ASIMS is pleased to announce that the 2018 winner of the Terry Barry Prize for Best Graduate Paper in Irish Medieval Studies is Laura McCloskey for her paper “Exploring meditatio and memoria in Ireland through the Book of Durrow: manuscript illumination as the intersection of theological and artistic traditions.” She presented it at the 2017 American Society for Irish Medieval Studies conference at Glenstal Abbey in Ireland.

Laura E. McCloskey is a PhD candidate in art history at Trinity College Dublin, Ireland and the recipient of an Irish Research Council Postgraduate Scholarship. Laura holds a B.A. in Art History from George Mason University, a M.A. in Irish Studies from Catholic University, and a M.Ed. in Multilingual and Multicultural Education also from George Mason University. She has been a lecturer of history and art history at George Mason University since 2008, specializing in Irish history from pre-Christian to contemporary periods, Celtic art and mythology, and medieval Scotland. She has presented at numerous international conferences on early medieval Irish manuscript traditions.

Working under the supervision of Dr. Laura Cleaver, her dissertation title is “Cross-Cultural Connections between Insular Manuscript Illumination and the Mediterranean World.” Laura’s research unites the Mediterranean world from the late antique period through the early middle ages as evidenced in Irish manuscript illumination, focusing specifically on two of the best known early Insular manuscript exemplars: the seventh-century Book of Durrow and eighth-century Book of Kells. Using archaeological and literary evidence, she explores the trade relationship between Ireland and Byzantium, uniting early Christendom into a coherent artistic whole facilitated by motifs spread via the missionary work and legacy of Saint Columba.