I spend the rest of the afternoon roaming around lower Manhattan, run a few errands, pick up a few things. When the weather is nice I can spend hours walking around different parts of the city. No matter how many times I frequent a neighborhood there is always something to discover.
5:45pm Take the R train to Textile Arts center for open studio. In May I took the four week Machine Knitting 101 class at TAC. I’ve been attending open studio to use the machine and continue to familiarize myself with the techniques taught in the class. In the process I’ve been experimenting with knitting cords, hopefully to use in a larger fiber piece at some point. Open studio time is a dream, there’s a ton of natural light at TAC and everyone there is super focused on weaving, knitting, printing or dyeing.
9:30pm After a few hours knitting cords, I pack up the machine and head back home. I get home around 10pm and eat dinner (Will does most of the cooking), look through emails and eventually get lost on ebay. The rest of the evening is spent usually binge watching Netflix, catching up on New Yorker issues and dreaming up future weavings!
