There is very little published information on Hopi puppets and the artists who create them.  It has been stated that Jimmy Koots and Henry Seeni are the carvers who made them in the mid-20th century.  Whether they were made for Hopi ceremonial or entertainment use or made solely for sale to tourists is not documented. 

This one represents a Tewa Clown or Koshare.  Although referred to as Katsina dolls, Koshare are technically not Katsinas.  They are probably one of the best-known figures and the most frequently carved clowns at Hopi. Ironically, he is not of Hopi origin, but is of Tewa origin, and arrived with the Tewa immigrants from the New Mexico Rio Grande pueblos in the early 18th century.

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There are collectors of Southwest Indian items who concentrate on items of the smallest scale.  Some do so because they set up displays of miniature items in crate-like boxes.  Others collect miniatures for display in dollhouses, where every item has to be in proper scale.

Whether that is the reason Jimmy Koots made such a small Owl Katsina doll is not known, but presented here is the smallest Koots katsina doll of which I am aware.  It is barely 2 inches tall.

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The Great Horned Owl Wuhti (female) has only been published in Fewkes' article on Hopi Katsinas and has appeared nowhere else. Present-day Hopi are not aware of the female version, so perhaps it has not been seen in over a hundred years.

This version of the Mongwa Wuhti is beautifully carved and painted. She wears a traditional pueblo manta and has a white wedding shawl draped over her shoulders.  She appears to be carved from a single piece of cottonwood root.

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Starting as early as 1840, potters at Zuni Pueblo have been producing wares that have been classified as Zuni Polychrome.  Now, 175 years later, they are still being made.  During that time span, other styles have come and gone.  Perhaps some potters or families tired of doing the same style and began experimenting with something new.

One of these short-lived experiments was pottery slipped in red and decorated in white.  It apparently began around 1890 and ended in the 1920s, a short period of around 30 years.  The new style could have been influenced by sherds from prehistoric St. Johns Polychrome from near the current Zuni Pueblo boundaries, or from prehistoric sherds being excavated at Hawikuh and Halona villages.  Anthropologists could have shown sherds to potters or potters could have unearthed sherds themselves for use as temper.  It is easy to see that these White-on-red wares of the late 1800s had a precedent at or near Zuni and were not a completely new innovation dreamed up by potters of the day.

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Ada Suina resumed making pottery figurines a few years ago after several years of not doing so following the death of her husband.  She relied so much on his help in digging the clay and working it to a point where she could form the figurines. Now, at age 86, she has to do everything by herself, therefore it is taking significantly more time to complete a piece. She is not very actively making pottery at this time. She was not displaying pottery at the Santa Fe Indian Market in 2015. 

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The Navajo "mother-in-law" bell is worn by the mother-in-law to warn her son-in-law of her impending arrival. The Navajo believe that the two must not lay eyes on each other. These charming "mother-in-law" bell earrings have a delightful ring to them. They are carefully fashioned to produce a delicate chime as the wearer moves.

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Kokopelli, the hump-backed Flute Player, has been notoriously denigrated in the Southwest with tourist-related items such as coasters, napkins, magnets, and other kinds of miscellaneous bric-a-brac. Some of the interest in him is because he is so blatantly phallic in appearance. In reality, however, he is a very important personage to the pueblo people. He appeared in Mimbres and Hohokam pottery decorations of a thousand years ago. He also is documented in petroglyph drawings and pictographs representations. 

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This exquisite small bowl is attributed to Nampeyo of Hano based on construction techniques, layout of design, and execution of design.  One of the first items of consideration is the extra coil of clay Nampeyo placed at the rim of bowls which is quite obvious on this small bowl.  The bottom is rounded, not flattened, and shows evidence of long polishing strokes as was typical of Nampeyo.  The layout of the design is very typical of her style.  

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After the influenza epidemic that swept the area in the early 20th century, there were less than 200 people living at Zia Pueblo. Since the late 1800s, Zia women had been exchanging pottery with the nearby traders for food and other goods or money.  This ability of Zia women to make fine pots for trade made it possible for the pueblo to survive the hard times.

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Garnet Pavatea's Hopi name translates in English to Flower Girl.  She was a Hopi-Tewa from the Tewa Village on First Mesa.  Her dad, Dewakuku, was Hopi and her mother was Tewa.  Following tradition, Garnet was of her mother's clan.

Hopi artisans owe much to Mary-Russell Ferrell Colton, co-founder with her husband of the Museum of Northern Arizona in Flagstaff.  She was instrumental in creating the Hopi Craftsman Exhibition in the early 1930s with the intent of fostering production of quality work.  She was concerned that traders were content to accept and sell mediocre work from Hopi craftsmen and were not interested in educating the public on quality crafts.  She organized the craft exhibit for the July 4th weekend every year and it has served her intent to greatly increase interest in quality Hopi crafts.

