Kelsey Dawson

Congratulations to Kelsey Dawson, who received the Thesis Research & Design Achievement Award.The TR&D Achievement Award is awarded to the student with top standing in Arch 692/693.

While studying abroad in Rome during her undergraduate degree, Kelsey became fascinated by ancient Greek and Roman ceramics seen in museums during her travels. This inspiration led to combine her experience as a ceramicist and architectural education for her graduate research. Her research uses the methodology of fragmentary reconstruction, an archaeological process that gathers fragments one by one to make sense of the whole. Ceramic fragments are often the first clue to the presence of past civilizations. Scattered shards are little more than shapeless objects within abstract space, irrational in their form, quantity, and dispersion on site. However, they hold immense power to translate ideas, customs and cultures when collected and studied in larger groupings.