Interview with Artist and Graphic Designer Rabia Hussain
To listen go to: https://anchor.fm/thisislaisa
Laisa: Hello everyone, I thank you for tuning in today. I have a special guest and I’m going to let her introduce herself.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Hey guys. So my name is Rabia Hussain and I also go by Ruby because I think half of the people who know me, call me Ruby. So Rabia, Ruby, is just who I am. So I’m an artist and I’m a graphic designer.
Laisa: Can you tell me a bit about how you became a graphic designer? How did you decide to choose this as a career path for you?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Well, okay. So when I was in seventh grade I wanted to be an interior designer and that was basically because I kept changing the settings on my room and I’m like, Oh, you know what? I can do this. But then, you know, I’ve always had a knack for art and dreams change over time. So I think when I got, when I, when I got to like, high school and college? Well, actually high school. I was part of my yearbook committee and that’s when I really found my calling. And I’m like, you know what, I really enjoy doing this and I think I can actually pursue this and in college and in future. So, and I actually, you know, had some setbacks in high school, some limitations, some, you know, fears. So my teachers really encouraged me to pursue graphic design and now I’m here. Yep.
Laisa: So you did, so you learned graphic design doing the layout for the yearbook, is that right?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Yep. That was, that was my first official thing that I did with graphic design. So, yeah.
Laisa: Yeah. So what made you decide to go for a college? How did you decide on the college that you went to?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Well, that’s actually a funny story. So I come from an Asian family and in our families, it’s always like you either become a doctor or you either become an engineer. The typical thing. But me, being the black sheep of the family, I was like, “I don’t want to do science.” So I had quite a tough time convincing my parents that I want to pursue art. And it was quite a fight back and forth, a verbal fight actually. But I finally convinced them. I’m like, you know, “Just let me do it. If I succeed. All is good. And if I don’t, then I’ll do what you guys want me to do.” But so thank God that I was, I was actually able to prevail and yeah, so I did that.
Laisa: This is great. A great inspiration for, you know, young students right now, like trying to pursue art that their parents not being supportive. Cause at the end of the day, you know, it’s your life. It is something that you love and you’re passionate about. So thank you for sharing that.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Yeah. It was like a whole family meeting, like my dad and my mom sitting in the front and I’m in the hot seat, but yeah.
Laisa: Oh, that’s so crazy. Yeah. That’s great. Thank you for sharing that. I want to ask you too. You are a graphic designer, but as you are an artist by nature, like you have tried very different mediums. And so what has it, like what made you want to try different mediums? And what are your favorite mediums right now?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Well, I think if I really want to go, you know, dig deep into my roots, I’d have to say that I started with watercolor. And I think that was mainly the reason because that was the only medium I had easily available to me. So I started with watercolors and I enjoyed the whole process of painting. And I think it’s for me to calm my nerves and, you know, let my thoughts run wild when I’m doing it. But as I, you know, took more classes in college, I learned that there is such a variety of options. That you can do. So, you know, there’s, there’s, there’s physical painting, but then there’s digital painting. And I didn’t know that. And I only got to find out through my wonderful, wonderful classmates, my awesome professors and my friends who always encouraged me to do more and better. And I think it’s, it’s like, being in an environment where everything is encouraged and appreciated that you, you want to expand out. And I think that’s what encouraged me to look into all sorts of different mediums and right now, and it was mainly because of that, that I’ve discovered bookbinding. I discovered screen printing and I really enjoyed, I it’s like such a tedious you know, thing to do and attention to detail. And I think, I think it’s my, one of my obsession I would call it to detail that I really, really become intricate with my work. And I go really deep and sometimes it’s philosophical, sometimes it’s just pure creative details. Yeah. So I think that’s what I’ve been doing, you know, lately my illustrations of course, illustrate digital illustrations sketch, drawing, hand lettering and book binding. So, yeah.
