Pleasures and pitfalls in creating haiga

This haiga by Annette Makino was published in Contemporary Haibun Online in December 2023, and appears in her 2024 calendar of art and haiku. © Annette Makino 2023

ANNETTE MAKINO, HAIKU SOCIETY OF AMERICA NEWSLETTER, DECEMBER 5, 2023

You probably know the satisfaction of writing a well-crafted haiku, when just the right words in the right order create something greater than the sum of its parts. Now imagine that feeling magnified by adding a visual dimension, opening up an extra avenue of creative expression. That is the reward of creating haiga.

You will also find that haiga are more accessible to your cousins, colleagues or others who aren’t particularly interested in haiku. An arresting image combined with a few well-chosen lines of haiku is easy to digest without any knowledge of Japanese poetry. For many years I have published a calendar of my haiga. Sold mainly in grocery stores, bookstores and plant nurseries in my community, these reach hundreds of people each year who have no special connection to haiku, but who find beauty and meaning in the haiga.

“But wait,” I hear you objecting, “I don’t have an artistic bone in my body!” Fear not. In the Japanese tradition, haiga did not require any particular artistic skill. Though there were certainly practitioners who were great artists, like Buson, most haiga images were very modest. The creator’s sincerity and individual expression were key.

Also, with today’s availability of digital photography and photo editing apps, creating variations of haiga is more accessible than ever. (But note the hazards of photo-haiga, below.)

As haiku poets, we have learned that, typically, a key element of an effective haiku is to “mind the gap”—to create some distance between the one-line fragment and the two-line phrase of each poem, enabling readers to make connections themselves. (Of course, some powerful poems break this general guideline.)

The same holds true in the juxtaposition of the image and words in a haiga. Stephen Addiss has written, “In a fine haiga, the poem does not just explain the painting, nor does the painting merely illustrate the poem. Instead, they add layers of meaning to each other.”

However, in my experience, this is easier said than done. If the haiku doesn’t include a strong visual element, it is fairly simple to create some disjunction between the art and text. But if your haiku contains a visual image, as many effective poems do, and if you are using a representational artistic style, it can be hard to find the right distance between the poem and the art. On the one hand, you don’t want to make the connection too obvious; on the other, you don’t want to confound or disengage the viewer.

For instance, in a haiku about a fledgling learning to fly, pictures of birds immediately come to mind. But some other potential visual subjects that offer related but less overt connections might include feathers, fields or clouds. Even paper airplanes!

Correspondingly, if your artistic style is more abstract, it’s easier to create contrast between the text and art even if the haiku features a visual image. For instance, traditional Japanese haiga made of a few semi-abstract brushstrokes allow plenty of space for the viewer to fill in.

I find that many haiga using photos (known as shahai in Japanese) leave me cold; a photo can contain so much visual information that it closes down interpretations of the piece as a whole. But photo-based haiga can be successful if they use more impressionistic images like simple landscapes or extreme closeups. Photos that are manipulated with filters to become somewhat abstracted can also be very effective. And a more detailed photo can still work if the poem shifts away from it enough.

There is a lot involved in crafting haiga; I’ve only touched the surface here. But in the end, I encourage you to create what you want to create. Guidelines can be helpful, but don’t let them limit you. It’s all about the joy of expressing yourself!

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See the gallery of Annette’s haiga.

See her 2024 haiga calendar.

See an essay on linking in haiga by Michael Dylan Welch.

Haiku Poets of Northern California - Featured Reader: Annette Makino

HAIKU POETS OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA, QUARTERLY MEETING, OCTOBER 15, 2023

On October 15, 2023, Annette Makino was one of two featured readers for the fall quarterly meeting of the Haiku Poets of Northern California held on Zoom.

Watch the 15-minute presentation on YouTube, where she shows more than 50 of her Japanese-inspired watercolor and collage haiga (art combined with haiku) and explains a bit about her process. Introduction by HPNC President Garry Gay.

'Torn Together' : Annette Makino debuts new mixed media collages

Pictured is “Wind Blowing Upriver,” a collage piece by artist Annette Makino. (Courtesy of the artist)

HEATHER SHELTON, EUREKA TIMES-STANDARD, EUREKA, CA, SEPT. 2, 2022

Annette Makino has spent the last few years developing a new artistic style. The local artist, well-known for her Makino Studios line of greeting cards, prints and calendars, is now making Asian-inspired collage accompanied by original haiku.

