Art, Design, and the Spirit of Creativity

This episode explores the art and design world of Ava Haddad. She is a graduate from NC state University’s design program and is currently engaged in art design and pottery, in addition to working as a nurse assistant. Throughout our conversation, we touch on Ava’s design work, sewing, quilting, and her experience in painting in Florence, Italy. In addition to that, a fair bit of our conversation goes over her identity as someone with Lebanese roots and as a person that is constantly engaged in creative endeavors.

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Creators & Guests

Host

Abdullah Najjar

What is Connecting the Pack?

"Connecting the Pack" is a podcast from WKNC 88.1 FM HD-1/HD-2 that allows international students to share their unique stories and how they have ended up studying at NC State.

Abdullah Najjar 0:00
All right, everybody. Welcome to another episode of connecting the Pack. In today's conversation, I am joined by Ava Haddad. Ava is a graduate from NC State University's design program, and is currently entering into healthcare. Right. And today, we will try to talk more about her interesting background where she she has some Lebanese heritage in addition to American heritage. And we'll try to explore some of her artwork and how that ties in to who she who she is, as a person who's coming from this very interesting slash mixed background. So, Ava, welcome to the studio.

Ava Haddad 0:54
Hey, thanks for having me.

Abdullah Najjar 0:56
Absolutely. So, I'd love to start off with sort of understanding how you were why you chose to go into the design world. And sort of what you know, what inspired you, or motivated you to kind of go into that, so maybe you can walk us through, you know, the motivation that drove you to enter into the program? Sure.

Ava Haddad 1:23
So, um, I have been interested in art my entire life. From as early as I can remember, I've just loved it, I've loved any art form. It's always something that I found really fun. I've just always been very passionate about art and design. I did it a lot in high school, I did a lot of oil, pastel work, and a lot of painting. And then I, as I was getting ready to apply to colleges, I, I figured I would go into design, because, you know, art was such a huge part of my life. And I was like, Okay, how can I make a career out of this. And so I looked a little bit into, you know, different design programs. Saw that state had a really great one. And I decided to apply to graphic design. There honestly wasn't a lot of rhyme or reason to why choose graphic specifically. I really didn't know much about it. And I'd never done any sort of like digital artwork. So I just, you know, I was like, Okay, this is like a practical form of design, you know, I can make a career out of this. So why not? Let's do it. And then, yeah, I switched from graphic design, after about two years at state into just the art and design program. I found that graphic design was, I don't know the right word. Well, first of all, a lot of it was very new. And I felt like I wasn't getting a lot of the support that I needed to like, really properly learn. Like, a lot of the tools specifically like the Adobe Suite, there was not a lot of guidance there. And that was, you know, that's, that's kind of the whole program. So it's, it can be frustrating if you're trying to learn that and you're very new to it. And there's not a lot of, you know, support. And I also just, I was unsure at that point. If I wanted to continue doing graphic design, I felt like it was a little too narrow for where I was at, because I wasn't, I don't know, I just I felt like I hadn't explored other design careers enough to, you know, feel confident in staying in that program. So I decided to switch to art and design. I felt that it was a little more open ended. And I ended up taking some really cool classes. Well, I don't know if other people would say they're cool, but

Abdullah Najjar 4:09
start naming those classes then.

Ava Haddad 4:14
Quilting studio. My nana, she's, she's a big quilter stone, she makes the most beautiful quilts. And I've always wanted to learn how to sew. So it's like, Okay, let me let me do quilting. And it was it was a really cool experience. And then after that I took another like fibers studio and I ended up making a top which was so fun, so challenging. And I don't know, it was just it was a really cool experience. And I think it kind of helped me to get out of my head about design just because I don't know I felt kind of boxed in for a while. And I didn't really know what to do with that. So I think taking some you know Different and maybe less structured studios really helped with that. And I also did like animation, which was really cool. And then yeah, for my Yeah, yeah, that was intense. Love the drawings. But for my final senior studio actually did a graphic design project as my capstone project. So

Abdullah Najjar 5:22
can you expand on that graphic design project? What was it about?

