Studio Space

Studio Space premieres tonight!

“the song of the creek” is 8x10, made of painted papers on birch wood panel. You may see me working on it in the “Women of Washi” episode of Studio Space, which airs tonight. The original collage went to a new home this past Sunday. 

With the highest per capita number of artists in California, Humboldt County is an exceptionally creative community. Our local PBS station, KEET-TV, has produced the second season of a fascinating series on Northern California artists called Studio Space. I’m thrilled to be one of the two featured artists in the episode that debuts tonight. 

The 28-minute segment, called "Women of Washi," profiles Lori Goodman and me working in our art studios and talking about our backgrounds, inspirations and processes. Humboldt folks, tune in to KEET at 7:30 Pacific time tonight, Thursday, May 5 for the world premiere.

People everywhere can also watch it online for free for the following three weeks. After that, it will go behind a paywall for non-KEET members. See Studio Space for all episodes, featuring a great diversity of artists, mediums and approaches.

Since Thursday is also Cinco de Mayo, our extended family is planning a viewing party with tacos and margaritas. I haven’t seen my episode yet. We’ll either celebrate my 14 minutes of fame or drown our sorrows if I bombed!

my Spanish starting to flow margaritas

It was great fun to do my first public Makino Studios event since 2019. Many thanks to all who came out to the Pizza & Pottery Festival this past Sunday! 

Makino Studios News

Award for Water and Stone: The Haiku Society of America announced today that my book of art and haiku, Water and Stone, has won Honorable Mention in their Merit Book Awards! The book is sold online here, on Amazon and in local stores.

Artists’ Resilience Grant: The Ink People Center for the Arts has just awarded me a grant from their Funds for Artists’ Resilience. I’m very grateful for this pandemic-era support, made possible by the Humboldt Area Foundation and the Wild Rivers Foundation.

Solo Show in September: The grant will help me to create new work for a show of my collages, to be held at Just My Type in Eureka, California in September. Stay tuned for details!

ukiaHaiku Festival: I’ll give a brief presentation and reading at the 20th anniversary of this haiku festival in my hometown of Ukiah, CA. The event will include a dance performance, koto and shakuhachi music, and songs performed by the Haikukuleles! I’ll also have my books, prints and cards for sale. The ukiaHaiku Festival is free and takes place Sunday, May 15 at 2 p.m. at the Grace Hudson Museum. Attendees will have the chance to read up to three of their haiku.

Writers Read: On Thursday, June 23 at 7 p.m., I’ll be back at the Grace Hudson Museum in Ukiah as the featured reader in this long-running series, with a slide show of my haiga (haiku art) as well as a table of my art and haiku wares. Open mike follows.

New notecard sets: By popular demand, I’m offering boxed notecard sets again, including a new animal series as well as an updated landscape series.

A few cards suitable for graduation.

Prints to order: I’ve recently posted several of my designs on Fine Art America, where you can order them the size you want and even have them framed. If you’d like a print of a piece in my gallery that you don’t see on FAA, let me know so I can post it for you.

Graduation: Commencement for many schools is Saturday May 14 and others soon follow, so make sure you have cards for your grads! Yes, I’ve got some options, see left and shop all cards.

North Coast Open Studios: After a two-year pandemic hiatus, this event is taking place again June 4-5 and June 11-12 at artist studios around Humboldt County. I’m not officially part of it this year, but am always happy to give studio tours by appointment.

Celebrating 11 years!

Tomorrow will mark exactly eleven years since I launched this website and in that moment, Makino Studios was born! The website, the business, my art and the world have gone through quite a few changes since then. Deepest thanks to my customers and fans for supporting my work all these years!

To celebrate, I’m offering 20% off everything on my site for four days, through this Sunday at midnight. Use code 11YEARS at checkout. This site is only set up to ship within the US but if you live overseas, shoot me a message and we’ll work it out. Mother's Day and graduation are just around the corner!

As a sweet anniversary gift, my book, Water and Stone, recently got two more lovely reviews. An excerpt from the review in Frogpond, the journal of the Haiku Society of America: “While this book is clearly meant to showcase the haiga, I don’t want to overlook the universal appeal of her haibun, which speak directly to the reader’s heart about such topics as parenthood, being an artist, time passing, beloved pets, family history, and the natural world around us. There is so much to love and appreciate in this book, which I would also highly recommend as the perfect gift for a haiku poet to share with non-haiku-poet family and friends.”

And an excerpt from the Modern Haiku review: “This first full-length collection presents fifty haiga and fifteen autobiographical haibun by a poet whom Stephen Addiss places ‘among the leaders of haiku painting.’ . . . Love, indeed, is what seems to inspire Makino’s haiga, visually rendered in Japanese watercolors and sumi ink in an unpretentious style that illustrates and interprets her charming haiku.”