“After 10 years of working with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink, and making fairly representational paintings, I was interested in exploring something new,” Makino said. “I did some online searches for Japanese mixed media and came upon a few collages that spoke to me. It turned out that one of the artists I really liked, Donna Watson, was giving a three-day workshop called ‘Wabi Sabi: The Spirit of Collage.’”

In February 2020, Makino flew to Tucson for that workshop, which she said was quite inspiring.

“Just a month later, the pandemic shut down life as we knew it and my Makino Studios art business slowed to a trickle,” Makino said. “Though stressful, this gave me the unexpected gift of free time, and less pressure to continue to create work in the style that my customers had come to expect. So, I was able to throw myself into experimenting with collage, with the Tucson workshop as a starting point.”

Makino’s new collage pieces are on display in September in a solo show, “Torn Together,” at Just My Type Letterpress Paperie, 235 F St., Eureka. An Arts Alive! reception is set for Saturday from 6 to 9 p.m. (Masks are strongly encouraged inside the store.)

“This is my first show in four years, and I’m excited to share my new work with the community,” Makino said. “I love the process of gathering interesting papers, painting and tearing them and transforming them into beautiful natural scenes.

“Nature … is a constant source of inspiration,” she said. “I especially love the landscapes and animals of Northern California, especially Humboldt County. I have created collages featuring Roosevelt elk, Coho salmon, foxes and owls, among other creatures. You’ll also find ocean scenes, redwood forests, oak trees and blackberry vines.”

Makino says because of her Japanese heritage and having spent time in Japan as a child and later in life, the Japanese aesthetic really speaks to her at a deep level.

“I say my work is Asian-inspired for several reasons. It includes washi papers from Japan and Thailand and other found papers from Japan, like vintage handwritten letters or postage stamps,” she said. “Some of my subjects are traditionally Japanese, like cherry blossoms, a red bridge or paper lanterns. Each piece is finished with my red name seal. And I write a haiku that either accompanies each piece or is placed right on the art, following a traditional Japanese art form called haiga.”

In collage, she said, the most time-consuming part of the work is actually creating the papers.

“All of my papers start out white, and I then paint, print or otherwise embellish them using lightfast acrylics,” artist Annette Makino said. Here is some of the paper used in her collage, “Wind Blowing Upriver,” which depicts the Trinity River. (Courtesy of the artist)

“All of my papers start out white, and I then paint, print or otherwise embellish them using lightfast acrylics,” Makino said. “Any given sheet might have several layers of color and pattern. I use rice paper, washi paper with embedded organic bits, old letters, maps, book pages, canceled checks and even junk mail.

“Some of my tools are brayers, gel press plates, and brushes,” she said. “I make prints from objects like leaves, paper towel rolls or crinkled tin foil. Occasionally, I’ll incorporate some crayon, charcoal, pencil or ink. I’ve also made pieces that include found objects like feathers, willow buds or buttons.”

Once she has all of her papers ready, Makino says she carefully tears them into the desired shapes and glues them together to create her artwork.

“There is a lot of trial and error in this phase,” said Makino, adding that each collage gets mounted on a cradled birch wood panel.

In addition to her new collage work, Makino is still producing cards, and has 10 new designs coming off the press in a couple weeks.

“I choose a few collages that I think could be successful as cards — in some cases I tweak the art — and then I come up with words suited to occasions like birthdays or condolences,” said Makino, whose book, “Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku,” was recently honored in the Haiku Society of America’s Merit Book Awards.

For more information, go to makinostudios.com.

Merit Book Awards

Featured in Water and Stone, “our easy silence” is 11x14, painted with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink on paper.

Frogpond, Volume 45:2, Spring/Summer 2022. Haiku Society of America.

MERIT BOOK AWARDS

Judges: Agnes Eva Savich and Bill Cooper

HAIGA HONORABLE MENTION

Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku by Annette Makino

(Makino Studios, Arcata, CA: 2021)

Perfectly painted pretty colors, poignant haiku, the best kind of storytelling haibun: this decade’s worth of the artist-poet’s work contains all the delights one could dream of from an inspiring haijin of our greater haiku family.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: A haijin is someone who writes haiku.]

