Hopi Night Dance Panorama [SOLD]

Special Value Offer: we have been authorized to offer this at a 30% reduction from the original price of $500 to a new price of $350.

Watson Namoki has created a kiva scene with a ladder inserted from the roof top into the inside.  On the roof, he placed Hahai-i Wuhti Katsina carrying a bowl of blue cornmeal and Tuma-uyi (White Chin) Katsina in a panorama of a Katsina Night Dance. 

Hahai-i Wuhti is considered to be a sprightly Hopi grandmother.  Whenever she appears she is usually very vocal, an attribute not common among the other katsinas.  She is considered the mother of the Ogre Katsinas as well as the mother of all katsinas.  Tuma-uyi Katsina is one of the very old katsinas.  When he appears, he comes in a group, but can be impersonated at any time.  His name means “white chin” and seems to derive from the white clay (kaolin) that is used to coat katsina dolls before they are painted.

Watson Namoki is the son of a Navajo mother and Hopi father.  He attended the Institute of American Indian Arts (IAIA) in Santa Fe.  He lives in the Hopi Third Mesa village of Kykotsmovi. 

Condition: The carving is in excellent condition. 

Provenance: from the estate of Tom Mittler, a former resident of Michigan and Santa Fe who purchased it from The Kiva in Taos in 1988

Recommended Reading: Hopi Katsina 1,600 Artist Biographies by Gregory Schaaf