Holiday Reception: The Sespe Counseling Center and Gallery: Jamie Weil: December 10, 2011 1PM to 6PM

We wanted to make sure that you have the upcoming date in your calendar. The holiday reception is the best event of the year at the Sespe Counseling Center and Gallery. I am featuring Jamie Weil because he paints wild places that are very accessible for all of us. The Los Padres is a hidden gem that many Ventura County locals have never been to, let alone Yosemite Valley! It is an area that brings out something that being urban hides; our potential to rest our minds and settle into our bodies. One of my specialties is Eco-Psychology. Here is an excerpt from my web page that explains how I integrate it into my practice:

Eco-Psychology: Nature & Wilderness Experiential Therapy

There is a disconnect that many of us feel that know ourselves to be nature lovers and let that bond slip away. We NEED wild places. The complexity of nature energizes innate healing that is probably the single most powerful force immediately available to us to generate emotional balance. Soothing paths through deep woods nurture us right when we need it. High mountains and granite cliffs make us face our fears and help us know ourselves as warriors in modern times. Our culture has lost many of the ceremonies and rituals that our indigenous nature still knows as a shadow memory. I have been a timberline mountaineer my whole life and am a Wilderness Guide. I connect my clients to a multitude of local trails where they can get off the couch and move their bodies and have fun! Therapy is about life transition. When we mix it with nature it becomes a right of passage.

I also want to add that we have Akym Rinkovsky's inspired furniture art collection in the gallery as well as Peter Churchill's beautiful stained glass pieces on display.

Here are their bios:

Akym Rinkovsky was originally inspired by ancient Aztec art. He developed a love for using natural materials and a sacred philosophy of preserving the earth into an 'interactive style of art.' Akym has created a very rare furniture-art show called Going Green, The Fix it Kit “Palm.” This is a specific collection of his natural form benches and tables built from king and queen palm fronds and bark. It is in his own interpretation of these tree's flow and function that spawned this truly unique brand of indoor and outdoor leisure sculpture. This is a complete paradigm shift, a new way of thinking, analyzing the 'proper' utilization of something that exists all around us. Via old school building techniques with new school respect for the environment, Akym has created pieces that must be seen to appreciate.

Peter Churchill is an accomplished stained glass artist who has been creating pieces that are inspired by nature. His passion for geology is channeled through his work in that it uses mineral colors and crystalline form. He has clients all over the West - Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Nevada and Arizona. Peter's business includes custom stained glass windows, decorative glass art projects, and memorial pet garden stones. Much of his work is inspired by things he loves - his latest series of water fowl evolved out of his love of these incredible birds; Peter's memorial stones evolved from a desire to create a lasting memory when his beloved dog died. http://churchillstainedglass.com/Home.html


Again, Jamie Weil, an accomplished brush painter, well known in Ojai for his love of our local mountains as well as Yosemite Valley, will be the primary artist exhibiting. His plein air works in water based acrylics and water colors humbly transfer the beauty of the mountain to canvas producing images that evoke memories for all of us that have been to these magical places. Both the whimsy of the yucca in Ojai Conservancy of the Los Padres and the flowing majestic cliffs of Half Dome in Yosemite brings out something indigenous in us that must be honored. Jamie Weil's art makes you want to return (or go for the first time) to these trails that evoke true balance in our lives. This show focuses on the Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, Ventura River Preserve, AND the Yosemite National Park. Please visit his website to see more: http://www.jamieweil.com/

The pieces are elegantly framed and very reasonably priced. All proceeds for the gallery are donated to charity. This show will be benefiting The Ojai Valley Land Conservancy. It is a non-profit organization that works to protect open space lands within the Ojai Valley in perpetuity for the benefit of the community. Working with willing and interested landowners, land is either purchased, donated or preserved through conservation easements. Please visit the following website: http://www.ovlc.org/

Launch your evening of fun from the Sespe Gallery. Enjoy delicious hors d'oeuvres and fine art and poetry before you head out on the town. Bump into old friends and make new ones in our relaxing environment. Remember that we are located right next to the Camarillo Outlet Mall, Edwards I-Max Theater and a multitude of shopping and dining opportunities in Old Town.

Thomas Carver will be your hosts. Complimentary wine & non-alcohol refreshments and finger foods will be served. Good food, friends, colleagues and conversation. Please RSVP to info@thomascarver.com or (805) 794-7800. The Sespe Counseling Center and Gallery is located at 155 Granada Street, Suite O, Camarillo, CA 93010. Thank you.

Please forgive us if you receive this invitation more than once. We are fine tuning the e-list. If you are contacted more than once (or want to be removed from the list), reply to this e-mail and we will look for a duplicate address. Thank you.

Also, let me remind you to visit my Web Site: www.thomascarver.com, which is meant not only to be a site that describes my psychotherapy practice, but also a resource for the community and my clients.

The Sespe Center is the the product of a vision to combining a counseling center with a progressive art gallery. This environment has surpassed our wildest hopes in that we have seen the interplay between the artist's inspiration and each client's courageous path of healing. The idea was to have a space that was constantly evolving. We look back at the history of different mediums shown in the gallery and remember the special relationships that were developed during therapy sessions and see mutual insight. Art and psychotherapy are expressions of passion.