You can find the book online here, on Amazon and in some local stores.

I’m also excited that Season 2 of Studio Space, a series on Humboldt County artists, will debut on KEET-TV and online on April 7 at 7:30 p.m.! One episode features artist Lori Goodman and me. I will let you know once I hear when it will air. The shows will be available to stream online for free for three weeks, then will be available only to PBS members.

Below is a sampling of my new and updated cards. You can browse the whole collection here, plus find 2022 calendars (now on sale for $8), art prints and a gallery of my work.

Thanks again for inspiring and motivating me to keep creating.

“Water and Stone” makes a splash

“sun-baked orchard” is 11x14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. Like many of the works featured in Water and Stone, it is available for sale. © Annette Makino 2018

“sun-baked orchard” is 11x14, painted with sumi ink and Japanese watercolors on paper. Like many of the works featured in Water and Stone, it is available for sale. © Annette Makino 2018

Well, what a nice welcome for my new book, Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku! All the orders, raves and reviews—it feels like a hat full of cherries. Thank you!

The Makino Studios site now offers Water and Stone. Please note that it can only ship to US mailing addresses. You can also order it on Amazon, which ships worldwide and probably soon throughout the solar system.

This is a full-color, 8x10 book, and runs 124 pages. It features 50 of my watercolor haiga (art + haiku) and 15 haibun (prose + haiku). The cost is $24.99 plus tax and shipping.

I’m happy to share that these stores in Humboldt County, California now carry my book:

Eureka
Eureka Books
Eureka Natural Foods
Northcoast Co-op

Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku at Northtown Books in Arcata, California.

Water and Stone: Ten Years of Art and Haiku at Northtown Books in Arcata, California.

Arcata
Northcoast Co-op
Northtown Books
Plaza
Wildberries Marketplace

McKinleyville
Blake’s Books
Eureka Natural Foods
Miller Farms

Trinidad
Trinidad Trading Company

Here are a couple of Amazon reviews. And if you order from there and enjoy the book, I’ll be grateful if you post a review.

5.0 out of 5 stars •  Beautiful and relevant

Annette Makino’s work is wonderful — her haiku reveal ideas that are instantly relatable and yet profound. Her joyful, expressive art pairs perfectly. This collection of ten years’ work makes for a lovely gift or a book to enjoy yourself.

My mother, Erika Makino, turned 93 last month. What a pleasure to be able to give her a copy of the book I dedicated to her!

My mother, Erika Makino, turned 93 last month. What a pleasure to be able to give her a copy of the book I dedicated to her!

5.0 out of 5 stars • Wisdom, insight, humor, beauty.

Annette’s book is a joy. Each haiku is unexpected, like a good joke that takes a sudden turn. But instead of guffawing you will wryly smile and gain a nugget of insight into the ways of the world. Annette weaves her personal stories throughout so that each haiku succinctly, humorously, and with wisdom expresses the essence of the tale. Her lovely illustrations tie it all together. A delightful book.

Thanks for reading. Here’s hoping you are enjoying some sweet summer days despite the madness around us.

warmly, Annette Makino

Makino Studios News

Studio Space: I am excited to share that I will be one of the featured artists on the second season of Studio Space! This is a ten-part series on local Humboldt artists produced by Eureka PBS station KEET-TV. A crew of six was here for four hours recently, interviewing me and filming me at work in my studio. It was quite a to-do! The new season will air in late spring of 2022. It will be available to stream online for free for three weeks, and then only to PBS/KEET members.

North Country Fair? This annual fair on the Arcata Plaza is scheduled to take place Sept. 18-19 this year, if COVID-19 safety permits. I am waiting to hear if it is still a go, given the rise in Humboldt County cases, and will let you know.

New calendars and cards: My 2022 calendar of art and haiku is going to press next week! This will feature 12 of my Asian-inspired collage haiga. I am also designing some new cards. These should all be ready in mid-September. Stay tuned!

The business of art: My column on “the business end of the paintbrush” for the weekly Business Sense series in the Eureka Times-Standard is now available online.

Best of Humboldt: Thanks to everyone who voted for me for Best Local Artist in the 2021 Best of Humboldt contest! Congratulations to the first place winner, mural artist Duane Flatmo, and to my fellow finalist, mural artist Blake Regan. 

Free shipping on books, cards and prints: Use code FREESHIP35 to get free first-class shipping on cards, prints, or other items on US orders of $35 or more on the Makino Studios site.