Folk Art Carving of Katsina [SOLD]

J. Michael Bear was an interesting person. He lived in Albuquerque and Santa Fe on and off for years. He often painted images of Kokopelli initiations in kiva ceremonies, and occasionally made dolls in the flat style traditional at New Mexico pueblos.

As in this doll, he went well beyond the flat wood undecorated dolls traditional at the pueblos, by highly decorating them with string, feathers, baubles, and shells.

This doll is probably not an identifiable Acoma/Laguna Katsina, but one from Michael Bear’s imagination. It is in very good condition with the exception that some of the feathers show evidence of damage.

Provenance: From the estate of Transcendental artist Florence Pierce of Albuquerque who passed away in 2007 at the age of 89.