Haiga Showcase: Cherie Hunter Day
Commentary by Ron C. Moss, Haiga Editor
Cherie Hunter Day is well known in the haiku community for her high quality work, and it’s a pleasure to highlight here her evocative, mysterious, and tantalizing haiga.
Ah, such a classical subject presented in fresh start: the famously traditional insect in haiku folklore. The haiga features a lovely, sharp photograph of a live cicada and the nymphal shell, which is not an easy combination to capture. The poem is perfectly balanced in the design and offers great sensitivity and understanding of not just the cicada’s circumstances, but the human condition as well.
In calculating the dues, we see a collage of scans and various captures that highlight a very powerful senryu. It gives us pause for thought and maybe incites an urge to address the crisis threatening our earthly home.
What a mouth-watering image we have with slowly ripening—in this close-up capture, the fruit just jumps off the page. The senryu offers a wonderful, affirming message, which I found very comforting. Maybe each life is, indeed, like a sweet fruit. A juicy haiga!
I love the minimalistic presentation of shadows and how the word “cut” connects so well with the ball of string. The traditional red seal balances the text and the large amount of white space surrounding it. In contrast, the ball of string is tightly cropped, creating a dynamic tension.
Cherie Explains in Her Own Words…
Making art—drawing, painting, collage, writing poetry and prose—has been a part of my discovery process ever since I was a girl. My curiosity about the natural world led me to obtain a degree in biology. Careful observation serves both art and biology. I combined these two passions as a book and biological illustrator and have won awards for my wildlife drawings. Half of my office is for writing; the other half is for art. It’s my happy place when I’m inside and not poking around outside.
About the Artist
Cherie Hunter Day has published haiku and tanka for over 30 years. Recent collections include Miles Deep in a Drum Solo (Backbone Press, 2022), winner of the 2022 Touchstone Distinguished Book Award, and a digital mini-chapbook The Rattle Inside (Half Day Moon Press, 2023) that features some of her collages. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area among seventeen thirsty redwoods.