Richard Haden was born in Frankfort Kentucky and began his Art education at the University of Kentucky where he was introduced to wood carving. After honing his carving skills as an apprentice he moved to the West Coast and began a studio practice carving objects scavenged from the alleys and scrap yards of downtown Los Angeles. His first solo shows were at the Anhalt Gallery in Los Angeles followed by a solo in Washington DC; Group shows at F.I.A.C., Paris, the Laguna Beach Museum of Art, LAICA in Los Angeles, Mey Mac, France through Boudon Lebon gallery, the Boise Art Museum and others.

Drawn to political ferment, he moved to the Lower East Side of New York and became active in the homesteading movement. As an activist Haden helped provide cheap housing for those willing to take control of abandon property. While successful in saving several buildings from Real Estate speculators, the movement eventually came to a head and sparked the Thompson Square riots—Haden was in the thick of it. Also around the same time Haden Joined the New York / Nicaragua Construction Brigade which traveled to Nicaragua to build housing for the Sandinistas. It was upon his return to the States that he developed a long standing relationship with Allan Stone, whose gallery unwittingly supported many of Haden's future adventures.

The 90s found Haden back on the West Coast, in San Francisco, trying to balance studio time with covert political activities that involved the medical marijuana movement and AIDS relief. Haden decided to take a sabbatical from art production in order to further immerse himself in the cause...Enough was enough and Haden finally returned to the studio. Haden's seven year or so Hiatus living off the grid finally led to a move from the 49th parallel, in the Cascade Mountains of Washington State to a cross-country escape---Haden insists that artists should also be activists, adding, "In addition to the social necessity of being active in local or global concerns it is through other causes that artist gain valuable lived experience which enriches the artist practice of making meaning....It is with resoluteness that we navigate along anxieties afforded paths to a richer understanding of the worlds we all live in”. With this philosophy in effect, Haden resumed his carving after moving to South Florida.

Since returning to producing work Haden was awarded the South Florida Cultural Consortium Award in 2007 and now lives in Miami, Florida, where he appreciates being part of an art community that is young and emerging as a vital part of the international art community. Haden's work is currently available through the Dorsch gallery, Miami; Lincart, San Francisco; the Allan Stone gallery, New York and also at the Nicholas Robinson Gallery, New York.