“The Emergence of the Postmodern Arabic Calligraphy in the West”
April 17, 2015
Faraz Khan at University of Oklahoma
Arabic Flagship Program at the University of Oklahoma invites guest speakers to talk about different issues related to Arab/ Arabic culture.
http://www.ou.edu/cis/sponsored_programs/arabic_flagship_program.html
As they say, it is a small artsy world. I must add a good word for Prof. Nizar Hermes who served as a faculty member at Princeton, and now is a faculty member at University of Oklahoma. He had experienced one of my art seminars at Princeton University – a major good luck charm for all the professors and art junkies out there 🙂 Due to his good reference, I was contacted by Mohammad ElMasri, director of the Arabic Flagship Program at the University of Oklahoma – a top-tier Arabic program in the nation. They have around 160 students enrolled in Arabic classes and almost 40 of them are pursuing a major in Arabic language and culture. This is a wonderful sign of the vibrant Arabic program at the University of Oklahoma. They invite guest speakers to address issues of interest in the Arab/ Arabic culture and I can’t wait to check out the Arabic program in Oklahoma!
The talk will focus on new trends in the art industry involving Arabic script. Visual Artists such as Elseed, Atrissi, Haji Noor, M. Zakariya have achieved remarkable accomplishments in a short period of time. What makes Arabic a transformational art script? How do Americans experience Arabic as an art form? I would highlight notable Western artists and their artworks in my presentation and elaborate on my sense of the ushering of the fast-approaching Arabic art in the West.
Finally, I thank Genevieve A. Schmitt and Mohammad Al Masri for making this event possible.