Derrick Hayah
Three Nose
(Dress Kachina)
Kwasa-itaka
8 1/2"
H with 1/2" base
Derrick Hayah is from First
Mesa, the village of Walpi, and is of the Rabbit and Tobacco
clans. He has been carving for nearly 16 years and learned from
his uncles, including Gary Hayah. He is also the older brother
of Godfrey Hayah.
His work is some of the fastest
selling artwork we feature. They are great figures with real
value at very reasonable prices. Be sure to take a look at the
rest of Derrick's work in the gallery area.
Derrick has done a nice, clean
job with this figure, as he does with all of his increasingly
popular work.
These are the carvers we're
focused on most - the ones which help bring the figure to life
- almost as if the onlooker is their in the plaza with them.
Derrick is truly one of these.
As one of the younger generation of carvers, he has quickly and
skillfully responded to the demand that more and more serious
collectors are placing upon the art.
His work has strong visual
appeal, as he is not afraid to use bold, bright colors, and his
bases always have something extra.
"This kachina is the
Hopi Third Mesa form of the Koroasta of the Zuni. Sometimes he
is called the Dress Kachina, because he wears a woman's dress
without a belt, or the Ota Kachina, from the first words of his
song.
The most typical feature of
the kachina is the little cornhusk packets that make his nose.
The lines running around his face are to represent the rainbow
colors. He has influence over the growth of corn and carries
seeds in the bag in his left hand. Spectators are very eager
to receive these seeds and plant them.
He is consistently seen in
the Third Mesa Powamu. This kachina generally carries sheep scapulae
rattles in his right hand, but in recent years this has shifted
from the Zuni form to the Hopi rattle. The kachina is supposed
to carry a digging stick rather than a cane as sometimes represented."
- Barton Wright, Kachinas: a Hopi
Artist's Documentary
