What is Unga?
Rooted in the core conviction that healing and thriving happen in community, Unga is a community collage studio, offered as a gift to our neighbors, from Julia Chafets Counseling, LLC. Unga is a place to gather and create, and welcomes anyone who longs for connection, inspiration and play.
The dream is for Unga to become a vibrant, well-used community resource, where together we:
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Enact and inspire a village spirit
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Foster playful and creative expression
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Rethink our relationships with consumerism, time, money and art
Where did the name come from?
There's a strong and wild creative energy that runs through the Chafets family line. I was most distinctly and joyfully introduced to this force through my Auntie Julie, who lives in Los Angeles. She's an accomplished poet and prolific creator of fabulous folk art, often using found objects in unexpected ways. Since my childhood, whenever we got together as a family, she would produce new and exciting art supplies and set everyone up to use them in creative ways.
Ungapatchke (UNG-guh-PAHTCH-kuh) is a Yiddish word for overly ornate, kitschy, tacky or "too much." Whenever I make an art project with Auntie Julie, inevitably the time comes for someone to ask, "Is it unga?" or say, "I might be getting a little unga..."
The response is always something like, "No, it's just right!" or "Not quite yet..." or "If you add one more thing..." or "Just the right amount of unga." But never...yes.
Who is Julia Chafets?
I long to live in a small village where everyone I know is in the same place, and we run into each other easily in the course of our days. I love being in the woods. I have a restless creative energy that rarely wants to make the same type of thing twice. I'm a parent, wife and friend. I use she and they pronouns, but mostly people use she. When someone calls me they, it surprises and delights me. I'm playful by nature, and hold most things very lightly. Reverence and irreverence coexist peacefully in me. I'm Jewish, and committed to understanding what that means for me, and living in ways that are in touch with the ancestral, spiritual and cultural threads that brings through my being. I've always been queer, but I've had expanded opportunities to live that out loud in my 40s. I have been a social worker since 2007, and a therapist since 2015. I love my work. I also love to not work. Oh, and I love my dog, Benny. She's a handful. (Treats were most definitely involved in the taking of these photos).
