Award Winning Soyoko Katsina Doll by Kevin Pochoema

Kevin Pochoema entered this masterful one-piece carving into the 2026 Heard Museum Guild Indian Fair and Market in Phoenix, where it earned the prestigious Second Place award in the Juried Division. The result of months of meticulous labor, the piece captures a striking moment of Hopi tradition.

The Ogre is depicted leaning forward, engaged in a stern dialogue with an imagined Hopi child. The carving is so lifelike that the viewer can almost see the terrified child clinging to his mother — a scene that perfectly illustrates the Ogre's ceremonial role. Detailed with a partially open mouth and hair falling over its face, the figure features seven erect feathers at the back of the mask.

The Ogre's attire is deeply symbolic: shoulders draped in animal skins, a deer skin across the back, and a quiver of arrows. He wears a red shirt, blue trousers, and ornate high-top moccasins. A traditional white woven sash with intricate embroidery hangs from his right side, while turtle-shell rattles on his calves evoke the rhythmic sound of his movement. In his hands, he wields a saw and a bow — tools used to reinforce his fearsome presence. The entire work stands upon a three-inch thick pedestal, intricately carved with five additional Katsinam and a cliff-dwelling village, serving as a testament to Pochoema's technical mastery and profound knowledge of Hopi ceremony.

"Early in the Bean Dance time (Powamu) the young children of the villages can expect a visit from the terrifying figure of Soyok Wuhti and a couple of her ugly helpers. These individuals go from house to house where there are small children and leave a token and a warning with each child. Every girl is given a small amount of sweet corn and told to grind lots of cornmeal. The boys are presented with yucca snares and told to catch mice because the Soyoko are coming again in four days, and when they appear they will want meat and food or they will take the youngsters instead. When the Ogres do appear they present themselves in horrid array in front of a house and demand food and meat. It is held out to them on the end of a stick from behind a partially closed door. It will be instantly rejected as too little or the wrong kind, and the child is demanded. With chilling detail the falsetto voice of the Soyoko then recounts faithfully the child's misdeeds and demands to be given the youngster. At this point some relative usually speaks up for the child saying that he or she has really learned not to do these things. But the Ogre is adamant and the child may have to demonstrate that he minds his parents and doesn't spill the water or whatever. This is done for the edification of the Ogres and the audience which stays well back from these ugly creatures. Finally the child will be ransomed with quantities of food which are dumped in the burden baskets on the backs of the Heheya, We-u-u, or the Toson Koyemsi. They trot off to the officiating kiva with their loads and then return for still more." [Wright 1973:73]

What is a Katsina? 

Condition: new

Provenance: this Award Winning Soyoko Katsina Doll by Kevin Pochoema is from the artist

Reference: Wright, Barton. Kachinas a Hopi Artist's Documentary, 1973. Northland Press.

TAGS: Hopi Pueblo,  Kachina - Katsina Doll, Kevin Pochoema