Arvin Saufkie
Soyok Wuhti
13 1/4"
H incl. 1 1/4" base
"The awesome figure of
the Monster Woman [Soyok Wuhti] appears during the Powamu ceremony
as one of the many Soyoko who threaten the lives of the children.
Dressed all in black, with long stragling hair, staring eyes
and a wide-fanged mouth, she carries a blood smeared knife and
a long jangling crook - a truely fearsome creature to the children.
When she speaks, it is in
a wailing falsetto or with a long dismal hoot of 'Soyoko'-u-u-u,'
from which her name is derived. She may reach for the children
with the long crook and threaten to put them in the basket on
her back, or to cut off their heads with the large knife that
she carries in her hand utterly terrifying her young audience.
On some mesas she may be the
ogre that threatens a small child who has been naughty and bargains
with a relative to ransom the child, but on others she is not.
In some villages she leads the procession of the ogres; in others
she remains at the side, content to make threatening gestures."
- Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi
Artist's Documentary (74)
Arvin Saufkie was born April
28th, 1977 at Tuba City.
His parents are Jenny Roy and Andrew Saufkie. His mother is of
the Coyote Clan and his father is from the Bear Clan. Murphy
comes from a family full of fine artists.
His mother’s family are
well known for their fine Kachinas. Her brothers are Coolidge,
David and Silas Roy. Andrew’s father is the famous Hopi
artist, Paul Saufkie.
Arvin has two other brothers who carve Kachinas. They are Murphy
and Ruben.
Arvin learned to carve by
watching his uncles carve. He says that he learned from Silas
Roy and that Silas gave him his first piece of wood. He use to
sand for Silas and began carving his own Kachinas in 1995.
Arvin says “You see a
little bit of my uncle’s dolls in my dolls.” Arvin
likes to try new things and his favorite Kachina doll to carve
is the eagle.