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Rainy Naha is a daughter of Helen Naha (1st Feather Woman) and the granddaughter of Paqua Naha (1st Frog Woman).  Her siblings are Burel, Sylvia, and Rechenda. She signs her pottery with the traditional feather hallmark used by her mom and then adds the initial R. 

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Most collectors of Pueblo pottery are aware of just how talented Russell Sanchez is as an artist.  He has been compared to other potters of earlier periods but his work is not like any others.  He combines designs and vessel shapes of traditional Tewa Pueblos and enhances those shapes with slips and designs not traditionally used.  Russell was one of the early innovators to use green slip as a decorative theme.  This jar with green slip is dated 1987, a time when very few potters were experimenting with clays of different colors.  Both the lid and jar are signed and dated. 

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Acoma Pueblo potters have claimed the inherited right to use designs of the earlier Puebloan groups that lived in the early Southwest. The designs of particular striking beauty are those, appropriated by 20th-century Acoma potters, referred to as Tularosa Black-on-white. The Tularosa vessels date from A.D.1100 to 1250. Acoma potters have been particularly involved with the use of these designs since the late 19th century.

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The Jicarilla Apache Reservation is located in the northern part of central New Mexico. The name Jicarilla comes from the Spanish word for "little basket."When the Spanish arrived, in what is now New Mexico, they were impressed by the small pitch-covered baskets which the Jicarilla used for holding drinking water. These small baskets were tightly woven and covered with piñon pitch to make them waterproof. Fine basket weaving had been a Jicarilla tradition for centuries but the quality and beauty of the baskets was not well-recognized until the 1950s, when traders of the area began to enter the baskets in the Gallup Inter-tribal Indian Ceremonial.

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Al Momaday is as well-known as a teacher and educator as he is an artist.  He was of the Kiowa Tribe but spent 20 years as a principal and teacher at the Jemez Pueblo Day School.  He lived in New Mexico from 1947 until he passed away at Jemez Springs in 1981.  He was the son of A-ho and Mammedaty (Standing High) and the father of Pulitzer Prize-winning author N. Scott Momaday. He was married to author and poet Natachee Scott Momaday who was of Kiowa and Cherokee heritage. 

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In this 9-piece nacimiento - nativity scene, Mary and Joseph are kneeling by the Christ Child resting on a cradleboard.  Mary has a shawl over her head and she is wearing a traditional pueblo dress with a sash around her waist.  Joseph wears a traditional pueblo shirt and has a blanket tossed over a shoulder.  The Christ Child is dressed in a button up shirt and trousers with pockets and he has a necklace.  The set is signed Spotted Fawn '87 R.R.S. Cochiti Pueblo, N.M.

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The Hemis and Sio Hemis Katsinas are probably the most beautiful and best known of all Hopi Katsinas. Their elaborate headdress, called a tableta, is partly responsible for their attraction. They both wear a kilt, and around the waist a Hopi embroidered rain sash.

The Sio Hemis Katsina is an import at Hopi from Zuni Pueblo probably in the 1890s.  He may substitute for the traditional Hopi Hemis during the Niman Ceremony of mid-July.  There is very little difference between the Hemis and Sio Hemis except for the decoration of the tableta.  The Hopi Hemis has towering clouds and rain depicted on the tableta, while the Sio Hemis has dragonflies and sunflowers with smaller clouds at the top.

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In 1933, C. Szwedzicki of Nice, France, published a set of 50 pottery images in color from specimens in the collection of the Indian Arts Fund of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This group was issued as Volume I of several volumes to be published later on other subjects.  Only 750 copies of this volume were printed.  The portfolio was titledPueblo Indian Pottery.  The 50 individual plates of pottery from nine pueblos were combined with a booklet and encased in a hard bound folio.  

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In 1933, C. Szwedzicki of Nice, France, published a set of 50 pottery images in color from specimens in the collection of the Indian Arts Fund of Santa Fe, New Mexico.  This group was issued as Volume I of several volumes to be published later on other subjects.  Only 750 copies of this volume were printed.  The portfolio was titled Pueblo Indian Pottery.  The 50 individual plates of pottery from nine pueblos were combined with a booklet and encased in a hard bound folio.  

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This is a small Southwest Indian Pottery bowl from Cochiti Pueblo. The interior of the historic bowl is covered in cream slip over which was painted a design in black. The main design is typical of Cochiti designs, floating independently inside the bowl representing lightning, clouds and the sun. Two black bands decorate the top of the bowl, one at the very top and a thinner band about a half an inch down. The exterior of the bowl was covered with a red slip. There is no obvious indication that this bowl has been used.

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