Welcome to our New Art Teacher, Ibrahim Rashid

Art by Ibrahim Rashid.

While Brie is on maternity leave, we are thrilled to have Ibrahim Rashid teaching art at Linden. Ibrahim has 30 years of professional teaching experience at colleges, universities and art institutes, having taught in Iraq and Sweden before moving to Ontario to pursue a Masters program at the University of Waterloo. Most recently he was an art instructor at Ontario International College.

“I’ve explored and examined different tools and media to achieve various expressions for a variety of purposes, such as drawing, painting, printmaking, digital media in analogue and focuses on conceptual thinking. Some of these to explore the landscape, the human body and function to suggest a state of mind or circumstance.”

Ibrahim’s art has been exhibited nationally and internationally in several art galleries and art museums in Europe, Asia and the USA over the past 25 years along with some public art projects. His list of awards, prizes and grants from both Canada and Sweden is lengthy and impressive.

According to Ibrahim, “I have lived and travelled among many cultures, exploring their arts and stories, I am passionate to pass on these experiences to the next generation; teaching them to express themselves, meet their needs and support them in achieving their goals within art.”

Early in his career, Ibrahim worked as an illustrator at Iraq’s only liberal opposition newspaper, then called Tareek Al Shaab. He published critical drawings about the social and political life during the rule of Saddam Hussein, which rendered him vulnerable during an unstable regime. After the outbreak of the First Gulf War in 1980, he graduated from the Academy of Fine Arts and had to join the front line of the war, which deeply influenced his life and work.

“Linden’s mission is close to my heart and closely connected to my life experience. I am so happy to be here, working with a new generation, encouraging them to push boundaries and find their voice,” he shares with us. 

Self Portrait, Ibrahim Rashid.