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Posted 6 years ago
dmac4550
(1 item)
I got this from a tour through hopi nation village back in 97 trying to find out more information i remember being told it was the only woman carver in the nation
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Beautiful Hopi piece
It was carved by Tim (Timothy ) Pavatea, not by a woman, so I'm not sure what your reference to the "only woman carver in the nation" is referring to. He is listed in Gregory Schaaf's "Hopi Katsina, 1600 Artist Biographies.
There are religious/cultural restrictions prohibiting Hopi women from carving. Only men are initiated into the katsina cult, and they portray the katsina in dances, and since tithu (katsina dolls) are traditionally made for Hopi girls, by the katsina (or the man personifying), it follows that only men can carve them, which has historically been the case.
Today, however, there are a number of women who carve them for sale. Hopi men generally do not consider these "authentic" katsina dolls. They are more a separate art form, created for the commercial market. But women carvers still probably represent less than 10% of the total number of carvers.
Sandra Suhu, now living in Phoenix, was one of the first Hopi women to carve katsina dolls for the commercial market, in the late 1990s.