KATSINA BACKGROUND
“The World” we live in, according to Hopi belief, is essentially two worlds that coexist at the same time: reality and spirituality. Both are given the utmost respect, consideration, and gratitude. Together, they form the basis of everyday life.
The Hopi people live in the arrid plateau region of the southwest desert also known as the four corners: Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, and Colorado. The Hopi are the descendants of Hisat sinome (ancestral people) also known by archaeologist as “Anasazi”
According to oral traditions, we are one of many people to emerge into this world and migrate the four corners of the earth with permission of “Masaw” (guardian of the planet). With his instruction, we are to live in harmony, respect and gratitude with all things that share the earth. We were given a planting stick, corn and other seeds to begin farming. We were told to journey to the four corners of the earth. Therefore, the Hopi people migrated until they were given a sign that they had found the center of their world. The sign from Masaw signified their final settlement where they exist today. Through the time of migration, the Hopi people learned that all things of this world have a spiritual power, a right to exist and a purpose for being. There is no one more important than the other (ie people are no more important than the sky, the land, the animals, the elements, etc); all help and need one another to exist.
The Hopi word for spirit is “Katsina.” These spirits have become our friends that in time materialize as beings that come to visit the Hopi people. Through song and dance, they bring gifts, blessings, happiness, instructions, discipline and observations of right and wrong. We send our prayers with the spirits to renew life for us, our crops, animals, plants, and rain to sustain our being.
Since the world is made of so many things, there are many spirits that exist. Wood carvings were made to teach children the names and details of each spirit called “Tihu” or doll (Katchin Tihu which means “Spirit Doll”). Carvings are made from the root of the cottonwood tree which grow alongside the rivers, arroyos and washes. In a desert area of few trees, it only grows where adequate moisture exists. The root seeks out water to give it life; therefore, in essence the root gives life to the carving.
Collecting dolls originated with non-Hopi members coming out to study Hopi culture dating back to the 1800’s. Soon it became a form of bartering for goods from local trading posts. This resulted in carvings made not as gifts, but as commerce. In these earlier times, dolls began as quite simple crude figures. The emphasis centered on the face and head being decorated with hair, leather, shells, feathers, and fur. They were painted with mineral pigments where were all found around where the artist lived.
Because of collectors, the dolls have turned into a stylized art form. Carvings had evolved and become more complex. However, due to elders explaining to the young artists that what collectors were asking for was not the original intent of the carvings as a simple teaching tool. Today, the doll is transitioning back to its original form and traditional technique.
My realistic approach to carving comes from dolls I would see in galleries, trading posts, homes, magazines, and tourist memorabilia of the 1970’s. Hopi Carvers like Alvin James Makya, Neil David, Coolidge Roy, Arthur Holmes, Sr, Cecil Calnimptewa, and painters like Ray Naha, Fred Kabotie are some of my inspirations. Starting at the age of thirteen, I began painting, drawing, making traditional crafts and carving. Initially, my dolls were pieced together from separate pieces of wood and added materials like shells, feathers, yarn and hair. Over time, my dolls were no longer pieced together but were sculpted and resulted in one-piece carvings. In 1990, I started my career as a fulltime artist.
Art and ceremony are intertwined. The colors, design, sounds are dramatic and its only as an adult, that I have come to understand the spiritual meaning of it all. Living in the city is not the ideal place to continue my cultural education. Therefore, my art as a Hopi carver gives me a little sense of who I am. It helps to instill in me the person I am supposed to be and the manner in which I conduct myself. I am humbled and honored when I return to the Hopi villages. I feel like a visitor on the outside looking in; but am still grateful and fortunate to be a part of the culture that revitalizes me and allows me to continue my work.
PROCESS
To complete a single figure can take two to four weeks. Multi-figure carvings can take over a month to a year and a half. I take my time, working 8-10 hours a day. It has been my experience when I work fast, I make mistakes, so the carving does not come out as nice. I look at other carvers’ work and will incorporate observations into my work. I use both power tools, knives, palm gouges, wood burner, wood sealer, and acrylic paint. The idea for each carving is unique making them more desirable to collectors.
Clowns that appear during a ceremony are men with their face painted. They can come any time of the year and represent our faults as human beings from the time we were born till the end of our life. They can also bring attention to problems they see in our world and what needs correcting.
I enjoy carving clowns unlike Katsinum (spirits) due to rules as to how they are seen. Clowns have no rules and will do anything to make light of any situation yet have a purpose to teach through laughter or example or bring attention to a problem. The clowns, I carve, I try to make them look like actual individual since they represent people after all. I give them unique characteristics like being skinny, being fat, having missing teeth, or some other oddity. Each carving has its own distinctive title.