Abba Cudney
Iru magazine personally list Abba as one of our favorite artist to follow. The past year has been good to
her. Her persistence and humble being definitely opened doors for bigger and better things and Iru was
glad to get the opportunity to speak with her. Abba is a graduate of the New England School of Art. Her
works document specific moments through figurative works, and interior space.
"I would say around my senior year in college is when I could consider myself an artist. I have done art
since I was little and even in high school but senior year definitely felt official, I got my studio space, we
had to begin preparing for a show and the shows really helped everything flow for me as an artist." she
explained
She shared with us what really influenced her to pretty much capture moments and make them intangible
but seemingly present.
"What started my interior stuff was my sophomore year in college. I had just moved into a new apartment
and the chaos of how we lived and being in art school, just the environment at that time, I really wanted
to document it." She says.
"I liked painting from life a lot, so i'd sketch or take a photo, and then I'd bring it into the studio and i
would paint some from the actual photo, but then I would do some of it from memory. Some of my work
has an unfinished look so that it creates the feel of being a memory" she explains.
"Sometimes i get frustrated and i walk away because it's not done, and it's not in front of me" she says.
"But I try to get a base layer of something and see where it's going and that normally motivates me to
keep coming back to it." she continues
We finished up but asking her for some words of wisdom for upcoming artist who are just graduating or
haven't attended school: "Personally I experienced, when i got out of college, i wasn't immersed. I found
that it was easier to get down on myself, not like there is no hope, but it's hard to get yourself out there."
she says. "If you keep making work for yourself and it's what you want to make, things will start to
happen, Because after a while, I started getting offers to do shows, and murals. Things do fall into place
if you keep pushing yourself, as long as you are doing it for you"