Haiga Showcase: Annette Makino
Commentary by Ron C. Moss, Haiga Editor
I’m very pleased to present Annette’s distinctive haiga collages. A productive artist and poet whose work can can be found in cards, books, calendars, and prints, she is a wonderful example of what can be achieved through hard work and dedication to her craft. It’s very pleasing to see an artist and poet exploring the possibilities of mixed media. . . Bravo!
safe deposit is a delightful image that jumps off the page with an almost 3-D effect achieved through her skillful collage work.The humorous haiku adds a touch of whimsical magic that combines beautifully with the image.
In with purple fingers, I love the way the shapes of the berries almost dance across the green of the foliage. I admire Annette’s sense of space and placement in building her images. The position of both her seal and the haiku are well considered. The haiku has a balance of soft and hard and connects with the image in a very tactile way.
We have calligraphy forming part of the collage in clockless day, and the characters look and feel like falling leaves. A constant theme in Annette’s creations is her love of the natural world, and she represents this very well in the diversity of all her creations. The haiku blends well with this setting.
In the redwood path, the dark, striking trees form a moonlit pathway, and the haiku has a poetic spell that draws us into the scene.
Annette Explains in Her Own Words
As an artist and haiku poet, I draw inspiration from the natural landscapes of Northern California and from my Japanese heritage. My work aims to express the Zen notion of wabi-sabi, awareness of the fleeting and imperfect beauty of this world.
My mixed-media collages combine traditional Japanese washi papers, scrap papers such as old maps and letters, and found objects like feathers or buttons. The papers start out white, and I then paint, tear, and glue them to make my images. I call this process “tearing things together.”
When I’m creating a haiga, my biggest challenge is to find the right distance between the words and the image: not so close as to be merely descriptive or illustrative, not so far as to lose the relationship altogether. This is especially hard with more representational images and/or haiku with strong visual aspects. In my haiga, I hope that the art and haiku deepen and enrich each other, sparking new connections for the viewer.
About the Artist
Annette Makino is an award-winning haiku poet and artist based in Arcata, California, who combines paintings and collages with her poems. Her work regularly appears in the leading haiku journals and anthologies. Through her art business, Makino Studios, she shares her haiga, cards, calendars and books. See more of her work at www.makinostudios.com/gallery.