Ava Haddad 5:26
Yeah, so it was a website. I. So my minor was entrepreneurship in the arts. And throughout that minor. I did a series of projects, I guess, centered around this, like hypothetical, like art therapy company that, like I created and had write a business plan for. And so I had a lot of information like, around that already. And I thought it would be cool, too. incorporate that into my final project and create a website like for this, you know, hypothetical company. And I had no experience in website design, I've never done it. Yeah, so it's like, okay, I'll learn all it'll be a challenging experience. But, you know, hopefully, I'll get a lot out of it. And I don't know it, it also be cool to see, you know, the projects that I had worked on, you know, with the hypothetical company, like, it would be cool to see that kind of brought to life and see it visualized in a way. So, and into that, like, I incorporated a lot of illustration, and just sketching and stuff, which felt really nice, you know, to kind of have a balance between more like, I don't want to say rigid, because it's not always rigid, but a balance between, like, just being able to get stuff out of my head and onto paper, and you know, the style I want and the colors I want and, you know, create something that feels like me, balanced with something that would be very polished and professional and marketable. So it was it was a cool project. And I'm glad that I chose to do that. Because I feel like I learned a lot. Yeah.

Abdullah Najjar 7:28
So I want to maybe take a step back here and ask you a couple of questions about, I want to pick up on a couple of things you mentioned. First off, I'm glad you took us through like a, like a tour of your, you know, that you spent in the program. You know, there was great, we got to kind of see, you know, a snippet of how things were. Yeah. But I want to try to maybe ask you about the difference between quilting and sewing. I don't think I have the knowledge to really differentiate between the two, right? And I'm sure maybe some people listening to this, they might not know the difference. So how can you maybe kind of simplify it to someone who has not maybe kind of whose unfamiliar with the difference between to

Speaker 1 8:22
write so I would say quilting is maybe a form of sewing or something that you can do with sewing. So there's, you know, lots of different kinds of sewing, you can you know, hand stitch things, there's, I think embroidery would count in there obviously like using a sewing machine. And then you know, you can you can make a lot of different things. So we focused on, like traditional quilts like blankets. And yeah, it was just really cool. We kind of learned about the history of quilts, and you know, a lot of them used to be made from scraps of fabric. Just throughout history, that's how they've been made. Because, you know, people didn't have a lot of money and they use what they had. And so, I'd say like a defining feature of quilts is that it's it has a lot of layers. So there's, like, I guess there's three layers traditionally. So you have this like, bottom piece of fabric and then in the middle you have this what do they call it? It's like a wool layer or like a cotton layer or almost like kind of foamy. There's a specific word I can't I can't think of it. We called the midsection. Yeah, the midsection. It's kind of a you know, it's the plushy part. And then you have your top part which would be like your pattern part or your you know, it'll have your design on it. And so that's comprised of like, a ton of tiny little squares or triangles or whatever shape you want to do, that you've sewn together. And so you have to kind of, you know, get all your layers and then put them on top of each other, and then sew all of them together, so, sew through all the three layers, and then you create, like your border around it. So it's a lot of work. Well, like a lot of work.

Abdullah Najjar 10:25
And when you took the course, did you have to design one thing? Or was it just a multiple, multiple projects happening throughout the semester?

Ava Haddad 10:34
Right, so we have several little projects, I'd say we started off with just kind of like, quilt squares. So quilting squares are usually a, well, at least some of the traditional quilts are comprised of like, you know, like nine squares, maybe. And each square has like a ton of different pieces in it. So it's just, it's kind of a way to like help organize your quilt and make it a little easier. So kind of like blocks that you work on out of time. And then you sew them all together. So we started off just, you know, learning how to first of all, learning how to sew, like using the sewing machine, and then working on like the quilting squares. And then we kind of worked our way up to it like our final project. My professor was like, you know, you can do whatever you want with this, but you need to create some sorts of quilts. And most of us did like traditional quilts. We just chose a style that we liked. Like I made, I was inspired by a kind of quilt called just an art quilt. And that's yeah, it's that's very open ended. But I wanted a piece that was not very, like, functional for warmth. I wanted something I could like put on my wall.

Abdullah Najjar 12:00
Is that what they call avant garde? Like the type of design? That's just kind of Yes. sake of art? Yeah.