‘Water and Stone’: Arcata artist publishes first full-length collection of art and haiku

Pictured is the cover of Annette Makino's new book, "Water and Stone." College Cove is seen in the background.

EUREKA TIMES-STANDARD, EUREKA, CA, AUGUST 25, 2021

In this fractured world, a new book by award-winning haiku poet and artist Annette Makino hopes to provide a dose of Zen wisdom and humor. “Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku” is a full-color collection that spans a decade of Makino’s paintings and poems.

“As I celebrated 10 years as a working artist this year, I decided to publish a book of the best of my art and haiku over that time,” Makino said. “Locals will recognize many beloved Humboldt landscapes like Moonstone Beach, College Cove, the Klamath River and Redwood National Park, plus native plants and animals.”

“Water and Stone” features 50 haiga — artworks combined with haiku — painted with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink. In the first full-length collection of her art and haiku, Makino finds beauty and meaning in the everyday world, be it the rhythm of ocean waves, the bittersweet joys of parenting or a traumatized rescue dog.

Sprinkled throughout the collection are 15 haibun — autobiographical prose pieces that include haiku. While deeply personal, these touch on universal themes such as the quest for meaningful work, finding love, raising a family, growing older and considering a place in the world.

Stephen Addiss, author of “The Art of Haiku,” has praised the book, saying, “With the publication of ‘Water and Stone,’ Annette Makino takes her place among the leaders of haiku painting (haiga).”

Annette Makino.

Makino is an award-winning haiku poet and artist based in Arcata who combines Japanese-inspired paintings and collages with her poems. Her work has appeared in the leading English-language haiku and haiga journals and anthologies. Makino’s poems have won honors in the Touchstone Awards, the Henderson Haiku Contest, the Brady Senryu Contest, the Porad Haiku Award, and the Jane Reichhold International Prize, among others.

Through the art business she founded in 2011, Makino Studios, she shares her haiga and offers prints, greeting cards and calendars of her art.

Published by Makino Studios, “Water and Stone” is 124 pages and features full color. It is sold in Eureka at Eureka Books, Eureka Natural Foods and the North Coast Co-op; in Arcata at the North Coast Co-op, Northtown Books, Plaza and Wildberries Marketplace; in McKinleyville at Blake’s Books, Eureka Natural Foods and Miller Farms; and in Trinidad at the Trinidad Trading Company. The book is also available at www.makinostudios.com or amazon.com for $24.99 plus tax and shipping.

For more information, visit www.makinostudios.com or call 707-362-6644.

Local artist and poet wins international haiku award

HAIKU WINNER: This collage by Annette Makino is made from painted and torn Japanese washi papers. Featuring a view of the Klamath River, it incorporates her winning one-line haiku. 

MAD RIVER UNION, ARCATA, CA, APRIL 21, 2021

On April 17, Arcata artist and poet Annette Makino was awarded one of the highest honors for haiku in English, a Touchstone Award from the Haiku Foundation. 

Announced on International Haiku Poetry Day, the award recognizes the best individual poems published the previous year.

Makino wrote her winning one-line haiku while on a creative retreat at the Klamath River in Orleans last summer. It reads:

long before language the S of the river

Makino has a business, Makino Studios, selling her art and haiku in the form of cards and calendars in stores and online. A mixed media artist, she creates both Japanese watercolors and Japanese-inspired collages

She said, “I’m truly thrilled to get this recognition, especially because I’m celebrating 10 years as a working artist and poet this spring. It’s the perfect capstone to a decade of learning and growing in my craft.”

The Haiku Foundation site explains, “The Touchstone Awards for Individual Poems recognize excellence and innovation in English-language haiku and senryu published in juried public venues during each calendar year.” 

This year the contest saw 1302 poems nominated from 31 countries, mostly selected by haiku editors. All the shortlisted poems are online at thehaikufoundation.org. 

Makino’s haiku have won many other awards and her poems and art regularly appear in the leading journals and anthologies of haiku in English.

She is currently at work on her first full-length book with the working title Water and Stone, to be published in the early summer. The culmination of a decade of painting and writing, the book will feature 50 of her haiga—artworks combined with haiku—painted with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink.

