Victor Stabin, of Jim Thorpe, an eco-surrealist painter and illustrator, spoke to the student body at Panther Valley High School recently. Stabin gave students insight into his work as he showed slides of his paintings.

In addition to painting, Stabin also authored a book of the Alphabet dictionary called "Daedal Doodle" with his own definitions.Stabin started his artistic journey at the Art Students League every summer from age 13 to 17. He then graduated from the High School of Art and Design in 1972.He attended the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, Calif., from 1973 to 1975 before returning to the East Coast to continue his education at New York City's School of Visual Arts from 1975 to 1976.A few years later he taught conceptual thinking for illustrators at the School of Visual Arts as he continued his work as a professional illustrator.Stabin created nine stamps for the U.S. Postal Service's Commemorative Postage Stamp program. Twenty years of his favorite illustrations can be viewed in his illustration attic.His painting efforts were distracted by the process of rehabilitating a 150-year-old industrial building that Stabin and his wife purchased on Broadway in Jim Thorpe.Stabin will present additional programs to key artists at the Panther Valley High School.Art teacher Kim Gallagher said Stabin was secured through The AIE Partnership of the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency.It is funded by the citizens of Pennsylvania through annual legislative appropriation, and administered locally by the Allentown Art Museum.The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts is supported by the National Endowment for the Arts.