Paul Niell Co-organizing 2022 Clark Memorial Library Conference Series at UCLA

Dr. Paul Niell has been named a 2022-23 Clark Professor with the Center for 17th- and 18th-Century Studies of the Clark Memorial Library at the University of California, Los Angeles. Along with fellow Clark Professor Dr. Stella Nair of the Department of Art History of  UCLA, Dr. Niell has co-designed a Core Program for the Center, titled “The Forgotten Canopy: Ecology, Ephemeral Architecture, and Imperialism in the Caribbean, South American, and Transatlantic Worlds.” This program will convene scholars at three conferences to be held at UCLA throughout the year. The planning of these events will include graduate student volunteers from both FSU and UCLA, including Art History graduate students Amanda Brito, Olivia Hackney, Julia Kershaw, Ileana Olmos, Tanya Pattison, Brittney Pieper, Sheila Scoville, and Estefanía Vallejo Santiago, and Classics MA student Laura Parces. FSU Digital Humanities Librarians Matt Hunter and Sarah Stanley are also assisting with the website.

Drs. Niell and Nair are also developing a Native American community-based workshop associated with each conference in partnership with UCLA’s Director of the American Indian Studies Center (AISC) and Professor of Gender Studies and Anthropology, Shannon Speed. These workshops are funded by the Terra Foundation for American Art, and will expand the conference discussions through on-site visits to locations and collections of Native and African American significance in the Los Angeles area.

“View of a hut, and a dance of the Yuracares Indians, Bolivia.” From Alcide Dessalines d’Orbigny, Voyage dans l’Amérique Méridionale, vol. 3. Paris, 1835–1847.