Adobe Gallery Blog

When one visits the Hopi villages to witness a Katsina Dance in the plaza, it is generally the culmination of a 9-day ceremony that has been secretly on-going in the kiva and not open to the public. This is a kiva scene pictured by Raymond Naha (1933-1975). A drummer is beating his drum and a chanter is singing.  The young men sitting around are probably initiates.  There is a bowl and ladle next to the drummer that probably contains sacred cornmeal or other medicine.  The basket on the floor appears to hold smoking pipes and a feather.  On the kiva wall is painted a Rainbow Man and a Hopi boy.  Other items hang on the wall.

Hopi-Tewa artist Raymond Naha was born in the village of Polacca, which is at the foot of First Mesa, on the Hopi Reservation in Arizona on December 5, 1933. He studied under Fred Kabotie at Oraibi High School. Kabotie recognized Naha's talent and encouraged him to continue his studies. Naha then took correspondence courses and studied at the Phoenix Indian School, which was the end of his formal art education.  His progress from then was purely self-motivated.  

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