Please allow me to introduce myself and explain my mission. My name is Jan Stumbo, and I live with my husband and two children and do my work in Arlington, Texas. I volunteer my time to several organizations in our community; however, in the last two years, I have found my passion in teaching children and adults through the power of art.

Since a young age, I have been inspired to create art that is imaginative, as well as meaningful to me and those around me.

Art has given me peace.

When I contemplate, express, and reveal my art to others, they not only see the art itself but also my PASSION to help others heal by turning their pain into pieces of art from within.

For years, I have suffered from debilitating depression.

I have tried every medication my physicians recommended and hours of therapy to treat my condition. It was only after the events surrounding Hurricane Katrina, that I found a calling that not only serves as a more healing process than anything my doctors could prescribe, but has also allowed me to create a program for adults and children that involves utilizing art to release their innermost expression.

After Hurricane Katrina, I saw the devastation of those displaced from the storms. I found myself questioning my abilities to help.

I packed up my 11 year old daughter and my art supplies and headed to the Salvation Army. I spoke to several of the children who had not only lost their homes, but many had lost their families as well.

By helping these children with drawing and painting, I found that they were able to express their fears, their anxieties, and mostly their dreams of one day having a better life. It was through these teachings that I began to heal myself from my demons, as well as help these children heal from theirs.

I am a self-taught artist and hope to someday get a formal education in art to further my teaching. I have developed an in-depth program involving expression of art, developing art skills, and using art as an outlet for high-risk, displaced, and underprivileged individuals who might not get the emotional help they need.

To see the expressions on their faces after releasing their emotions on canvass is not only healing to them, but to me as well.

Helping these children is truly my calling.