We recently connected with Abriana Rosu and have shared our conversation below.

Abriana, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. We’d love to hear about a project that you’ve worked on that’s meant a lot to you.

One of the most meaningful projects I’ve worked on was at the end of my senior year of high school. I transferred schools as a junior to pursue art, and part of the School of Fine Arts program at my school included putting on a senior show. In a typical year, this would mean a show in an art gallery, but due to COVID restrictions in 2021, my show was presented at my school. When I was thinking about what I wanted to do for the show, I knew that I could do a simple gallery exhibit, with paintings and drawings displayed up on clean white walls, but that’s not me. I stepped back to really look at myself as an artist, and I recalled a time when I realized how art can affect people. Once, when I was nine years old, my family went out to eat at Macaroni Grill, where they let you draw on the tables. Being a kid who loved to draw, I took advantage of this opportunity. I doodled things like nonsensical inside jokes from my third grade class and characters with oversized silverware patiently waiting for their food. I didn’t think too much of anything I had drawn, and my family left the restaurant. However, we soon realized we’d left something behind, and had to turn back around. When we got back to our table, our server was laughing at one of my drawings— a bottle of “hippopotamus syndrome pills,” complete with a list of preposterous side effects. To think, my ridiculous drawing about nonexistent pills made someone laugh. This was the moment where it clicked for me; I can make people happy through art.
Throughout the years since, I’ve found small ways to bring joy through creativity, whether it’s giving portraits to cast members of plays I’ve been in, drawing short comics on AP tests for graders to laugh at, or leaving paper cranes for people to find. The cranes started when my friend and I decided to learn how to fold origami cranes for fun in our sophomore year of high school, and it became something I enjoyed doing. I would fold cranes out of sticky notes and leave them behind on my desk, hoping to bring a little joy to the next person who sat there.
This idea, of bringing joy to people through my art, was the heart of my senior show, which I titled “Little Joys.” The main feature of the exhibit was 100 original drawings on paint swatches. I was inspired to draw on paint swatches after noticing the unique names given to each paint color. The drawings in Little Joys, done in ballpoint pen, were each 2×3 inches. They were all prompted by the color names, and most strived to be comedic. Accompanying the drawings were over two hundred colorful hand-folded paper cranes, hanging from the ceiling and scattered throughout the room. Additionally, seven still-life paintings and eight hand-colored prints of the cranes were on display.
Watching people come to my show and chuckle as they browsed the collection of drawings was very meaningful. Knowing that I can create something that people connect to is so important to me. Little Joys was a show that I put a lot of time and heart into. It reflected my personal journey as an artist in a way that still focused on the viewer, and I am very proud of the result.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I’ve always loved to draw. Art has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. It was only in high school, though, that I first considered art as a career path. In the time since, I have learned who I am as an artist and why I love to be creative. I have worked in all sorts of mediums and formats, both 2D and 3D, but I’ve always been most drawn to illustration. I believe illustrative art has an amazing capacity for storytelling and expression. Comics, in particular, are the perfect blend of literature and art, and a way that I am able to capture something special and unique. Comics act almost as the mind does, with both words and pictures. Through them, I am able to express something intangible. I’ve been grateful to have had three published comics— one in Vagabond comics, a local comics anthology; one in Cleveland Scene magazine; and, most recently, one in Brainchild, a student magazine based out of Kent State University.
In addition to my 2D work, I opened an Etsy shop in 2020, where I sell handmade novelty earrings and stickers during my breaks from school. Although it is not my primary focus, I enjoy the process. In everything I do, I strive to remain authentic to myself. While the subject, purpose, and format of my work varies, I always hope to create something that I can be proud of.
I am currently a sophomore at Kent State, co-majoring in Visual Communication Design and Theatre Studies. My career goal is to become a full time illustrator. I have worked on several design and illustration projects in the past, including designing a series of logos and graphics for my church’s 75th anniversary jubilee, creating puppets in adobe character animator for one of my professors, designing a logo for a female empowerment group at my high school, illustrating a playbill for one of my high school theatre productions, and various other commissions. As I work toward my degrees, I look forward to gaining additional skills and inspiration that I will utilize as a professional artist in the future.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

For me, the most rewarding aspect of being an artist is having a platform to share ideas. Regardless of the size of the audience, I have a means of sharing emotions, humor, and stories that other people can connect with. While I do create art for myself, ultimately I am rewarded by the reactions of others. Art is something that everyone can benefit from. As I move forward in my creative journey, I hope to reach more people, and share the things that I want other people to see.

What can society do to ensure an environment that’s helpful to artists and creatives?

I believe that, as a society, we must be reminded of the people behind the art we see. Especially now, with AI art making its way into conversations, it is important to remember that art is not a commodity. Art is an expression of ideas and an application of skill. It is more than just a generation of an image. We need art, and we need artists. To best support artists and other creatives, I encourage people to explore the arts locally. The internet makes it very easy to find artists, but equally easy to pass them by. Interacting with the local arts scene can be an amazing way to meet artists in person and give your support.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://abrianaart.weebly.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/abriana_art/
• Other: Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/AbrianaArt