Meet Tim Haugh

Today we’d like to introduce you to Tim Haugh.

Tim, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
I have made art all of my life. Recently, my mother brought to me a report card from the first grade stating that I was doing well with my art. Of course, I don’t remember this, but obviously, it was integral to my personality at a very early age. We moved often when I was a child and my first entry into exhibiting art was when I was 15 at a local art store just off campus in Des Moines, Iowa at Drake University. I won an honorable mention, which blew me away since I was competing against college level artists and others in the surrounding areas. The need to create was always a core component of my being. Maybe it’s an addiction, maybe its a substitute for other things, I don’t know. My style, technique and subject matter have changed over the years but the focus of my work is to capture essentials of the human experience. In the 1990s, I had no car and road the trains and buses of Marta, drawing my fellow passengers on the trips. It was always good to capture them as they were not aware and then tell and show them the drawings after the fact. If people caught wind of the fact that they were being drawn they would start to poise and the authenticity would be lost. This spawned a series of paintings, I called the Train series that was well received, and since I have never been trained, some found it astonishing. My most recent work is of historical figures. One is the Icon series, which are roughly 30 x 30-inch paintings of historical figures like Sitting Bull with heavy texture and metallic glazed leaf backgrounds. The other series is called the Eyes of American History that is a closely cropped series of portraits that have elements that relate to the subject’s story. Sherman, for instance, has his face made up of flames, for his infamous burning of Atlanta. Harriet Tubman has runaway slaves in the shadows of her cheeks and railroad lines in her eyes. When I display these paintings, I like to write up a sheet of history on the person portrayed in the painting and invite people to interact with the works. The most important thing about being an artist is to know that you have affected people, and as such, helped them on the journey of life.

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
My artistic pursuits have kept me sane when the struggle for survival has chipped away at my soul. The painter is alone in his or her work and it may serve as a refuge from the outside world, but ultimately most want their creations to be validated by the outside world. I have had no training and worked hard to fit in as an artist although I have to do other things to survive. Some of my family and friends have often suggested that I give up or paint decorative things that people would like, but I can’t bring myself to do either. At this point, late in my life, I have finally received recognition through awards and exhibits in prestigious shows in art centers and museums, but the most rewarding thing to happen is when someone contacts me to let me know how much they cherish a painting that I painted. For instance, a woman emailed me about a painting I had did for the Train series of a mother holding her baby on the Marta train, which she had bought with her very first paycheck as a nurse. Somehow it had ended up in an antique store in South Carolina after I sold it to someone thirty years ago and she had passed by it waiting for the day she could buy it and wanted to know more about the piece. That sort of thing makes a lot of the anguish go away and emboldens me to paint some more

We’d love to hear more about your work.
As an artist, I specialize in portraits of people: the famous and the ordinary. I believe that everyone has a story and that in my paintings, I can say more things than words can. I paint without photo projecting or graphing from a photograph, though I use photos as a reference. By using multiple photos, I create one unique likeness that is infused with the feeling I get from the subject. Too many, in my opinion, use the photographic image as a crutch and simply paint over them, bringing nothing new or original to the subject.

What was you like growing up?
I come from a family of eight brothers and one sister. We moved frequently when I was young and I ended up in Georgia forty-some years ago. I was in the middle, number four, generally quiet and something of a diplomat in amongst my siblings. My interests included art, history, sports and tinkering with things.

Contact Info:

• Address: 770 Trellis Pond Crt.
  Lawrenceville; Ga 30043
• Website: tjhaugh.com
• Phone: 770 542-7017
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: tjhaugh_art
• Facebook: tjhaugh artist

Image Credit:
Tim Haugh

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