Times-Standard
Eureka, California
July 4, 2014

EUREKA – Painter and haiku poet Annette Makino focuses on the small joys of everyday life in her new solo show, “Savor the Day,” at Humboldt Herbals. The exhibit opens during Arts Alive! on Saturday from 6-9 p.m. with a reception including live music by guitarist and vocalist Leah Tamara.

“I like to express the sweetness and delight in simple things, like honeybees at work in their hives, or a chicken taking a short, awkward flight,” Makino said. “I’m interested in art that lifts the spirit and helps people feel more connected to the world around them and each other. The challenge is to do this in a way that is authentic and heartfelt rather than clichéd or sentimental.”

Drawing on Japanese artistic traditions, Makino paints images on paper using sumi ink that she grinds in an ink stone and applies with bamboo brushes. She adds color with Japanese watercolors, and then hand paints her original haiku or other words directly onto the painting. Finally, she stamps each piece in red with her personal name seal.

Besides being an artist, Makino is an award-winning haiku poet whose work is regularly published in the leading journals of haiku in English. She often expresses a quiet Zen humor in her work. Red Moon Press and the Haiku Foundation’s Touchstone Awards both selected the following as one of the best haiku of 2013:

cowlick
some part of me
still wild

Much of Makino’s work is inspired by the Japanese tradition of haiga, artwork combined with haiku so that the image and words deepen and enrich each other. She also draws on the Japanese custom of etegami, painting and mailing postcard art featuring a few well-chosen words.

Makino has a growing line of greeting cards, prints and calendars of her art. Her cards can currently be found in 30 stores in four states. The latest stores to carry her line are Powell’s Books in Portland, Ore.and LifeSource Natural Foods in Salem, Ore.

At the opening reception Saturday, Makino will be offering several new card and print designs and a brand-new, 16-month art calendar for 2015 called “Poetry & Honey.” An online gallery of her work can be viewed at www.makinostudios.com.

Makino will also be at Humboldt Herbals on Aug.2 for a reception during August’s Arts Alive!, with live music by Seabury Gould and Frank Anderson. Her show runs through the end of August.

Humboldt Herbals is located at 300 Second St, on the corner of Second and D streets in Old Town Eureka. Hours are Monday through Saturday from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Sunday from noon to 5 p.m. For more information, call 442-3541 or email emailus@humboldtherbals.com.