Building Bridges

Pittsburgh Builds Bridges is a social movement that encourages diversity, inclusion and connection within the community. After her son experienced bullying at a young age, Ebtehal began teaching acceptance and love through painting to youth and adults across Pittsburgh.

Ebtehal Badawi was born in Saudi Arabia. Since she was in 5th grade, she always knew that she wanted to be an artist. However, she took a different path and got a bachelor’s degree in Biology from King Abdul-Aziz University.

Following that, she earned a master’s degree in Industrial Hygiene from West Virginia University in Morgantown, WV. Her career path also included working as a teacher’s assistant. Still, she always felt that something was missing. At that point, she found out about an art therapy program. She then took the requirements classes in Art and Psychology to pursue that speciality, and still ongoing.

During her journey, she joined the Malian Art Institute and learned different techniques in painting. The first thing everyone notices about her art is that it is colorful and uplifting. Her art has a big influence on people. She designed a poster for anti-bullying and racism which was posted in different schools in the Pittsburgh area. This was aimed to help kids understand the power of unity. She was also part of different art shows in Pittsburgh.

Ebtehal is not just an artist but a writer and a photographer as well. She enjoys going and spending time in nature and connecting with Mother Earth and then writing about her experience.

Her goal as an artist is to create art that would uplift people’s souls and connect with more artists to share the beauty and the magic of art.