Our Story Unfolds

ABOUT THE FOUNDER

Latasha Gregory Carthens

Founder & Creator of The Healing Canvas Experience

The Healing Canvas Experience began with a desire to remember someone I didn't get the opportunity to know the way I wished I could.

My mother's name was Ivy Gregory, and her birthday was February 22. My relationship with my mother was complicated. She struggled with addiction, and I grew up in foster care. Because of the circumstances surrounding my childhood, there were many things I never got to experience with my mother—many memories I never got to make and many questions that never received answers.

Still, she was my mother.

As her birthday approached, I wanted to find a way to honor her life—not through the pain of what was missing, but through celebration, creativity, and remembrance.

I began envisioning a Celebration of Life Paint Party in her honor. I started thinking about the atmosphere, the activities, the creative elements, the people who would come together, and how I could create an experience where memories could be shared and emotions could exist without judgment.

While I was curating that experience, something much bigger began to take shape.

The Healing Canvas Experience was born.

I realized that the idea wasn't only about celebrating my mother. It was about creating something for people who, like me, have experienced loss, complicated relationships, grief, trauma, or simply the weight of emotions that are sometimes difficult to put into words.

Then, only a few months later, my father, Derrick Williams, passed away on April 2, 2026.

Losing my father changed the meaning of this vision for me.

What began as a way to honor my mother became an even deeper understanding of why spaces for grief, remembrance, creativity, and connection are so important.

I began to understand that grief is complicated. Sometimes we grieve people we knew intimately. Sometimes we grieve relationships we never got to have. Sometimes we grieve the childhood we deserved, the conversations we never had, the memories we never made, and the questions that will never be answered.

And sometimes, we simply need somewhere safe to put all of those feelings.

That is what The Healing Canvas Experience represents to me.

It is a space where people can come as they are. A space where there is no perfect way to grieve, no required way to heal, and no expectation that anyone has to explain what they are feeling.

Through art, creativity, meaningful experiences, and community connection, I want to create opportunities for people to remember, express, connect, and breathe.

Because sometimes the canvas isn't just the piece of paper in front of you.

Sometimes the canvas is your story.

And sometimes, when we finally give ourselves permission to create, remember, and feel, we discover that there is still something beautiful we can create from what we've been through.

This is The Healing Canvas Experience.

Born from remembrance.
Built through resilience.
Created to give others a place to feel, connect, and heal.

— Latasha Gregory Carthens
Founder & Creator, The Healing Canvas Experience ❤️