Spirit Beings
Author Barry Walsh turns his attention to contemporary katsina carvers and offers insight on who to collect right now.
Imust start with a disclaimer: I am a Pahaana, a white man from Massachusetts. I am not an “expert” on Hopi katsinam. I will leave that to the Hopi themselves. My credentials are only that I have been intensively studying, collecting and trading in these exceptional art objects over the past 30 years. In the language of the Hopi Indians of north central Arizona, the word katsina has three distinct but inter-related meanings: The ineffable Katsina Spirit Beings, who support, sponsor, and sometimes chastise the Hopi people The katsina dancers, sacred figures who embody, personify, and represent the Spirit Beings in Hopi ceremonies The katsina carvings, made in cottonwood root, that represent the katsina dancers or participants
Thus, it is a three-tiered system of language regarding the word katsina.
While katsina prototypes have been identified on prehistoric petroglyphs, pictographs, pottery and kiva walls, the earliest examples of katsina woodcarvings date to the 19th century.
Influenced by the work of others (J.T. Erickson’s Kachinas, An Evolving Hopi Art Form? and Barton Wright in Helga Teiwes’ Kachina Dolls, The Art of Hopi Carvers) I have proposed that the Hopi katsinam can be grouped in the following way: Category 1: 1880 to 1910: Early Traditional Category 2: 1910 to late 1920s: Late Traditional Category 3: 1930 to mid-1940s: Early Action Category 4: Mid-1940s to 1960s: Late Action Category 5: Mid-1960s to present: Ultra-realistic (see Robert Albert) Category 6: 1970s to Present: Traditional Style Revival or just Traditional (see Manfred Susunkewa, Manuel Chavarria, Darance Chimerica, Ryan Gashweseoma) Category 7: Mid-1980s to Present: Sculptural (see Mavasta and Kevin Honyouti; Robert Albert) As the categories indicate, there has been a great deal of evolution of the art form over the past 120 years. The artist biographies and examples of their work on these pages indicate some of the recent directions that will be available by these artists during Indian Market week.