Conversations with Abira Ali

Today we’d like to introduce you to Abira Ali.

Hi Abira, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work-life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today?
I began to see myself as an artist in First grade. Miss Kronz handed out coloring sheets of a girl and boy on a swing set. I worked that page until it began to deteriorate at the edges, creating patterns while pressing the crayons into deep solids. I made things up and filled every nook and cranny with my own invention. In my picture, the boy and girl swung in a psychedelic dream space.

I am inspired by my grandmother, Irma Freeman. Irma lived and breathed creativity and art. Grandma was a German Jew who came to America to escape the Nazis. She was a dreamer, a wonderful cook and a painter. I admired her and was moved by her artwork. She told me that when she painted she could forget her troubles and feel free.

I want to feel free too and I want to share that feeling with the world. Thank you, grandma for letting me know that art can be a doorway, connecting the spirit to the universe.

As an artist, I am inspired by the magnificence of nature. I use painting to transcend my earthly surroundings and send something positive into the universe. I live for moments when I am open enough to become a vehicle for creative process.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Being an artist is my job and it does not have regular pay, which is difficult. There is nobody to make me do the work, either, except me. I worry about money, but we are getting by, I have made my choice and being an artist takes priority. I fight the doubt and struggle with consistency. We are all connected and the world is a big mess. There are very few things that we can actually control. I aim to stay on a path that includes balance, practice, gratitude, faith, love and nature.

Appreciate you sharing that. What else should we know about what you do?
When living in the East Village in NYC, I worked for about 10 years as a commercial artist, I illustrated a children’s book for Henry Holt and Co. I illustrated for The New Yorker. I designed toys and illustrated for North American Bear Company. I helped a start-up, called Tiny Universe create a line of dolls and books.

In 1996, my husband Gordon Henderson and I moved to LA and we had a child. I got into being a mom and building the safe stable home life that I never had.

When our daughter was seven, I started Wisdom Arts Laboratory (WAL), a collaborative art-making organization. WAL is all about creating a community for artists, parents and children. WAL holds events that are free to the public. We facilitate imagination by offering an atmosphere with wonderful materials, art instruction and music. Last summer Wisdom Artists in Residence built a tiny town with 30 teenagers and ten artists. We dubbed it Hamsterdam and displayed it at the 787 gallery in July 2022.

About ten years ago, I started to get into oil painting. I’ve had a few solo shows since then and I have been showing work at Hey There Projects, they have a gallery in Joshua Tree and Cypress Park. I am currently preparing for a solo exhibit at the Monterey Art Museum, which opens on October 6.

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I loved being a child. I was shy, independent and cagey. I started walking to school in kindergarten without a grown-up – that was how we did it in the 70s. I loved playing kickball with the neighborhood kids and dancing to the Stylistics. I drew constantly and illustrated my stories. I designed and sewed dresses for my little sisters. I built things out of cardboard, which included a miniature town that I dubbed Mouse Land. I got a lot of satisfaction from building Mouse Land. I solicited kids and adults to contribute. Mouse Land inspired me as an adult to collaborate on tiny towns with children, teenagers and artists through Wisdom Arts Laboratory.

My father was not a nice person. He was involved in a variety of dubious activities and was a dangerous presence at home. My mother loved music, art and literature but had a difficult time raising a family. Our home life was chaotic, but my two brothers, two sisters and I all stuck together and learned to rely on our imagination. We kind of raised ourselves. We are still very close.

I spent a lot of time at other people’s homes because mine was not cozy or safe. An important person in my life was my art teacher, Joan Brindle. Joan was a second mother to me. I met her when I was ten and we are still very close. I lived with her for many years through high school and after. As an adult, I met my life partner, Gordon Henderson, and we raised our daughter Eliza in a happy home.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://heythereprojects.shop/collections/abira-ali
• Instagram: @abira_ali
• Facebook: Abira Ali
• Youtube: Wisdom Arts Laboratory
• Other: wisdomartslaboratory.com

Image Credits
Personal Photo: Abira Ali – me at my solo show “City of the Sun Kissed”, 2021 Hey There Projects in LA (Cypress Park) 1. Top of Roy Street, Highland Park, 8” X 10”, oil on Birch, 2019 2. City of the Sun Kissed, 30” X 36”, oil on canvas, 2021 3. Dark Cloud, 24” X 30”, oil on canvas, 2019 4. Nest painting in the studio, 2023 5. Alien, 11” X 15”, gouache and pastel on paper, 2022 6. Hectic Thoughts, 16” x 20” ink, gouache and pastel on paper, 2022 7. Conversation, 16” x 20” ink, gouache and pastel on paper, 2022 8. Hamsterdam, collaborative tiny town, with 30 teenagers and 10 artists – Wisdom Artists in Residence at Remainders Creative Reuse, 787 Gallery, Pasadena, 2022