Abbey studied with Hans Hofmann during the summers of 1952 and 1954 at the Hans Hofmann School of Fine Art in Provincetown, Massachusetts. The confidence Abbey gained with Hofmann’s encouragement resulted in an ultimate trust in her own creativity. She analyzed architectonic aspects of the picture plane, which became an issue she continues to address throughout her career. Through nude models, landscape, and still life, she explored fundamental structures of space and form in composition. Abbey experienced the interaction of objects which led to a greater visual understanding of space, a concept that was the culminating experience of her studies in those years.
