STUDENT NEWS

LEILA AL-SHIBIBI

For his talk, “ You’re Not Serious: Why Academic Unseriousness Is the Next Serious,” he generously shared his experience of graduate studies from a first-generation and queer standpoint. He spoke of his journey to get there: majoring in art history, working in a museum, and transitioning to work on individual research and study at the graduate level. He also discussed his work within the sub-field of queer art history, and explained how it fits into art history at large. In his talk and the Q&A afterwards, Feyl openly, warmly, and with humor helped students envision how to meld one’s personal interests and sense of self with professional avenues.

Dr. Karlyn Griffith was invited to deliver the keynote address at the ninth annual Graduate Association of Medieval Studies at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Over a 3-day symposium Master’s and Doctoral students representing diverse disciplines and from international universities gathered to deliver research papers on topics pertaining to the sacred and secular dichotomy in the Middle Ages. Dr. Griffith gave a talk about the interplay of secular art and the Apocalypse in the Middle Ages. The aim of her talk was to challenge the prevailing paradigm in medieval art history that privileges sacred interpretations of art to the exclusion of popular culture. is currently the Student Assistant for the Special Collections and Archives Unit at the Cal Poly Pomona University Library. In this position, she assists with compiling research, preparing items for digitization, and entering and updating data into the Special Collections database. This summer, Leila will participate in the Getty Foundation’s AllPaper Seminar. She will work alongside a cohort of undergraduate and graduate students as they travel to various Los Angeles art institutions to learn about the stewardship of prints and drawings. At the end of this program, she will partake in an intensive weeklong residency at the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College to conduct research and present her findings in a professional-level project.

Previously Leila worked as a Getty Marrow Registration and Collections Management Intern at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures. In this position, she played an active role in planning the institution’s inaugural exhibition, Stories of Cinema by cataloging documentation and data related to the museum’s permanent collection and taking on exhibition preparation and installation duties.

Leila also interned at bG Gallery in Santa Monica, where she conducted research for digital marketing projects and completed the writing and editing of press releases and gallery website content. For the remainder of 2021, she worked as a Gallery Assistant at Markowicz

Fine Art and helped to launch the opening of the gallery’s Laguna Niguel location. Leila notes that she gained invaluable knowledge of the inner workings of the art market by maintaining contact with artists and clients and boosting the gallery’s presence on various sales platforms.

After graduating in Fallʻ22, Leila plans to apply to graduate programs in Library and Information Science to fulfill her career goal of becoming a museum archivist.