Ava Haddad 12:05
Art for the sake of art. Yeah, absolutely. And so I wanted to kind of, we were we were very encouraged to, you know, use traditional aspects of quilting, and, you know, really learn about their tradition, because it's such a huge tradition. It's so I don't know, it's such a cool thing and such a I don't know, it's just, it's, it's an awesome thing that women have been doing forever. But so yeah, she wanted us to, you know, do traditional stuff, and then put her own spin on it and get a little creative get a little funky. I cut chunks out of my quilt. So I create a kind of windows in my quilt if that makes sense. Yeah, just a couple. And I also did like kind of a raw like ruffled border, if that makes sense on one of the sides. So like, I had a finished border on like, three out of four sides. And then the fourth was just kind of like, raw fabric, and then all of the fabric that I used I thrifted. So I found that secondhand, right.

Abdullah Najjar 13:20
Could get pretty expensive. Like when you're Yeah, absolutely. Yeah.

Ava Haddad 13:27
And so yeah, I cut out chunks of my quilt and I created a little windows with sheer fabric in the cutouts. So I found this like multicolored shear fabric. And I like sewed it into the Windows. It was it was a difficult endeavor. I don't know. I don't really know how I did it. But wow, you did it. Yeah, I did it.

Abdullah Najjar 13:55
Now I feel like I'm gonna have to see an image of that kind of put things into like, yeah, I can. Yeah, wow, this is this is fascinating. And then you also mentioned a top that you designed so that would be was that sewing.

Ava Haddad 14:10
So it was actually quilted. Oh, wow. Um, so both I mean, it's, I would say it's all sewing like quilting is a form of sewing. Because you know, that's what you're doing to create the quilts. So this top I've never never designed clothes before. I have never made clothing before when I decided that that's what I was going to do. And so I kind of created my own patterns. I have a bad habit of winging things. When it comes to design Yeah, when I when I both I you know, I was very loose with my measurements, which probably wasn't a great idea. Yes. It worked, it worked out. And at the end of the day, you know, it could fit me I still have it, I can wear it fits it's me, I'm really happy with it. And yeah, I quilted. So in my top, it was only two layers. I did not include the like plushy middle layer. So it was kind of a thicker, like a white denim material for the inside. And then the outside again, I thrifted all of my fabrics. And I decided on my color scheme and my design. And I quilted the outside and then attached to the inside, and then I had to sew all of the pieces together.

Abdullah Najjar 15:45
So would that be considered like a cumbersome process? Like very Oh, yeah. Okay.

Ava Haddad 15:51
Oh, yeah, that's, again, I don't know how I did it. I cannot recreate it improvised.

Abdullah Najjar 15:56
Yeah, I

Ava Haddad 15:58
just, you know, I tend to do that. Wow. Yeah. How?

Abdullah Najjar 16:06
How long ago? Is that?

Ava Haddad 16:09
Good question. A little over a year ago. That was? Or yeah, maybe exactly a year ago, actually. Yeah, I think it was spring semester last year.

Abdullah Najjar 16:23
So when you were, whether it be this, this top that you designed, or another project that you've worked on? What kind of keeps you? What sort of zone do you think is most optimal? When it comes to working on these projects? Like, is there a particular environment where you feel like, ah, gosh, the ideas are pouring? I feel like I'm, I'm there present? And, um, you know, working on his project, I think is going in the right direction. Right? So, is there throughout the years? Is that something that you discovered? Or perhaps gradually started to understand more about? Or was it always there you like you knew what environment you should be in, you knew what sort of zone you should be, you know, kind of involved in? And what can you tell me about this? Um,

