Simply
Haiku: A Quarterly Journal of Japanese
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Summer 2005, vol 3 no 2
Traditional Haiga
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ORIGA (Olga Hooper) ~ ceramic haiga |
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'looking glass river'
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'autumn mountains'
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'in today's grove'
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'frosty morning' |
'woman's day' |
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'ocean waves' |
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Artist's
Introduction About a year ago, I started to paint on ceramic. It turned out to be a very enjoyable yet challenging adventure. All the pieces were painted in two art studios—one in Lansing and one in Grand Ledge, Michigan. I use unbaked and unglazed dishes. Since it is impossible to paint with ink on unglazed ceramic, I have to use special colors provided by the studio, but the brushes are my usual bamboo brushes for sumi-e with natural hair. The dishes are then baked and glazed in the studio. The signature is hand-written on unglazed ceramic. It is extremely difficult to write with a calligraphy brush on the unglazed ceramic. I would certainly prefer to write haiku on the ceramic dishes and then have them baked and glazed with haiku and painting together, but it is simply impossible. Since I like to create haiga with ceramic, I have to go a little beyond the meaning of a traditional haiga where a painting and a haiku are both hand-written with a brush on a paper. What I do is photograph the ceramic piece and place a haiku next to it digitally in the photo, i.e., integrate them into the field of the entire object and frame them as a unit. These haiga with ceramic are probably not under the exact definition of a traditional haiga, but rather, consist from the two elements; traditional—a ceramic piece itself painted in sumi-e style and modern—a digitally-placed haiku next to the photographed ceramic piece. This process is interesting and enjoyable to create
Origa is a devoted student of haiku, sumi-e, painting on ceramic, ikebana, Japanese language and literature, shakuhachi and koto music, and Japanese cuisine. Her works have been published in the last issue of the World Haiku Origa is a member of the World Haiku Club, World Haiku Association, Haiku Hut Poetry Forums, Cherry Poetry Club, Haiku-Do Russian haiku club. Origa's
most
recent accomplishments are First Place and an Honorable Mention at the
Kaji Aso Studio International Haiku Contest 2004 [http://www.kajiasostudio.com/haikuContest/haikuContest2004.htm];
Third place in Shadow Poetry 3rd Biannual Chapbook Competition (2004);
First
place (tied with Kilmeny Niland) in 16 WHA Haiga contest (2004); First
place in Russian Christmas Haiku contest 2004-2005. |
Origa is a pen name of Olga
Hooper. She was born in Siberia, Russia. She graduated
from Tyumen State University with a master's degree with honors in history
and social sciences, and from post-graduate school with a written thesis
in Russian history. For many years Olga has been a teacher in colleges and
universities. Since 1998 after marrying an American man, she has lived in
Michigan, USA with her husband, cats, and their children and grandchildren. Copyright 2005: Simply Haiku