THF Galleries: Haiga of Debbie Strange 2

Debbie Strange

The Haiku Foundation honors the work of contemporary masters of the dual art of haiga: visual image wedded to haiku. This month’s featured artist is Debbie Strange.

Debbie is a Canadian short form poet, haiga artist, photographer, and musician. She makes small poems and art every day to help manage chronic illness, and to connect her more closely to the world and to herself. Debbie has an affinity for birds and water, and enjoys exploring nature with her husband in their 1978 VW campervan.

Debbie’s haiga are recognized in the World Haiku Association’s monthly contest archives. She received Highly Commended honors in the 2019 Santōka International Haiku and Haiga Contest, 1st Honorable Mention in the 2017 Jane Reichhold Memorial Haiga Competition (as well as two Honorable Mentions in 2016), and the WHA Haiga Award of Excellence in 2015.

This is Debbie’s second compilation for The Haiku Foundation. Galleries of her haiga may also be found at Daily Haiga, Haigaonline, HaikuLife, and Under the Basho. Debbie won The Heron’s Nest Cover Illustration Contest in 2014, and she has been the featured artist for Cirrus, Colorado Boulevard, Frameless Sky, Haiku Canada Review, hedgerow, Incense Dreams, KYSO, and The Right Touch of Sun (2017 TSA Member’s Anthology). Her artwork also appears in Akitsu Quarterly, Bleached Butterfly, cattails, Chrysanthemum, Failed Haiku, Human/Kind, Prune Juice, Ribbons, Scryptic, Sonic Boom, and Skylark, among others.

A complete publication archive, including awards, reviews of her books, and hundreds of images may be accessed at debbiemstrange.blogspot.com.

The following gallery of haiga, shahai, and tanka art showcases 40 award-winning haiku and tanka. Debbie’s original photos and artwork serve as the base for all haiga that incorporates digital elements.