Dan Zak was born in rural Alberta and loved to draw from an early age.
He obtained a Master's Degree in Architecture (UofM), followed by an international architectural practice, including London, Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, and San Francisco. Throughout his education and career, making, painting, and drawing have been his passions. In September 2019, he designed and built a studio for painting and exhibiting.

He describes his process in the following passage:

"Each mark aims to be both purposeful and spontaneous, not imitating but responding to what I see and feel around me. I work in that zone between naturalism and abstraction. When a painting hits on that otherworldly quality between the two, then I feel I have achieved something—it's a figurative thing, but every once in a while, these moments serve as confirmation that the vitality of painting emerges from a willingness to surrender to process and let go of outcomes."