Ava Haddad 17:15
so it's, I feel like, it's been the same for me for most of my life. Starting maybe in high school, when, you know, I would have art class just for, you know, it'd be like, an hour long period. And then, you know, I ended up having, like, four hour long studios and college and wow, yeah, which was, during those, I will say, I was, I don't know, I feel like I didn't get much done, like, during studio as much as just going in there on my own time. I think with any project I'm working on, whether it's for school, or just, you know, my own thing, I definitely have to kind of get in the zone. It's, it's definitely a mental zone. I kind of just, you know, hyper fixate on whatever I'm working on. And that's how I get, like, the most progress done, if that makes sense. So, you know, usually I'll, for lack of better terms, like being in the zone for, you know, an hour or two, or maybe three. And I'll just kind of, like, you know, I'll be listening to music and I'll just kind of be working on it for as long as I can straight and then, you know, like, kind of, look up, take a breath. And I'm like, Okay, it's been two hours, like, Okay, I need a breath of fresh air. Yeah, that's enough. And then I'll forget about it, and then come back to and do the same thing. So I, I've learned that I really don't get much done. If I'm just like, oh, you know, I have I have half an hour, I can sit down and, and work on this painting or work on that, like that, to me, I'm like, That's pointless, which sounds kind of silly, but just personally, it's, it's better if I can kind of like, it's almost like a ritual, like, I kind of get into my mindset, I, you know, get whatever I need to be comfortable, I kind of, you know, have to have a space where I can tune everything out and just focus on what I'm doing. That is

Abdullah Najjar 19:29
fascinating. I mean, when when you talk to maybe writers, you know, you get to some people will tell you, especially you know, scholars or people in the, in the academic world, they will tell you that they have to retreat, they would have to go to a particular spot that is quiet that is away from everyone in everything. And that's when the ideas just start pouring and that's when they can get creative with whatever piece that they're working on. So kind of detach from all the noise right? So But it's interesting that you mentioned you would listen to music. Yeah. So you're kind of bringing in that noise and you're you're designing you're working on the project. Is that has that always also been the case? Or were there times when a quiet environment is more most optimal? Yeah.

Ava Haddad 20:17
So for me, I honestly I've so I've always loved music, I'm sure a lot of people you know, most people love music. But for me, I get most my best ideas and my most creative thinking, like, while I'm listening to music, and I also create playlists for everything. So like, I have, for example, okay, so I studied abroad this past summer, in Florence, Italy. And I have been working on a painting just while I've been home, like, around my experience while I was there, while you were in Italy. Yeah, yeah. I call it kind of, like, I've been doing these brain dump paintings lately, where I just kind of, kind of pour out everything I can, around like a certain situation or time period, or like, you know, whatever I want to I want the subject of the painting to be. So you know, I kind of I have certain colors that come to mind that I want to incorporate or certain images. And, yeah, so I had a, I had a playlist that I listened to all summer while I was there. And that's kind of the playlist that I was listening to, as I was like, kind of drafting this painting and kind of deciding what I wanted to include in it. And then I actually created a new playlist, like, specifically for while I was working on this painting. And it was kind of, you know, I pulled a lot from the OG playlist, and then I added some things. Just because, you know, I don't know, it's, it's literally just all in my head, like the vibe of for, for lack of a better term, the vibe of my painting versus like, you know, experiencing everything in real life that I did last summer. You know, there's a little, there is some difference. And I wanted, like, my mindset to reflect that, like, my mindset, like reflecting back on my summer, versus like, being there and experiencing it is different, and it feels different. And so I needed like a playlist that felt different for me, if that makes any sense at all. Yeah, I know. I know. This is, this

Abdullah Najjar 22:43
is incredible, because I never really thought that I would talk to someone who told me that, you know, music is what I need to get, you know, yeah,

Ava Haddad 22:50
yeah,

Abdullah Najjar 22:51
it's a project. So it is, you know, I guess for me, that is, it's, it's a new sort of idea that I'm kind of contemplating. Right, right, you know, further understanding. Yeah, but do you? Do you ever think there's Do you do you hit something called maybe? Well, in the writers worlds go to writer's block, but is there something in the art world where you feel like, oh, I don't feel like I'm, you know, I feel like I'm kind of being blocked right now. And I need to step away and do something. Okay. Yeah. So how would you describe that experience, or there's an example you mentioned, and also be helpful, frustrating.

