Sara Haase is a painter and she will be one of our featured artists at Salon der Herzen on March 30th. We asked her about her biggest influences and what has been a seminal experience.

1. Why do you make this type of art? 

It can bring me back to life, to be a spectator of live performance. Painting performers is a compulsion after being so riveted. Excellently crafted immersive shows win my heart every time. And I ache when they end. I just want to paint it and go back to that time and place where I felt so transported. 

2. Did you always want to be an artist? 

I was doing it well before I realized I’d want to do it for the rest of my life. It’s just some thing I always felt like doing when I was a kid. I was always happy spending time alone working at it. 

3. Do you listen to music while you create? If so, what is on your playlist? 

I almost wish it wasn’t so but I listen to podcasts. I love getting exposed to new ideas and perspectives. My old habit was to just let my favorite movies play in the background, while I’d paint on my parents’ living room floor. 

4. Who are your biggest influences? 

Psychedelic rock poster artists, 1960’s/70’s. The drama of the fantastical imagery and the saturated silkscreened color have had my heart since I was a kid. The lettering is unreal. 

Rachel Brice - you just have to look up videos of her belly dance. She’s a grounded goddess from another realm, with the most articulate precision and ultimate control of her body. It looks like the music is originating from her movement, it’s so perfectly transmuted through her. 

5. What has been a seminal experience?

I saw Beats Antique in 2013 at The Yost because I wanted to see the brilliant Zoe Jakes dance. Turned out to be one of the most inventive and powerful stage shows I’ve seen. It was a wild ride inspired by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero’s Journey and I’ll never forget how it felt. I’m still making paintings about that show, trying to capture it. 

6. Name something you love (anything) and why.

Genuine reactions and the facial expressions that go with them. In a time of “reaction videos” and American Idol judge types modeling “awed” faces for the cameras. I just want to watch color-blind people wear corrective lenses for the first  time. Or a child hear their mother’s voice for the first time via cochlear implant.