Megan E. O'Neil
Assistant Professor
Department of Art History
Faculty Curator, Art of the Americas
Michael C. Carlos Museum
Biography
Megan E. O'Neil, Assistant Professor of Art History at Emory University and Faculty Curator of the Art of the Americas, is a specialist in the ancient Maya and other cultures of the ancient Americas. Prior to joining the Emory faculty, she taught at several universities and was Associate Curator at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA). One aspect of her research focuses on ancient Maya creation of and engagement with stone sculptures, explored in her first book, Engaging Ancient Maya Sculpture at Piedras Negras, Guatemala. Dr. O'Neil has keen interests in the reception of Mesoamerican art and culture over time and has studied collecting and exhibition practices as well as artists' engagements with the art of the ancient Americas.
Scholarly Interests:
- Mesoamerican art and archaeology, with emphasis in ancient Maya stone sculpture and ceramics
- Iconoclasm
- Materiality and human engagement with things
- Histories of collecting and exhibition of the art of the ancient Americas