Ava Haddad 23:36
So I actually experienced that a ton, the first couple years of college, up until, like, probably, mid junior year, I just was so well, first of all, I didn't have a lot of free time to like, focus on my own art, you know, it's all designing for school. And then I think I was so frustrated with that aspect of it. And it took, you know, it took all my creative energy to like, do my, my projects for school. And then it was a form of design that was so different than what I was used to. Like back in high school and stuff. So I don't know, for a while, I just felt really defeated. And it made me feel really bad about myself, actually. Because I think so much of my, my self image and like, you know, my external image is like, Okay, I'm an artist, and I felt like I wasn't creating what I wanted to be creating. And I wasn't like I don't know, I wasn't able to, like, express myself in that way during that time. And so I, you know, I honestly felt like a fraud. I was like, you know, I have everyone in my life is like, oh, like Ava's Ava's the artist. She's already You know, she, she always is doing art. And I'd be like, yeah, yeah, I'm always doing art and I just wasn't doing art. I felt, I don't know, maybe feel so bad. It sounds so silly, but it's true, I had a really hard time with that. And then I was able to just kind of start getting out of that a little bit. Junior year. I think a lot of and I think this is a very common thing that a lot of artists or just artsy people experience, just, you know, obviously, your art is very personal, whatever form it is. And it's, you know, like, when you're putting something out there for other people to see, it's like, all of it, you know, it's coming from your brain, like, that's, it's, it's in a way it's you personify or you, like, visualized, you know, it's, it's very personal, and it's very vulnerable. And so I know, I've, I always put a lot of pressure on myself to like, you know, everything had to be perfect before people could see it, like I. And I also did a ton of realism in high school. So I was like, everything has to be really perfect before anyone, you know, has to look real before anyone can see it. And I think, kind of breaking out of that mindset is what I had to do in order to, like, get over my artists block, if you will, right. And I remember, when I was, I kind of, you know, had a moment with myself, I was like, I can't like I need to, like start making art again, or like doing something like I was like, I don't know, I just feel crazy right now. And so I started with just like making, like, trying to take the pressure off of myself to create something like good and just create something and not worry about how it looks not worry about it was good, not worried about showing people. Yeah, just like stupid little sketches and stuff like that. And I think that's really what kind of snapped me out of it. I can say now that I'm in the best place that I've, honestly, I've, I feel like I'm in the best place I've ever been with my art. Great. Yeah, just because I, you know, like I mentioned earlier, I've been doing these brain dump paintings where I just like, I It's literally a brain dump, like, I just pull things from my mind, whatever comes to mind, I write it down. I, you know, find some way to visualize it, and then just get it out on paper. And, you know, I do mixed media pieces. It's, I paint on it, I use my pastels, I draw, I use pen, I use markers, just kind of whatever I want to do, and I don't like box it in in any way. And that's felt really good. It just I don't know, it feels. It feels like I'm being like very true to myself and to the kind of work that I've always wanted to create. And yeah, sorry, I forgot the original question. I don't even know where we started. Going.

Abdullah Najjar 28:24
You were on point. You were We were you were trying to describe just how, you know, I was asking you about this creative? Yeah, that's it's a very interesting take on it. And I want to maybe further, maybe go back actually, to something that that was interesting that you mentioned, which was how you were referred to as the artists. But I think you would consider yourself more. You're a person that creates art. Yeah. You know, yeah, you're a person first, you know, that kind of art comes later. Right. And I think I think that that's good sort of opening to who you are as a person, right? You know, having a little bit of Lebanese background, having that American background as well. You know, there's this fusion of cultures. And I wonder if if, if that sort of fusion or maybe connection to both of these cultures has had any impact or influence on on who you are as a person that creates art? Right. You know, so that that is something that I you know, I think about and figured maybe you have something to say about I think it would be interesting to maybe explore

