November 13th, 2011: Kelly O'Mara's Sewanee Pilgrimage

Kelly O'Mara, one of the most delightful students I've ever had the good fortune to work with, sent in this report of her adventures:

Hurrah for the tsa-tsa! It has been an honor to be a part of this group of
community members, faculty, and students that have joined together in a
movement of signifying sacred spaces throughout our shared community under
the leadership of artist, professor, and friend, Julie Püttgen. I see the
tsa-tsa as an object that connects both individuals to others, and
individuals to the landscape. Each piece, made from the clay of this
domain, is both separate from and a part of our landscape.

Throughout my Sewanee Pilgrimage, I chose to signify places that I
encounter on a near-daily basis in my life, contrasted by those which I do
not occupy on a *daily* basis but are of great importance to me
nonetheless.

The frequency of my visits to these places neither diminishes nor adds to
their importance in my life. These decisions of placement were made in
accordance to the Zen story featured on the first page of this project of
the dying teacher, grieving student, and the message to "live in such a way
that there are no unimportant places or people." In my tsa-tsa placement,
it is my hope that I have honored not only the places of greatness in my
life, but also the people that inhabit them. Both exist physically, in my
memory, and in a transitory place between the two.