Haiga Showcase: Emma Arthur Alexander

Commentary by Ron C. Moss, Haiga Editor

Emma Arthur Alexander’s haiga have a distinctive, painted-mandala style that portrays her obvious love of nature. In this Showcase we see several haiga that form a sequence. I appreciate very much the shape of these haiga, which serves to focus and accentuate the artwork and allows adequate white space for the haiku.

Wow, silent hunt is just stunning! I was taken by the beautifully depicted flying white owl in a snowstorm. The black and white tones are broken only by the owl’s eyes, to which the haiku effectively links. A fine touch of storytelling.

With pine wind we see another example of masterful linking and shifting. The red sun (or perhaps a moon?), smooth and round, connects with “barefoot” in the haiku. The flying birds bring a sense of movement and distance. We feel as if we are floating free between the image and the haiku, and can almost smell the pine scent—even though there’s no tree depicted.

In the dark blue night of equally lost, a stunning crescent moon centers this meditative, moody composition. I enjoyed the senryu very much; getting lost with the moon is something every moon watcher loves to do. The line of pine trees, with its subtle shading, brings us back to earth and into a Zen-like mindfulness and calm.

Well, we started with a strong image in the animal world, and now with dimming light we see an amazing deer standing strong and proud, bringing us back to that world. All the connections are certainly not lost on me, for one. So much is said with this resonate haiku. The silence of a falling leaf brings the whole sequence to a fitting completion…bravo!

Emma Explains in Her Own Words…

Creating haiga brings me immense joy. I also love the challenge of providing the reader with an opportunity to transcend the individual elements of my haiku and artwork when they come together harmoniously.

About the Artist

Emma Arthur Alexander is a Scottish-Norwegian artist and writer who loves to explore nature’s beauty and wonder.  Emma has studied graphic design and sumi-e brush painting and is a certified teacher. She mainly uses ink, watercolours, photography, and digital techniques to create her haiga.

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