Wilmer Kaye, Hopi, is known
for the perfection of his Katsina dolls and sculptures. Willard
Loloma, Kaye's uncle, taught him to carve when he was only a
teen. Wilmer is also the nephew of famed Hopi jeweler, Charles
Loloma.
Kaye continued to carve after
he completed high school, while working in constuction as a mason.
Kaye uses only a pocket knife for his carvings and uses both
paint and stains. He rubs linseed oil into the wood to bring
out the grain and preserve the wood.
Kaye works on one Katsina
doll at a time, so that he can concentrate and make it look the
best it can, before beginning a new doll. Kaye's intricate carvings
have won many awards and have been seen on the cover of Arizona
Highways magazine.
The Angwusnasomtaka, or Crow
Mother, as she is called, "is a figure of great dignity.
She appears on all three mesas, usually in connection with the
initiation of the children, although she also appears on other
occassions.
At the initiation rites she
descends into the kiva bearing a large number of yucca blades
bound together at the base. She takes a position at one corner
of the large sand painting on the floor of the kiva, with one
of her "sons" on either side of her.
As the candidate is brought
to the sand painting she hands a whip to one of the Hu' Kachinas
who gives the child four healthy strokes with the yucca blade.
When the yucca becomes worn it is handed back to the Crow Mother
who then supplies a new one.
When the initiatory whipping
is over, she raises her skirts and receives the same treatment
accorded the children. They are given prayer feathers and meal
and leave the kiva."
- Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi
Artist's Documentary (66)