Ava Haddad 29:51
Yeah, that's that's a really interesting question. Um, so yeah, I guess to elaborate so my dad, he is half Lebanese. And he grew up in Lebanon. My grandma on that side, she was like born and raised in the south North Carolina. And my grandpa is from Lebanon. And they met, they have my dad and my aunt and my dad grew up living in Lebanon until he was 16. And then on my mom's side, so she was like born and raised tiny town in North Carolina, very southern. And both of her parents were from here. So I've got a lot of like southern roots. And yeah, I've always I've always loved both sides of my, of my family heritage. And I think my parents have always done a really great job of making sure that, you know, we know where we come from, and that we feel connected to it in some way. And I think the biggest way that the biggest way, I'm connected to my middle eastern heritage is definitely like through food. We just did a ton I know. Yeah. No, it's actually the best. I know. I'm biased. But I, you know, I grew up eating a lot of Lebanese food and just middle eastern food in general. And then so you know, I was raised on both my, my grandparents, you know, my Nana, and my teta. She would make both of them would make fried chicken. And then we'd have that alongside like who makes Yeah. Which like my grandpa would make. And I don't know, it was the best. I was so lucky to get to experience that and just I don't know how the best food ever. But yeah.

Fried chicken and

Yeah, . Yeah. Or . Yeah. But, yeah. For

Abdullah Najjar 31:54
context. This is another salad folks. Yes. Yeah. And I think that is also quite fascinating how, you know, you have that connection there. But I think for most of your life, or maybe your entire life site from maybe visits abroad, you've lived here. Yeah. You know, in the United States. Yeah. Wow. And, like when someone asks you, like, what, who, who you are, like, who? Like, what, like, when someone tries to understand who you are as a person, like, do you answer by saying or is it contextual? Like you answer by saying, I'm American, and with Lebanese heritage, or Lebanese sort of connection? Or is it just American? Or how do you, you know, answer that question.

Ava Haddad 32:49
That's a good question. Um, I'd say most of the time, like, I mean, you know, obviously, looking at me, people were like, oh, that's, yeah, that's a white girl. She's from North Carolina, you know, just basic, whatever, which I am. It's true. And, you know, Middle Eastern people, technically are white too. So I'd say, you know, that's just who I am. But yeah, I'd say, you know, I'm, I'm American first. And then I've also got Lebanese heritage. And so I'm about a third Lebanese. We don't really know how the genetics did that. You know, we all figured we were like a fourth. And the my aunt did the ancestry testing. And it turns out, like me and my siblings, and my cousins, were all a third. So I guess that was that was pretty strong genes. Yeah. So a lot of Lebanese in you. Right? Right. So yeah, I used to, I don't know, I used to kind of minimize it more and be like, oh, like, that doesn't count. But but it does. And that's, that's pretty significant amount of, you know, my, my heritage and who I am. And it was such an important thing growing up, you know, it's like my last name. It's, it's Haddad, it's, that's a Lebanese name. And my middle name is Michael. That's, I share it with all my siblings. That's my dad's first name. And that's a Middle Eastern

tradition. All your kids have the Father's name as their middle name. And so yeah, that's Michael. Yeah. Eva, Michael. Yeah. I know, everyone's I used to, like be embarrassed by that when I was little cause it's a boys name.

But now I love it. I love it. I wouldn't change a thing. And I think it's so special that I share that with my siblings too.

Abdullah Najjar 34:38
Right. Wow. And and you have had experience in Italy. And I remember talking to a lot of people in Lebanon when they visit Italy. Yeah, it tells me that man it's it's just the culture is kind of similar in a sense, then we're chill. We'll laid back You know, it feels like it's, it's like Lebanon but more refined that so many times, people that go to Italy, you know, and I remember even talking to, like the head of the Lebanese studies or Lebanese diaspora Study Center here on campus, and he's he's Lebanese and, and he's lived well, he's Lebanese American. He lived for many years in Lebanon, and then he emigrated to the United States. Yeah. And he, you know, he's been to Italy, and that's similar testing. Yeah. But I've received so. Yeah, I mean, when, but, you know, I wonder when you went there, I mean, if you felt like men, this kind of feels a little bit similar to how you know, how it is, or how, or you know, how the culture kind of it's similar to my Lebanese culture, or, you know, the people that I'm surrounded, surrounded with and have some sort of Lebanese.

