Terrance Talaswaima Painting of Five Tasap Yeibichai Katsina

This horizontal watercolor and ink work features a row of five Hopi Tasap Yeibichai Katsina images set against a warm, desert-toned background with stylized mesas, star motifs, and an Artist Hopid symbol above.

While often misidentified as Navajo Yei figures due to the mask-like facial features and ruffs, these are actually Hopi Katsinam, designated as Tasap Yeibichai. The Grandfather of the Navajo Katsinas is featured in the Hopi Navajo Katsina Dance. Identified by line drawings between the Yeibichai faces are outlines of the Hopi Mesas. 

The painting composition is ink outline with watercolor and gouache washes on paper, typical of Talaswaima's mid-1970s graphic compositions that blend traditional Hopi iconography with mid-century modernist aesthetic sensibility.

It is signed vertically on the lower right T.T. HONVANTEWA '75 along with his Artist Hopid hallmark symbol centered at the top. Honwantewa ("Badger Stick") is Terrance Talaswaima's Hopi name.

Artist Context: Terrance Talaswaima (1945-2009) was a founding member of Artist Hopid, an influential collective formed in 1973 at Second Mesa to preserve and express Hopi culture through modern fine art mediums.

Tasap Yeibichai "does not speak but pantomimes whatever he wants. He starts the dance, acting as a leader in both signing and dancing. His dance step is an exaggeration and a very lively one, that may be interspersed with a comic action such as the request for food — mountains of food. All of these requests are done in pantomimes that bring laughter to the audience." [Wright1973:182]

Condition: very good condition

Provenance: this Terrance Talaswaima Painting of Five Tasap Yeibichai Katsina is from a client of Adobe Gallery. Displayed in Special Exhibit: Ancestral Symbols, Modern Masterpieces: Documenting the Sacred Narratives and History of the Hopi People at Adobe Gallery for its 50th Anniversary Celebration Santa Fe, NM, May 2026.

Reference: Broder, Patricia Janis. Hopi Painting: The World of the Hopis, Brandywine Press, New York. 1978.

TAGS:  Hopi Reservation, Delbridge Honanie, Michael Kabotie, Neil David, Native American Painting, Delbridge Honanie, Milland Lomakema, Michael Kabotie, Neil David Sr., Terrance Talaswaima (Honvantewa)