There has been a long tradition of influence emanating from the Far East in Northwest art. Painters such as Mark Toby and Morris Graves were absorbed by Japanese aesthetics and Zen Buddhism. Painter Ako Lindley embodied that tradition in reverse. Born in Tokyo, Ako successfully melded her Japanese heritage with the Western art tradition. Like the Japanese Shin Hanga artists of the Ukiyoe revival, she was fascinated by Western concepts of perspective and verisimilitude, but was still grounded in the Japanese penchant for flattening pictorial space to accentuate its decorative integrity. Her paintings of barns in the Skagit Valley give these old structures an exotic flair missed by artists more familiar with them.

Ako Lindley earned her degree in art and graphic design from California State University at San Jose. Her early experiences working in the art department of International Paper Company and the Oakland Tribune provided a working discipline that served well in her subsequent and continuing pursuit of fine art.

Ako spent several years studying with noted Pacific Northwest landscape painter William E. Elston. During this time she was assigned the position of class and workshop monitor, and she managed many aspects of Mr. Elston's classes.

Ako Lindley was also actively involved in the World Seido Karate Organization for many years, and promoted to Shodan (first degree black belt) in 2007, at World Seido Karate Honbu, in New York City.

Ako Lindley passed away on July 24, 2012, after a long illness.