Ava Haddad 35:56
Right, right. So I would say, again, it all goes back to food, and just how I grew up. So I'd say my dad, dad's a big foodie for lack of a better term. And he, you know, that's kind of how we were raised again, we were very lucky to have such both my parents are really great cooks. And they've always cooked like delicious and healthy meals for us. And so we were raised on, you know, like, when, when I was teething as a baby, we used to have a wooden garlic masher, and my parents would give us the garlic masher to, like, chew on while we were teething. So, yeah, I thought we had horrible, but, you know, so we were, I was very lucky to be exposed to so many different foods. And, to me, that's a huge part of community and family. I feel like on both sides of my family, it's, you know, this even like, the southern roots, too, it's very centered around food. Yeah. And kind of coming together, especially like, you know, the women on the southern side, you know, it's, it's traditionally like, the women are in the kitchen, and they're, they're cooking and that's, that's when you have community time. And that's, you know, like, just being there with your your family and cooking together. And then on my dad's side, like my dad and my grandpa are the ones that cook so which I've always loved. I'm like, okay, yeah, that's how as they should as they should. So, you know, the men are in the kitchen when rolls. Yeah, when I'm at my grandparents house, so

Abdullah Najjar 37:40
that's very interesting to kind of see. Yeah, layout.

Ava Haddad 37:43
I know. Yeah, I think it's awesome. Um, but going back to, like, my experience in Italy and stuff. So also, while traveling, my parents think traveling is really important. And again, I've been I've been very fortunate to be able to travel a lot throughout my life. And you've been twice to Italy. Yes, I've been I've been to Italy twice. I went when I was 16. And then I went last summer. And I was with my whole family when I was 16. And I know specifically for my dad, whenever we travel, you know, big emphasis on food, like we, we look for the little hole in the wall places. And, you know, we try to find the craziest stuff. And you know, we try to find the, like, dinky little restaurants, where, you know, there's two people running the whole place and it's quiet, there's no one in there. But like, this is a place with the good food, you know? And yeah, and it's it's always it's always true. But yeah, I think that mindset and then the, I'd say like cuisine wise, you know, both are like very olive oil heavy. And like, if you look at like authentic Italian food and stuff, it's there are a lot of similarities. Just like, you know, fresh, whole foods and healthy oils. And I'd say Italian food has a lot more dairy. But yeah, so there are definitely similarities there. Just in the cuisines, and then, you know, the, the emphasis on family and the emphasis on community and community through food. You know, and sitting down and like my parents when, when they like to travel and when we travel with them. You know, when we have dinner, we don't just sit down and eat and Okay, run off. You know, we sit and we chat. And we talk the whole family for a long time and growing up like, you know, we were not allowed to eat on our like, it was family dinner every night, every night. And I'm so grateful for that. And I was always shocked when I was like, you know, I hear that other people didn't do that. And I was like, oh, yeah, man, like, we were not actually not in here. Yeah. Yeah, I had no idea. I was like, we were not allowed to, you know, no phones, nothing. You know, we sat and we talked with each other and talked about our days and our lives. And so I'm sure that, you know, part of that comes from the differences in my parents backgrounds. And yeah, so that's definitely, those are some parallels between, you know, things in Italy, and which I'm, you know, not an expert. But, you know, just just what I've experienced. And

when we, I'd love to maybe, kind of maybe go back a little bit to your trip and Florence and painting. You mentioned you were there this past summer? Yes. And there was a lot of it was a painting program. Yes. Okay. Yeah. So what would you? How was that sort of experience? That was kind of art focused? Different from the experience you've had when you were 16? Were you kind of seeing things differently? Where you kind of viewing the world from a different lens? Yeah. How would you maybe describe that?

Yeah, that's a good question. Um, I mean, definitely, from the perspective, you know, I was there by myself. And I was there with one of my best friends. And, you know, I was an adult there. So a lot more independent, kind of exploring the sea, like, you know, I was without my mom and dad. And it was, it was weird, but it was fun. And so there was that aspect of it. And then from an art standpoint, yeah, I would say like, I think, just in general, as someone that does art, I do look at things a lot of times, and I, I tried to think of, like, you know, when I'm sightseeing, I'm like, Oh, like that would make a good painting. Or, like, you know, I'll take photos specifically to paint them later. Or, like, I'll see things happen in real time. And I'll like, write it down and be like that, that should go into something, you know, like, I don't know what it's gonna go into, but it needs to be in something. Or, like, you know, even just how I'm feeling during a certain experience, like, I'll write it down in my notes and be like, you know, this is, this is what's happening right now. And like, maybe I'm listening to a song and I'm like, oh, like, this just makes me like, feel this very specific thing. And so I'll write it down. So that maybe I can like, you know, so I can like, hope to capture it later. And, you know, half the time i don't I just I forget about these things. But yeah, I definitely do find myself noticing things from, I guess, an artists perspective, in a way, even if it's just like, colors, like looking at something being like, Oh, those are really great colors. They need to be in a painting, like this

Abdullah Najjar 43:04
Lego set we have in front of us. Yeah.

