Hello, everyone! My name is Fahad Aljebreen, and I am taking my internship at the GDAC, Greater Denton Art Council, in Denton! As I see some previous bloggers here writing up a little bit about their background, so I would like to do the same.
I am an international student coming from Saudi Arabia to pursue my Ph.D. in Art education. I studied Art education at King Saudi University on my bachelor, and then I taught for five years in middle and elementary schools. I then followed my dream to obtain a Master of Art at the same University by 2007. I then got the opportunity to be a lecturer at King Saudi University, which provided me with the chance to go overseas to obtain my Ph.D. I came here in the United States of America in 2009 to learn English as a second language then enroll in the art education doctoral program in University of North Texas.
Before getting to link with Art museum, I was focused more on my study program and my research, and not paying any attention to anything else. The art museums classes were not required for our program, but after finishing all my courses and doing only research for a year, I thought it would be a good refreshing for me to get this class with Dr. Evans. I did, and I felt in love with the Art museum so here I am finishing the internship.
I used to go enjoy different types of museums as a visitor who wants to spend time on something worth visiting. I did not pay much attention of how things were represented and I have not asked for any type of tours. However, over this semester, I got a wonderful opportunity to engage with an amazing class of Art museum education. It helps me to see wide chances of implications to be used in the field of art education. I have never thought about art museum as a serious place for learning, but now I do and admire countries that support it.
Therefore, I hope this internship provide me with all sort of experiences as much as I can get. I would love to know more about the policy, the operation, and practical way of managing a museum here in the United States of America. I also like to experience everything related to the museums working environment from the reception, plan an exhibit, organizing activities, inviting artists, to involving in discussions about collection or fundraising.
Before taking any museum class, I used to go to museums as any visitors who want to enjoy spending time. However, after studying about museums, I discovered that I was missing a huge and essential part of the art education, which is the art museum. No matter what I heard about it before it was not enough to link me with it. Hence, I believe that reading and studying about museums would not match the internship experience. Therefore, I am here at the GDAC, Greater Denton Art Council, to fulfill my interest and passion with the Art museum. Accordingly, I dream to go back to my country while I am loaded with all sort of experience that can help me establish the first art museum in Saudi Arabia.
I am an international student coming from Saudi Arabia to pursue my Ph.D. in Art education. I studied Art education at King Saudi University on my bachelor, and then I taught for five years in middle and elementary schools. I then followed my dream to obtain a Master of Art at the same University by 2007. I then got the opportunity to be a lecturer at King Saudi University, which provided me with the chance to go overseas to obtain my Ph.D. I came here in the United States of America in 2009 to learn English as a second language then enroll in the art education doctoral program in University of North Texas.
Before getting to link with Art museum, I was focused more on my study program and my research, and not paying any attention to anything else. The art museums classes were not required for our program, but after finishing all my courses and doing only research for a year, I thought it would be a good refreshing for me to get this class with Dr. Evans. I did, and I felt in love with the Art museum so here I am finishing the internship.
I used to go enjoy different types of museums as a visitor who wants to spend time on something worth visiting. I did not pay much attention of how things were represented and I have not asked for any type of tours. However, over this semester, I got a wonderful opportunity to engage with an amazing class of Art museum education. It helps me to see wide chances of implications to be used in the field of art education. I have never thought about art museum as a serious place for learning, but now I do and admire countries that support it.
Therefore, I hope this internship provide me with all sort of experiences as much as I can get. I would love to know more about the policy, the operation, and practical way of managing a museum here in the United States of America. I also like to experience everything related to the museums working environment from the reception, plan an exhibit, organizing activities, inviting artists, to involving in discussions about collection or fundraising.
Before taking any museum class, I used to go to museums as any visitors who want to enjoy spending time. However, after studying about museums, I discovered that I was missing a huge and essential part of the art education, which is the art museum. No matter what I heard about it before it was not enough to link me with it. Hence, I believe that reading and studying about museums would not match the internship experience. Therefore, I am here at the GDAC, Greater Denton Art Council, to fulfill my interest and passion with the Art museum. Accordingly, I dream to go back to my country while I am loaded with all sort of experience that can help me establish the first art museum in Saudi Arabia.
Hello (again) Fahad, I hope to see at GDAC's Exhibitions & Education Committee the next time we meet. Enjoy GDAC and say "hello" to everyone from me.
ReplyDeleteGuy
Hello Guy, hope to see you too, and sure I will pass your greeting to everyone there. Also, thank you very much for helping me out to connect with two awesome guys who thoughtfully participated in my final project of the museum class, and they add rich info to my subject... So many thanks to you and them.
DeleteFahad
Hooray! I am so glad you are getting a chance to do this internship before heading home. I hope it is the perfect end to your time in the States and that you are able to carry back some of this knowledge and experience to Saudi Arabia to start building a museum community there!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad too, and thank you very much for helping me to get this excellent chance, and I hope to see some of these dreams come true soon. :)
DeleteDr. Fahad, so great to hear that you are doing well and enjoying your internship experience. I very much enjoyed taking classes with you and I think that you have a very bright future in the museum world and I hope that you can take your experiences back to your country and start a wonderful museum program there, then I can visit! I'm very much looking forward to hearing more about your experiences and hopefully seeing you again very soon. Keep up the great work and please let me know if there is anything that I can do to help you. Take care!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Eben. It is great to hear from you too, and I appreciate your kind words. I will be glad to see you there, and you are welcome anytime. For sure I will keep you posted if we start any museum soon, and sure you will be invited. Keep up the great work and spirit you have, and keep in touch. Thanks for offering the help, I appreciate it. Take care!
DeleteCongrats on your graduation Fahad! That is so exciting, I too want to continue until I become a Dr too! I hope you can start the first art museum in Saudi Arabia too so you can invite me to visit! By the Way, Dr. Nada Shabout in the Art History department at UNT knows a lot of people who are in the art world in Saudi Arabia and she gets invited every year by a princess, I forget the name, to come to Saudi Arabia and participate in "art world" events there, to give lectures, etc. She may be a good networking resource if you ever need one! Cheers!
ReplyDeleteThank you very much, Jessica. I appreciate your kind words. Yes please do so, I will be cheering for you to reach the Dr.
DeleteYeah... I hope so too, it will be really nice and great news to tell you that we got an art museum in Saudi Arabia, and sure you will be invited. Right I heard about Dr. Shabout and I was thinking she mainly worked with Qatar. It is nice to know that she is already networking with some influential people there, I will try to connect with her because that networking would make it easier to establish art museums. Thank you for mentioning. Cheers!
This sounds like an amazing opportunity to see the very diverse 'art museum world' and I hope you're having a great summer at your internship! Congratulations on your graduation - I wish you luck on your future goals in Saudi Arabia!
ReplyDeleteThis sounds like an amazing opportunity to see the very diverse 'art museum world' and I hope you're having a great summer at your internship! Congratulations on your graduation - I wish you luck on your future goals in Saudi Arabia!
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