A ‘silver lining’: Amid the pandemic, a local artist finds a whole new artistic approach

Annette Makino of Arcata has been making art since she was a child. She’s now creating collage using hand-painted and torn washi papers combined with old letters, book pages, maps and other found papers. Her work also includes original haiku.

BY HEATHER SHELTON, TIMES-STANDARD, EUREKA, CA, NOV. 13, 2020

Local artist Annette Makino has found herself with more time on her hands during the COVID-19 health crisis, and she has used those extra hours to come up with a brand new artistic approach.

“With fairs and art shows canceled this year and some of my retailers seeing reduced sales, the pandemic has slowed down my business,” Makino said. “The silver lining of this difficult time is that I’ve had more time to play in the studio.”

After 10 years of working in watercolor and sumi ink, Makino recently switched gears and started making collages from hand-painted and torn washi papers, sometimes combined with old letters, book pages, maps, junk mail and other found papers. The collages, she said, draw inspiration from the natural landscapes of Northern California and from her Japanese heritage.

“I start with white washi paper, which is traditional Japanese paper that often has bits of leaves, rice straw or other plant fibers embedded in it,” Makino said. “I mix my own paint colors and paint the paper, then tear it as needed for my collages. … Recent collages include bits of a musical score from my choir, old family photos and a letter from my sister. It’s really meaningful to be able to incorporate different aspects of my life into my art.”

Annette Makino says the COVID-19 pandemic has influenced her haiku and art. This work was created in recent months. “(It) reflects a sense of the transience of human existence,” Makino said.

She added: “The fun thing about collage is that you can use any materials you want to make something interesting and meaningful. I paint and decorate all sorts of papers for my art, but I also save things like old keys, bird feathers and foreign stamps for possible use in collages. It fascinates me how a beautiful collage can come together from torn paper and odd bits.”

One thing that hasn’t changed in Makino’s work over the past months is the incorporation of original haiku in her creations.

Makino — who has been making art since she was a child — learned about the Japanese tradition of “haiga,” or art combined with haiku, in 2010.

“I started creating my own haiga, writing haiku and making paintings with Japanese watercolors and sumi ink,” she said. “In 2011, I started my art business, Makino Studios, which sells cards, prints and calendars of my work in stores and online.”

Haiku, she said, is a compact form of poetry, typically three short lines.

This original haiku, featured on Annette Makino’s collage work, was just published in Modern Haiku magazine.

“To write it effectively, you have to distill an observation or experience down to its essence,” Makino said. “I appreciate how the haiku mindset helps me to be more present in the moment, noticing little things like the way the woods look after a rainstorm.”

She shares this haiku — just published in Modern Haiku magazine — about her imagery above:

shortest day
on the tip of each fern
a drop of light

A few weeks ago, Makino attended a virtual haiku conference, the Seabeck Haiku Getaway, which is normally held in Washington State.

“There were about 160 haiku poets from 14 countries, some staying up all night in their time zone to participate,” she said.  “It was a lot of fun to connect with this community, even via Zoom. I gave a presentation on my new collage haiga there, the first time I’d presented this new work in a public forum, and I’m happy to say it was very warmly received.”

Pictured is one of Annette Makino’s new collage works. The featured haiku recently won first place in the Porad Haiku Award program.

Makino’s haiku are regularly published in leading journals of haiku and have also appeared in a number of haiku anthologies, including the Red Moon Anthology, and she just won first place in the Porad Haiku Award sponsored by Haiku Northwest for this work:

long before language the S of the river

“It was written during a walk along the Klamath River in Orleans, and my collage is based on a photo I took there,” she said.

Twelve of Makino’s collages are featured in her 2021 haiga calendar which, along with note cards and signed prints, are available at the “Made in Humboldt” event at Pierson Garden Shop in Eureka through Dec. 24.

“This will be the only fair where you can find my work this season,” said Makino, whose work is also available at several local stores in Eureka, Arcata, McKinleyville, Trinidad and Manila. Her work is available on her website, https://www.makinostudios.com, as well.

In addition to her new collages, Makino is still offering her watercolor cards and prints for sale.

“I’m grateful to have a loyal fan base here in Humboldt and I want to make sure people can still find their favorite designs,” she said.