Welcome, Alysha. First and foremost, tell us about your background and why you chose to pursue this career. Do you remember the first artwork that moved something inside you?

I was first introduced to art by my American grandmother, who taught me how to draw and apply color when I was very young. She instilled in me the idea that art is a practice—something that requires patience and discipline. Because the school I attended from kindergarten through eighth grade had no art classes, my grandmother became my teacher, and those early lessons definitely shaped the foundation of my artistic journey. Later, I attended a high school with a visual arts program and began doing summer residencies at various art colleges in New York City, so I knew early on that this was the path I wanted to pursue.

It’s difficult to recall the very first artwork that inspired me, but I remember being deeply moved by Edvard Munch’s The Scream—a poster my older sister had in her bedroom when we were growing up. Even though I was too young to fully understand the emotions it conveyed, I could feel its intensity. Another pivotal moment was seeing the Sistine Chapel as a young child on my first trip to Italy. I remember being completely overwhelmed by the scale, detail, and immersive quality of Michelangelo’s paintings, feeling as though I had stepped into another world. Those early encounters helped shape my understanding of how art can evoke emotion, tell stories, and create a profound sense of place.

How would you describe your artistic practice? What are the recurring elements, themes, and concepts you refer to?

My artistic practice is rooted in material exploration, memory, and transformation. I work across disciplines, incorporating natural dyeing, weaving, pigment-making, and mixed media to create works that reflect cycles of growth and change. A key theme in my work is the act of tending—whether nurturing plants for pigments, preparing handmade materials, or constructing compositions. I am drawn to the relationship between process and place, often using site-specific materials that embody a landscape’s history. My work explores interwoven identities, the preservation of traditions, and the beauty of impermanence.

Tell us a bit about the process of making your work.

My process begins long before the physical creation of a piece—it starts with cultivation. I grow and harvest plants that include Japanese indigo, Amaranth, and dyer’s coreopsis, extracting their colors to use as pigments for silk, paper, and textiles. Each step—preparing the fibers, dyeing, layering, cutting, and reconfiguring—is an intuitive conversation with the materials. I often work directly in the field, capturing the immediacy of a place by creating prints in nature. The act of layering and rearranging speaks to the nature of change, both in the landscape and within ourselves.

What inspires you? Where do the ideas come from? How do you develop your projects?

I find inspiration in the natural world, ancestral traditions, and the tactile processes passed down through generations. As a first-generation American from a lineage of Italian weavers and dyers, I am drawn to how handmade processes hold history and identity. My ideas often emerge through direct interaction with materials—seeing how a plant’s pigment behaves on fabric or how something as simple and commonplace as plain weave cloth can be reimagined through structure, layering, and material choices. I develop projects through experimentation, allowing the materials to guide the work as they evolve.

Where are some of your favorite spaces that support contemporary art or design? Now that the art has an online presence, has that changed?

One of my favorite spaces is Folklore, which also happens to be a gallery that represents my work. It's a contemporary fine art space rooted in honoring ancient traditions, supporting local makers, and fostering connection. I love that it's more than just a gallery, it’s a place for storytelling, reflection, and discovery. Folklore’s curation highlights artists who create with reverence, and that makes it a space where the art feels deeply personal and intentional and I am really honored to show work alongside these artists.

In New York City, I’m most recently drawn to The Future Perfect’s St. Luke’s Townhouse in the West Village. It's a space where contemporary work is displayed in a lived-in environment , which really transforms the viewing experience. I also admire Les Ateliers Courbet, which highlights the craftsmanship of master artisans and bridges tradition and modernity in a way that resonates with my own practice.

While nothing replaces experiencing art in person, I am finding that online platforms can allow for deeper insight into process and materials, making the work more accessible and contextualized beyond the gallery wall.

What projects will you be developing this year? What about the next one?

This year, I’m continuing to explore new ways of growing and sourcing materials on the East Coast, experimenting with dye plants and natural fibers in a different climate. I’m also interested in working on a larger scale and incorporating new materials into my practice. Recently, I started weaving with wool for the first time and have been drawn to its softness and forgiving nature, which has been a contrast to the linen fibers I’ve historically used.

In the studio, I have several ongoing series that examine plant matter in different ways—some highlight the raw and processed forms of fiber, others focus on pigment, and some merge a bit of both elements. As always, I’m letting the materials guide me, allowing space for experimentation and new discoveries. As I continue this work, I’m excited to see how these explorations evolve and inform future projects.

We are at the end of this short interview, would you like to add something else about your artistic research? How did you find collaborating with our gallery?

I am always exploring new ways to engage with materials and processes that hold a deep sense of place and history. My work continues to evolve as I uncover new ways of working with natural pigments and fibers, always guided by the themes of connection and transformation.

Being featured on this platform has been a great opportunity to share my work in a new context. While experiencing art in person is irreplaceable, online platforms allow for a deeper conversation around process and meaning—giving space to share the origins of materials, the techniques behind each piece, and the interconnected histories that shape the work. I appreciate the opportunity to engage with an audience in this way, opening up new layers of understanding that might not always be accessible in a traditional gallery setting.