Laisa: Yeah, that is so cool. I know that I was at one of your art exhibitions and I can see that you have right behind you talk a little bit about that galleries specifically.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: So Intricacies wishes this right here is my first ever gallery exhibit. A solo art show that I got the year after I graduated actually from City College. And what happened was that I was selected to be the female artist for women’s history month in 2019. And it was like an alumni thing for my previous college which is BMCC. So they selected me. And I got the opportunity to create two beautiful illustrations for them to use throughout the month. And as a reward they gave me gallery space for a month to showcase my work. And that’s where I came up with Intricacies right here. And it was such a, such a fascinating experience. I still can’t believe I’ve had a show but so what happened was that I was struggling with the name of the show. I didn’t know what to call it. And I was sorting through my work that I would possibly put on display. And I realized how intricate I am with my methods and that where that’s, where the title kind of took birth in my mind. And I’m like, “Hmm. I think” because all of my works that I chose were quite detail oriented and I’m like, “you know what? I think it’s, it’s, it’s the perfect title choice Intricacies.” And while I was designing it or brainstorming ideas to display the title. I had this crazy idea of doing intricate cut outs of the paper and that’s what happened. And I did some floral designs on some of the letters as you can see above and I hand cut all of them. And they’re all had cut and paste it on a black illustration board. So that became the main title of the show. And it was displayed as the opening to the show.
Laisa: Yeah, that is awesome. And based on what you described about your obsession with how philosophical, your work is and Intricacies with the perfect name. So thank you for sharing that. And how long was your art gallery for?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: It was for about a month.
Laisa: Yeah. So it celebrated the whole women’s month, March.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Yes. Yes, it did. So throughout. So when throughout the whole events that college had planned for when the women’s history month the show was on display for whoever wanted to go and check it out. And it was part of the whole event month.
Laisa: Yeah. I know that you mentioned like that you hand cut it everything, but you had a lot of projects in there. So what was your favorite?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: My favorite. Oh, it’s such a hard, hard question for me. I will have to say, well, there was all sorts of materials, different works. So some was screen printing. Some was digital illustration, some were 2d arts, some hand drawn illustrations. And I would have to say that one of my screen printing projects that universal language or, you know, the term is called. I forgot. What’s it called? It’s like a language I kind of came up with while I was doing screen printing and in college and those screen printing prints were one of my favorite things to do in that genre and that medium and in my digital illustrations, I’d have to say was one of those illustrations I created for women’s history month. It was a recreation of school of a fence. School of Athens, whoever, however people pronounce it. I know that I’m going to get backlash for that. It was a recreation of it and I replaced every single character with a woman of history and time and to kind of celebrate all these amazing women that we have come to know throughout time and history. So it was a recreation and I called it School of Athena so it was appropriate for that.
Laisa: Oh that’s so great I will put the link in the description so be sure to check it out.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Cool. Thank you.
Laisa: You did mention that a challenging thing was convincing your parents. But, was there another challenge in your life that made you want to quit this career, but then you grew from it, you learned from it?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: I would definitely have to say I can. I can’t mention the challenge that I faced cause it’s quite personal, but I’ll give you a year which is 2015. It was quite a personal growth for me. I had, you know, gone through some personal changes and it was at that time where I wanted to just quit everything. I was dealing with a lot of home stuff and mental health issues and all sorts of concerns I had about life. I wanted to just up and quit and just sit at home and do nothing. But one of my great professors there, it was my painting professor who really encouraged me to take like a different approach to everything. And that’s when I really thought that it was like a new beginning in my career. My mindset changed my approach to things change. I became more open minded to all sorts of different things. More accepting to my environment, my mental state and who I was as a person. And I think that really opened me to all these new possibilities, all these new opportunities that I would otherwise have overlooked. That’s why I always keep telling I’m a tutor as well. I’m a supplemental instructor. So I always tell my students that, “Don’t ever let setbacks set you back because you always want to take a step forward. Because if you don’t take a step forward, you’re going to keep taking steps backwards and it’s gonna put you in a place where you’ll never be able to come back from.” So learn from it, grow from it and always do and strive to do better because there’s always going to be people who are going to appreciate you for who you are, and they’ll want to see you grow and always focus on the bright side of it and keep moving forward. So that’s, that’s what I told myself, you know, we’ll keep moving forward because where people are, you know unappreciative of your work and they degrade you. There’s always people who love you for who you are. So focus on that. Focus on that positive energy. Yeah.
