Lin Haak was raised in Portland, Oregon. Her earliest art influence was an artist whom she loved – the artist lived across the street. Lin was 10 by then. She became an artist when she realized she had no option. She’s never been able to stop doing artwork. Except for her family, nothing else has ever mattered to her. When asked what she loves about art, she says that she loves painting as a means of meditation. Lin loves telling a story with her hands, she loves the smell of the paint, and works best when she has a deadline. She sometimes paints every day for weeks at a time just to beat her deadlines. She tries to live a slow life. She imagines the future with hope and her paintings are celebrations and reflections. She thinks of them as stories she tells. She thinks of them as stories that were told to her.
Lin feels her work expresses a state-of-being and a range of emotions: whimsy, peace, anger, sadness, acceptance, joy, etc. Primarily a self-taught artist, Haak studied art for just over a year at Portland State University. Her works have been exhibited in numerous solo and group exhibitions in the Pacific Northwest, and appear in the collections of McCormick & Schmick Restaurants and the U.S. Coast Guard. She paints and paints and paints during the short and long rainy days. She paints for celebrations, and she paints for ease of pain. Lin paints for her own joy, comfort, compassion and sanity. She paints to reach out, as daily meditation and because she can not stop painting. She paints to create future and honor the past.
