By Alyssa Hernandez| WeINSPIRE Journalist

PEMBROKE, N.C. – Meet the couple and owners behind Infinite Art Studio, Thomas Walk and Darian Ward. Infinite Art Studio’s mission is to help veterans who have PTSD. Like many other veterans, Walk has Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and has discovered art therapy, which helps him cope. He learned acrylic pour painting through Ward, his girlfriend. After losing his friend in July 2021, Walk and Ward decided to use what they learned to open an art studio to encourage other veterans to stay alive. Their motto being the possibilities are infinite. 

Walk served from the end of 1999 to 2010. He suffers from PTSD and wants to help other veterans who also have the same mental disorder.   He initially joined the National Guard of the United States because he described himself as “a troublemaker with nowhere else to live.” He figured he would get all his basic necessities met by joining the military. He was a combat engineer and then served in Iraq from 2006 to 2007 as a medical equipment technician. In 2010 he left the army due to his back and his PTSD was getting bad. 

According to the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs 6 out of every 100 people will experience PTSD at some point in their lives. 15 million adults have PTSD during the year. According to the Wounded Warrior Project over 82 percent of injured veterans are affected by PTSD.

He battles with his PTSD. He said he does not remember much, he believes this is due to the medication he was on.  He also said he was not able to get off his medication because he did not have the right support system. Walk also mentioned that while medication does not work for him personally, he does encourage others to use it if it works for them.

“ I was at a combat field hospital where I really was not assigned to be, but I needed to help someone with something. I saw a lot of casualties in the hospital,” said Walk. “ Seeing it for real it’s different. It messes you up really bad. The people who did not do anything to nobody mess with you the worst.” 

Back in July 2021, Walk lost a good friend, who was also a veteran. A couple of weeks before her passing, he taught her how to do acrylic pour painting. Something Walk’s girlfriend had discovered through videos she had seen.

The idea of acrylic pour paint is to not have a goal as to what the finished product will look like. The idea is to release control of the project and enjoy the process of creating instead.  Ward saw this when her and Walk picked up this style of art.

“ I found some of these videos of people painting and it looked really intriguing. So we picked it up. I noticed with him and his particular case of PTSD he does not like not being in control,” Darian Ward said. “It comes with his own weird set of OCD. The type of painting we do is very chaotic. I noticed when he was doing it the chaos of his pieces did not bother him.”

Walk has also found his release through this type of art. He finds it therapeutic although he does not have control. He appreciates the fact he is also able to do this with others.

“ We thought about it and realized we could do it with family, friends, as well as anybody else. It just made sense to us to open an art studio,” Walk said. 

Walk found out that his friend had set up an art studio in her last weeks of life. They wondered if they had taught their friend acrylic pour painting sooner if she would have found peace in her life, rather than taking her own life. This inspired Walk and Ward to open an art studio with the focus of helping veterans with PTSD.  They hope to do veteran paint nights where the veterans can talk. These nights are meant to function like free therapy to prevent more veteran suicides. 

“ Although I am not a therapist, we are kind of working hand in hand with Greater Visions Counseling Services. This is my personal counselor and her services. They will be helping us set up the classes and stuff like that,” Walk said.

 According to a study published by the Journal of Military and Veterans’ Health art therapy can help reduce suicide rates in veterans diagnosed with PTSD. The study’s findings were that if veterans with PTSD are put in art therapy after diagnosis, they are at less risk for more severe PTSD symptoms. It is still suggested that veterans use the VA healthcare system in addition to art therapy. 

They are planning to do a soft open on February 12th and 13th.  They will have a walk-in painting session, board games, and a corner with books. The idea is to create a community among all walks of life. In the future, they plan to add tie-dye. Customers would pay a fee and get everything they need to complete the project. Infinite Art Studio is located in Rockingham, NC. 

“ Even when everything seems lost and you are at the very end like you are not. Find something to crack you out of your shell because it will be worth everything you went through,” Walk said.

To keep up with Infinite Art Studio visit their Facebook page. If you or someone you know has PTSD as a veteran, visit ptsd.va.gov and woundedwarriorproject.org.