Laisa: Yeah. And I love one of the earlier things said, dreams changed over time. Can you elaborate more on that? That was such a beautiful statement. Can you talk about change over time?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: So like I mentioned that how in seventh grade I wanted to become an interior designer at that certain point of time me was that’s what my vision was. That’s what I was allowed to dream cause you know, you’re very influenced by the people around you, your family, you’re very influenced by them at that certain age. And it’s really how you see things is nearly… you see them through their eyes and that’s what limits you. So when you grow, when you see and experience new things, you become more aware of what you want in your life you can possibly do. And because of that awareness, you start to dream bigger and more elaborate. So that’s what I meant when I said that your dreams change over time. And I don’t mean that in a negative way. I mean that when you experience new things and you meet new people from all over the world, you become aware of all these things and you can, you know, start to reach for the stars and you can dream bigger and you can dream better, you know, and dream different, I guess. So from being just a person, you know, who loved art and watercolors I became a person who wanted to do interior design. And from there, I became a person who wanted to do graphic design and arts and crafts. Yeah.
Laisa: Thank you for sharing that. Awareness is very important, so, and that is one of the ways like you find your core values, you start to see things through you instead of everybody else. And I’m just echoing of what you’re saying, that’s just how things go. And I wanted you to talk a little bit, like your branding what’s up with the hexagon and the ruby. How did that come about?
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Okay. So my nickname or more like my monogram really it came in high school. So I didn’t mention this before, but I was part of my varsity’s softball team. And that’s where the name Ruby stuck from. Mainly because a lot of the girls couldn’t pronounce my name. Right. And they just called me Ruby, but I really liked it. It gave me a new perspective, like a new kind of identity sort of, you know, and I was excited. “Oh, I’m Ruby,” you know it wasn’t as big as it became in college. And the reason because that is when I went through some personal changes in 2015 I became more self-aware. I wanted to know. And I had this kind of self-discovery and I kind of went through a whole like balance and you know, this kind of balance that I wanted to have in my life. And to me personally, a Ruby or a hexagon. This shape right here is a symbol of balance. And if you look at it, if you look in nature, you’ll see this shape all over. You’ll find that a honeybee creates their homes in the shape of a hexagon, STEM cells. If you look them under a microscope in a hexagon. There’s multiple rock formations that I’ve seen that are just fascinating, natural phenomena that is in a hexagon shape. And to me it represents rhythm. It represents harmony and balance. And that’s what I’ve always wanted to have a balance of my mind, balance of what I’d like in my life and of this thing and that thing. So there’s always a balance of two things and, you know, or multiple things that I’m handling. So my personal goal is to always be balanced in what I do and at harmony with all of them, with all my personal desires, my mental state and everything. So as much as it’s a brand that I’ve created for myself. It’s also a reminder for myself to be, be harmonious with nature. So that’s what it means to me.
Laisa: Yeah, it’s so beautiful. I’m snapping my fingers and I’m just like, Oh my God, that’s beautiful! And I just want to, I know that you have given advice throughout this what are some final words of advice and wisdom you can give to our viewers who are young and who are pursuing their graphic design career.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Throughout my whole career in teaching and design, especially in teaching where I meet all these new students and people who are still figuring out their way. They always ask me, one question is how do you, how do you know? You know? And I always tell them that when you’re doing something and you’re, you know, you’re just either, either just sitting idle or you’re just, you’re working on something, you’ll feel this click. That will put you in such a peaceful state that, you know, and you realize that this is it. And I always tell them to always to focus on that, you know, and like I said, previously, like put focus on that positive energy that you received from others and yourself, and your mind tells you. It’s also that when you’re doing something, it’s where your heart is. If your heart is creating illustrations, then you know, you find peace in doing that. So again, I mean, I really want to say, just focus on that positive energy guys, because, you know, that’s what really, really lifts your spirits. It helps you become a better person and helps you become better at what you do. And overall just, you know, it gives you that peace that you need. And it will make you happy. So I think, and what I’ve discovered about myself never stopped being yourself. Never. If someone tells you, “Oh, that doesn’t look good on you.” You tell them, well, “Thank you for your comments. But I like it for myself and I think it’s best for me.” So, cause you know, a lot of people told me that, “Oh, why would you wear a hat on a hijab?” I’m like, “Girl, it’s my thing.” I just tell them that and, you know let that negative energy bounce back and absorb all the positive energy. So, yeah, that’s it?
Laisa: Yes. All that positive energy.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Yeah, girl.
Laisa: Yeah. All right. Well, thank you so much for your time today. I feel so inspired with your story and I just feel balanced. Right now, and I feel great.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Thank you for giving me this opportunity to talk. I never really, I never done this kind of thing before and it feels actually really good to share some of that with y’all and I hope, I really hope that whoever sees it, who remembers to focus on the positive energy.
Laisa: Yes. Thank you for tuning in everyone.
Rabia ‘Ruby’: Thank you
