Assistant Professor of Art History
Leslie E. Todd teaches courses on Latin American art and global art of the early modern period. She received her BA in Art History and Spanish from Southern Methodist University, and her MA and PhD in Art History from the University of Florida. Over the last decade her research has focused on wooden polychrome sculpture dating to the eighteenth century from Quito, Ecuador, which has been supported by a Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Fellowship, and a Kennedy Fellowship among other grants and awards. Her book on the topic is entitled Sculpting Quito: Religious Art across Domestic Spaces (University of Texas Press, May 2026). She continues with a focus on this topic shifting her attention toward the relationship between the materials and materiality of the objects and their devotional function. Her broader research interests include the eighteenth century in Latin America, the impact of global trade networks on Spanish American visual culture, and non-traditional art forms such as wooden polychrome sculpture and ceramics. Her next project will examine talavera poblana. Outside of teaching and research, Dr. Todd enjoys gardening, baking, and sewing.
