"This museum is a kind of sanctuary" —Jennifer Leigh Atkinson

There are many sacred places on earth: those naturally sacred and those made sacred by the people who consecrate them.

Jennifer Atkinson understood this more fully than most. She knew that one of the greatest powers of craft was to explore both the known and the unknown.

In her journey at the Fuller she sought to expand the purpose of "the arts" in our lives. She believed that craft had a significant role. She explored moving beyond decoration and self expression to evidence of one's everyday tasks for the maintenance of life. This mythic use of crafts becomes a map of our journey as a species through the landscape form wholeness to separation and back again.

We all know that real power exists not in the external form of a thing, but in meeting the secret inner one, and that to reach that hidden world is the purpose of this ritual. The sanctuary we are building is a record of that meeting.

Please carry a stone from the cairn though the museum, the path will be marked for you , but feel free to find your own way. Feel the weight of the stone you are carrying and feel a circle of light around you, imagine this light is Jennifer. When you feel safe begin your journey. Take time with this and consider your emotions and your inner response.

Add your stone to the cairn in the middle of the auditorium. After all the stones have been added, If you feel safe remember what you saw and felt on the journey and share it with the group.

Take a stone with you at the end of the ritual and place it in your own or Jennifer's sanctuary. Please leave any engraved stones at Jennifer's sanctuary.

Michael Dowling