Ciara McNamara ’24 wins the 2024 Oakes and Louise Ames Prize

Ciara McNamara ’24, a studio art and psychology double major and English minor from Brooklyn, New York, was awarded the Oakes and Louise Ames Prize for her honors thesis, “The Spectacle of Consumption: I’m Lovin’ It,” at Connecticut College’s 106th Commencement May 19. McNamara’s work explores hyper-consumerism, food production and ethics, and global capitalism and its environmental impacts in three collections of paintings, a collection of pen-and-ink drawings, a found-object sculpture and an installation. In addition to the artwork, McNamara’s extensive and impressive thesis includes a written component, in which she grapples with greed, corruption and crisis on a global scale. 

Named for the late president emeritus of the College and his wife, the Oakes and Louise Ames Prize is given to a graduating senior who has completed the year’s most outstanding honors study. The prize is offered by the trustees in recognition of the quality of academic achievement that Oakes and Louise Ames fostered during their 14 years of service to Connecticut College.

Drawing influence from her personal reckoning with meat consumption, her study abroad semester in Rome and various artistic inspirations, McNamara’s work evidences high technical achievement and a great deal of experimentation. Her combination of legible imagery and material manipulation draws in viewers in a way that is simultaneously accessible and challenging. While themes and influences overlap throughout, individual pieces reference specific artists and subject matter, further situating McNamara’s work within today’s contemporary art discourse. Her installation, for example, combines audio, visuals and scent to fully immerse the viewer in the production chain of a McDonald’s Big Mac, while one of her paintings, Vapes for Teens, engages directly with the work of American painter Wayne Thiebaud. 

Associate Professor of Art Chris Barnard, who served as McNamara’s thesis adviser and nominated her for the Ames Prize, praised her “ability to naturalistically render imagery in complex compositions and manipulate materials for expressive means.” He said he believes the excellent body of work she created will be the standard-bearer for the Art Department for years to come.

“Ciara’s thesis embodies everything we could hope for from a liberal arts studio art major: a diligent work ethic and superior handling of a range of artistic media; experimentation and initiative; integration of knowledge from a range of fields of inquiry; dialogue with similar work in the field; and intentional decision-making and self-reflection, regarding both form and content,” he said. “Simply put, there is a lot of work, and it is excellent.”