Watson Namoki

Squash Kachina

6" H with 1/4" base


Watson Namoki was born August 8, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois. His parents are from the village of Kykotsmovi at Third Mesa. His paternal clan is the Fire Clan.

Watson has been carving Kachina dolls since he was a teenager, and has been carving seriously since about 1994. Like most artists, he is mostly self-taught by watching other carvers.

His father, Bob Namoki, is also a well-known carver. Watson typically creates smaller figures, with particular attention paid to the costume of the Kachina and its color and design. Watson's carving is important to him and not just as an expression of his Hopi culture, but also as his primary source of income. He is a fairly prolific carver and does the full range of Kachinas.

As a "runner," the Patung belongs to a class of kachinas who are not dancers but rather run races with the men and boys of the village. "They come in the late spring, either as a group or as individuals, during a pause in a Mixed Dance or Plaza Dance.

Usually they will select one end of the Plaza and , assembling there, will endeavor to have an individual race them. If there are many runners, or Wawarus, there will be a great churning about with one or another racing down the length of the Plaza and other prancing up and down to ready themselves for the coming contest.

Quite often they will lure some unwary clown into racing and will immediately catch the hapless individual and perpetrate their peculiar form of punishment on him. They quickly tire of this and will gesture or hold up a reward to some young man in the crowd of bystanders.

If he accepts, they will allow him about ten feet of space in which he can move about as he pleases. But the minute he leaves the area he runs as if instant disaster were behind him, and it usually is, for some of the punishments are quite unpleasant.

Win or lose, he will receive payment with some kind of food from these racers. No one is safe from the oldest man to the youngest boy; all, including white members of the audience can receive the attention of these kachinas. The kachinas are expected to pay for whipping the young men, and this they do by sending water when it is needed for germinating the crops." - Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi Artist's Documentary (218)

Gallery Price: $450.00

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