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Haiga Showcase Gallery: Ron Moss

Note: In every issue, cho will present a haiga gallery featuring renowned artists from around the world. For this first gallery, we’re focusing on the work of cho’s own haiga editor, Ron C. Moss. Ron is well known throughout the haiku community as both poet and artist, and the following works show how he masterfully blends both talents. Below, he offers some personal insights into his own process, as well as providing a general overview of his vision for future galleries.

You will see in my gallery a mixture of photographic, painting, and hand-drawing techniques. Many of the haiga were created on my cell phone: after capturing a decisive moment with the phone’s camera, I edited them using simple free apps like Snapseed. Others were put together with collected and painted scanned items, which I layered in Photoshop.

I look for images that have a haiku-like quality to them, a “moment keenly perceived.” There is no set formula for which comes first, the image or the haiku—at different times, one will suggest the other. That creative inspiration also drives the choice of media. Some images work better being hand-drawn or painted, with the haiku rendered in my own handwriting. When I work with software, I look to incorporate design elements that best enhance the mood. Always, I pay particular attention to the use of white space; leaving room around the haiku and the art can be of great importance.

Ideally, a “link and shift” will occur between the written word and the image: the two separate elements brought together to make something that resonates on a level higher than when they were separate. It’s a challenge to bring two disciplines together to make all the elements sing and best portray the haiku moment, but I strive to capture that ideal. For more examples of how I do this, you can check out my YouTube channel.

Click on any image below to see a full-size image and begin the slide show.