The Sword Swallower, acrylic on canvas
Last month, I had the pleasure of talking with Maureen Hudas, who
is an emerging artist in the community and is beginning the journey
down her own creative path. Hudas worked as a scenic artist for Dis-
ney intermittently for the past fi fteen years, and on April 14, 2017
decided to take the leap to focus solely on her artwork. “I want to fi nd
who I am as an artist,” said Hudas, “I have experience doing commis-
sioned work, but not a lot of personal artwork.” Orlando is bursting
with creative minds, including Hudas, who has energy, talent, and
unique vision. sign at the University of Dayton. Hudas told me the career change
occurred when she asked herself, “Who’s going to hire a painter?”
although her heart was always connected to drawing and painting.
When she came to Florida, she fell into the world of scenic art, cre-
ating environments for theme parks. The career in scenic art allowed
her engage multiple facets of her background—interior design and
fi ne art seemed to fl ow naturally in this fi eld—and at fi rst sustained
her fi nancially and creatively. “Scenic art did help with my painting. I
learned a lot of painting tricks,” she said.
Hudas was born and raised in Philadelphia, and moved to Central
Florida in 1995. Although she began studying fi ne art at the Moore
College of Art and Design, she acquired her degree in interior de- After many years in this realm of scenic design, Hudas felt it was time
for a change more aligned with her fi ne art background. “When I told
people that I do scenic work, they usually said ‘Oh wow that’s so
Bearded Lady, acrylic on canvas
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