My name is Hannah Saarinen. Family and childhood friends call me “Haz”. I am an American illustrator, painter, registered nurse (RN), and the founder of Art Haz Energy. I aim to beautifully and elegantly connect art and the human body.

     I might as well have been born with a paintbrush and pen in my little hands. Creative energy has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember, and there is never a moment where I doubt its place. In the early stages, however, I lacked a vision and direction. Not having a focused outlet, my school notes became my artboard. It was during this time, while doodling during a biology class, that I became entranced by the beauty and intricacy of the human body. This moment inspired me to study medicine and eventually become a registered nurse.

     I worked as a full-time nurse from 2014 to 2020 at hospitals around the country. I cared for people who were dying, people who died, people who were given a second chance at life, and people who came back to life again. Some people were in the hospital for months and others for years. I cared for people who had no family and people who had dark secrets from their families. I helped people who couldn’t walk, people who couldn’t talk, people who couldn’t move, and people who couldn’t even breathe without assistance from a machine. I had patients undergo awake brain surgery, have their eyes sewn shut, and have their wounds healed by leeches. I cared for people who lost limbs, people who had rotting flesh, people who had voices in their heads, and people who came into the hospital with maggots in their skin. I watched people experience addiction to heroin, alcohol, pills, cocaine, and meth; sometimes all at the same time. I helped people who paid for VIP care as well as people who were living on the street. I cared for people who were abused and people who abused me, people who would have their lives altered forever, and people who would walk away from the hospital without a scar. I cared for young people, old people, their families, and sometimes their pets. I cried with people, hugged people, talked to people, and listened to people. I tended to their needs, their wounds, their physical and emotional pain.

     These are the people who inspired me. Their lives, deaths, bodies, experiences, emotions, pains, tears, laughter, and love are now the driving force behind my art. Follow me, as I attempt to shed light on the suffering, and express the raw beauty of humanity found in life and death; on the inside and out. I study art from the masters of the past and create a unique genre that is a personal fusion of art and medicine. My illustrations are not academic, they are an abstraction of human anatomy.  I am a caregiver at heart, and my mission is to heal.

Mission

Create, connect, and care with the heart.

Vision

 Inspire, heal, and understand with the mind.

Values

 Contrast and Balance | Energy and Imagination | Truth and Honesty