Andrew Sahmie
Mudhead Clown
11" total
height
"Koyemsi or Mud-head
Kachinas are probably the most well known of all the Hopi kachinas.
They appear in almost every Hopi ceremony as clowns, interocutors,
announcers of dances, drummers, and many other roles.
"The nearly always accompany
other kachinas; probably the only time when they do not appear
with other personages is during the Night Dances.
"Koyemsi are usually
the ones that play games with the audiences to the accompaniment
of rollicking tunes. These games are generally guessing games,
or simple attempts to balance objects or performances of some
common act. They most closely resemble our parlor games and the
rewards are prizes of food or clothing."
- Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi
Artist's Documentary (238)
Born in 1960, Andrew Sahmie
is a Tewa/Hopi Indian artist from First Mesa (Polacca) Arizona.
Like most of the Hopi carvers, he is self-taught in the art,
working from trial and error and watching his older brothers,
Finkle and Randall Sahmie.
Andrew has been carving steadily
since about 1990, and has developed outstanding refinement in
his work. One has only to look at the crook of a finger on his
kachinas to see his concentration and attention to detail.
Creative individuals surround
Andrew; his mother, Priscilla Namingha, and his Navajo wife,
Ida Sahmie, as well as his first cousins Steve Lucas and Dan
Namingha, are all award-winning artists. Andrew's great-great
grandmother was the historic Tewa/Hopi potter Nampeyo.
