JIM STONER ARTISTRY

Jim grew up in a small rural Iowa town. After graduating from high school, he enlisted in the Army as a psychiatric specialist working on psychiatric units at Walter Reed Army Medical Hospital and Womac Army Hospital at Ft. Bragg. Jim received extensive training in effectively addressing the needs of people with moderate to severe mental illness, including addictions.  

After serving in the military for six years, Jim obtained several degrees, earning an undergraduate degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin—Milwaukee (UWM), a master's in professional writing from Kennesaw State University with an emphasis on creative writing, and support areas in public service writing and research writing. Jim earned a master's in liberal studies from UWM and fifty credits or ten core classes in clinical mental health at Walden University.  

During this time, Jim worked in disability services, administering and directing programs serving dually diagnosed adults and children. He directed ten community-based residential facilities (CBRF) for Homes for Independent Living in Waukesha County, WI. He also was the program director for an 80-bed children's residential facility called Oconomowoc Developmental Training Center in Genesee, WI. Jim was responsible for developing training programs, program policies and procedures, and supervising staff in these jobs. He went on to found Facilitative Learning Services, where he was the first provider in Wisconsin to research, write, and design an 800-page state-approved certification curriculum and program for CBRFs.  Jim sold public and onsite training and created customizable and brandable train-the-trainer courses, for which he sold copyrights to providers for use within and outside their CBRFs.  

Once these markets "dried up," Jim went on to teach English at UW-Milwaukee. There, he earned the status of senior lecturer in English and worked for fourteen years with underprepared and disadvantaged students in the Academic Opportunity Center. Jim has a genuine passion for student success. He was the creator and collaborator of the first "stretch" course program at UWM, which improved disadvantaged student retention. He was also awarded a grant to measure outcomes and high-impact best practices for the stretch model in face-to-face, blended, and online classes. Jim is a dedicated worker and simultaneously coordinated and co-chaired UWM's college readiness and enrichment program for 120-200 underprepared incoming first-year students each summer and was the lead instructor. As a measure of Jim's love for students and teaching, he earned Student Success Awards in 2013 and 2014. 

Jim has a passion for helping people. He also has an intense interest in the healing power of the arts and is an accomplished visual artist and creative writer. Jim is the founder of the Healing Arts Blog. He has published more than thirty-four artworks and poems in twenty-one journals. He authored a forthcoming book of poetry and artworks, Iterations of the Boy. A sample of this book may be found here. He has also written many academic papers and blogs and has presented at several forums and conferences. Jim has an intense interest in advocating for and improving society's response to people who are different. He has a particular interest in preventing suicide as he has known many people who have died of it. Jim was certified to train UWM staff in Suicide Prevention. His older brother died by suicide on June 30, 2017. Since then, Jim has been devoted to sharing the healing power of the arts.

Jim helped raise five adult children, and he currently lives in Hazard, Kentucky, nestled in the Appalachia Mountains, with his dog, Lady.

When questioning the role of my art today, art in and of itself, art and life, art and society, and art and activism, my works are largely novel, sometimes dark, and other times shocking. Some of my works are religiously, politically, and socially engaging and beg the viewer to ask, "What does that mean?" I want to be a catalyst for others to develop a critical consciousness and a stronger sense of empathy for others or the subject matter.

My art asks my viewers to abandon the romantic visions of art's mission. I ask them to consider fairness and justice. Still, at the same time, I insist on the constant questioning of dominant religious, political, and social ideologies within the art world and society. I want to maintain and fight for the inherent artistic freedom of speech and expression. Some of my art can be viewed as consciousness-raising or empathy-raising art. If my work is appropriately contemplated and discussed, it should raise a mirror for everyone, engendering empathy, and have a liberating effect. As an artist, my work illuminates the shadows inside the human condition, producing insight.  

Some of my work directly confronts taboos to force a healthy and productive conversation. Each artwork or tethered artworks tell a compelling story of the human struggle. Many of my paired artworks and poems have been published as hybrid works. I juxtapose the written word and visual artwork to highlight the multi-dimensionality of the subject matter and the paradoxical relationships found in our personal, material, social, and spiritual worlds. This powerful synergy of word and visual image activates and affirms deep emotional connections that might not otherwise be achieved in one dimension. 

I hope my works will inspire and move others to become more aware, compassionate, expressive, fair, and just. I try to marry the sublime, beauty, and "truth" to the Good. My work is interdisciplinary, drawing upon academic disciplines such as art, art history, literature, ethics, psychology, religion, spirituality, and cultural and non-normative studies.  

See Jim's art in his store