Ava Haddad 43:07
And so so I'll go through my camera roll later. And I'll be like, Why did I take a picture of this, like, piece of trash or something? Or like, or like this? Like spot of rust? Or, you know, because I liked the color? Right?

Abdullah Najjar 43:20
So such an artist thing? Yeah, I know. Wow, that is really fascinating. Because I'm, you know, I don't I don't think I have that sense. Like, it's not something I'm not sure if it's if it's acquired, or if it's in. Yeah, in a way, like I can, maybe with clothes, maybe I can like sense things and look at what matches what doesn't what sort of colors work. Right, you know, yeah. But, like a general view of the world from an artist lens. I think it takes an artist to have that view.

Ava Haddad 43:58
Yeah. Yeah, that's something I've wondered about before. I think skills obviously, like anyone can learn a skill and you know, to, to be a good painter or drawer or like, have good technical skills, like you do have to practice them and they are learned things like no one's just born, like, being able to, you know, I mean, I'm, well, maybe some people are, I don't know, but you know, throughout my whole life is how I've like built up my skills and stuff, but I think seeing things a certain way. I don't know I think I think some people definitely are just you know, people do have like an eye for stuff. Yeah. And I've never like I don't know, I've never really considered myself to but I've been told that I do mainly like my my mom. Like, she's she's so sweet. She's the best shout out to your mom yeah, shout out to my mom. She's mom. Yeah. Oh, Um, yeah, but you know, my whole family, but she's always told me. You know, she, she sees things in such a beautiful way. And, you know, hopefully some of that's rubbed off on me. And, you know, I've been I've been told that by her before that, you know, I see things in a different way than a lot of people would or I don't know, and I don't I don't know what to accredit that to. I don't know if it's just because I've kind of trained my eye to pick up on certain things because I'm thinking about art in the back of my mind, or, I don't know. Um, but yeah, like I mentioned, like, it happens with music, too. So I don't know. It's it's a weird thing to like, talk about. I've never really, I don't know. I don't think about it.

Abdullah Najjar 45:50
Put you on the spot there.

Ava Haddad 45:50
No, that's okay. Yeah, that's okay. Yeah, I don't really think about it. It just kind of it's

kind of natural. Yeah. Yeah. Like, you never vocalized it before.

No words. No, it is. Yeah. It's just how my mind works. I guess. And I don't know, I don't know if it's, like, unique, or maybe everyone does it? I don't know. I personally

Abdullah Najjar 46:17
I personally say I You know, I don't have sort of artists lens. Yeah. But yeah, I want to, I'd love to kind of wrap things up. And, you know, I, I've, I'm just fascinated by the work that you've done. And you notice Thursday, you've shared is incredible. I want to ask you a final question here. What would you say to your first year? Designer? Ava? Oh, God. Now that your graduate graduated and you have maybe different perspective and you like, like you said, you're the best place that you know, maybe the best place that you've ever been in? Yeah.

Ava Haddad 47:02
Yeah, that's, that's a good question. Probably, like, Get over yourself. Get on anxiety meds. But no, um, I would say yeah, it's just it's not that deep. It's not that serious. Just

make stuff, you know, just kind of, again, like Get over yourself. It's not, not everything has to be perfect or presentable. And just be just be more open to to learning new styles and to yeah to seeing things in a different way.

Abdullah Najjar 47:47
Yeah. Knock on wood. Yeah. Thank you for joining me. I really enjoyed this conversation.

Ava Haddad 47:54
Of course. Thank you for having me.

Abdullah Najjar 47:55
Absolutely.

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